Two days before the closure: an assault on the malls and markets, huge queues at IKEA

Some customers despaired and left the carts with their contents and left the store. IKEA suffered a prolonged closure in the previous two closures and recently even opened the store contrary to the guidelines, however only the housewares department floor and not the furniture floor. This is because the Ministry of Health has approved its competitors, Ace and Home Center, to operate at all times and without restriction in the past year, claiming that the products of the two chains also have essential tools and means for the home. IKEA did not open the popular restaurant in the center of the store.

Many also came to the Carmel market in Tel Aviv. Shula, 76, who lives near the market, has been shopping for Shabbat instead for 30 years. “The market should not be closed at all,” she said. “It’s near my house, less than 1,000 meters. It’s an open place under the sky and if you follow the instructions and put on a mask – you will not get stuck in Corona. Now, instead of buying near the house, I will have to take a bus – which is closed – and drive to the supermarket, which is also closed “And there is a higher chance that I will stick to Corona. I do not understand this decision.”

Adiel and Amit also came to the market to buy groceries for dinner. “Because we will not be able to meet with everyone for the next two weeks, at least we have invited a lot of friends to dinner,” they said.

“It’s like a farewell meal for everyone for the foreseeable future,” Adiel and Amit added. “In previous closures we met with friends near the house and now, because we intend to increase enforcement, there is some fear. If it seems that people do not really adhere to the closure – which we strongly do not believe in – we will probably meet again with everyone.”

The Mahane Yehuda market was especially busy this morning with thousands of shoppers walking around the stalls and shops. The tourist groups that came for the tours gave a sense of getting back to routine, but the short routine will end this coming Sunday with the start of the third closure. Rachela Ivgi is a tour guide who guided a group that came to celebrate a birthday in Jerusalem for one of the participants. The tour guides were particularly affected during the closure, and only recently have they returned to guide groups.

“We came to spend time in Jerusalem. We ate and we will eat, drink and branch out this stunning market, just before the closure,” says Ivgi. “We live between closures with a tour guide. This year’s Christmas was not like every year. It’s sad that we reached a third closure but inshallah it will be the last closure. Come on, enough, we’ve had enough.”

In the “8 Center” mall in Kiryat Shmona, there was relatively sparse traffic of customers last weekend before the closure. One of the buyers, Regev Ben-Haim from Kibbutz Neot Mordechai, said he was not excited. “My wife is in non-formal education, I’m a physiotherapist, so we both keep working. The closure affects us less, but yes, we came for last shopping before the shops closed. Obviously supermarkets remain open so there are no dramas for us.”

Another customer, Yael Brody from Metula, came to buy shoes. She also claims that she has equipped herself with everything she needs, so shopping is not the thing she will most miss in the coming closure period. “During this year we discovered all kinds of websites through which you can shop,” she said. “Personally I live in a complex with a few other friends and families so we are together, and less feel the loneliness of the closure.

“Is quarantine the right way, is it effective? I no longer know. Although there is a lot of criticism of the government, which ultimately drops everything on us, the citizens. I think it’s the best they can do right now. It’s not that they want to harm us.” .

Gabi Hussein, who owns a gift shop in the mall, says that the economic situation of the shop owners is very difficult: “This is an event that has been going on for a year. True, closure is an effective thing, prevents gatherings and reduces morbidity, but what good is it?” “In this way, this epidemic can last for years. You will know if the vaccines will help.”

About the work during the closure period, he says: “We manage to work a bit in deliveries but it’s not the same. We barely survive. People want to live, go out, see things with their eyes, do shopping.”

The large mall in Petah Tikva also opened its doors this morning, and at 10:00 the place was filled with many buyers, especially parents and children. Rotem Tobol, a resident of the city, said: “We came before the closure to complete shopping. Today the children are on vacation, so we took them to spend time in the mall before the closure.”

The mall has many signs instructing customers to wear masks and keep their distance, as well as many security guards who supervise and comment on customers who do not adhere to regulations. The restaurant floor is almost completely closed.

Svetlana Pishov arrived at the mall with her daughter and mother. In their hands they carried bags containing clothes: “We wanted to be able to buy clothes before the closure. I do not know when the closure will end and I thought I should come today – the main thing is that it will not be missing.”

An employee at one of the mobile phone stores said: “There is no customer pressure. It is a pity that they are closing and harming people’s livelihoods. It will be good. We will get through this as well.”

Even at the “Big Fashion” shopping center in Ashdod, shoppers took advantage of the last opportunity to shop before closing. Roy Admon, manager of a shoe store, says of the disappointment towards closing the business: “The truth is that I am really upset. We worked very hard to tidy up the store and bring all the models. How long have we been in the routine, a month and a bit? So back again? It takes a lot of effort “From both the staff and the management.”

Shirel Abkasis from Ashdod and Amiel Seroussi from Be’er Sheva decided to take advantage of the last day and the pleasant sun to shop and also, says Shirel, “to drink coffee – before closing all the cafes.” On the other hand, Amiel claims that “there is really nothing to stress about, it’s just. All closures are remorse. There is everything – but in a more limited format.”

Fashion chains and malls claim it is not a closure and are threatening to open stores. Meanwhile, there has been a more than 12% increase in credit card purchases compared to last week.

Shahar Turgeman, chairman of the Fashion, Commerce and Catering Association and Ofir Sarid, chairman of the Malls Forum, sent a letter to the Corona Cabinet claiming: “This is not a complete closure, this is a complete lie.”

In the letter, they threaten: “Trade will not pay the price of the government’s failures and therefore we intend to open businesses throughout the State of Israel on January 10. It should be remembered that by then more than one million Israeli citizens, including the at-risk population, will be vaccinated.”

“From the beginning of the Corona crisis until today, trade in Israel has been closed for nearly five months, while at the same time the Israeli government imported the virus from abroad, and no enforcement was carried out in the Arab sector, the ultra-Orthodox sector, parties and weddings; Prayers on the Temple Mount were held without any enforcement at all and the morbidity went up and up. The government does not apply lessons and repeats the outline of a second closure, which led to the current situation, instead of an effective closure that allowed for five months of routine. We hereby inform the Israeli government that the trade is in advanced stages of dying. “