Italy shops reopen, but for many it’s already too late

Bloomberg

Italy’s shoppers may be digging out their wallets as retail businesses reopen on Monday, but many of the country’s 2.7 million merchants say there’s little to celebrate.
“My creditors will be all over me as soon as I raise my portcullis,” said Giulio Anticoli, referring to the heavy medieval grates still used to protect some storefronts in Rome. “There’s no money in the till.”
Anticoli, whose family has sold shoes and clothing in Rome for over a century, said too much economic damage has already been done during Italy’s coronavirus lockdown. His store on Via Somalia, near the city’s elegant Villa Chigi, will remain closed.
“How could I reopen without any guarantee my debts will be frozen and at least some of my tax payments suspended?,” said the 57-year-old Anticoli, who’s leading a protest by shop owners who say the government has failed to support small businesses.
Amid criticism that promised aid wasn’t reaching small businesses, coalition allies and local politicians pushed Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte to speed up the relaxation of a nationwide lockdown running into in its third month.
Regional governors persuaded the premier to move up the opening date for restaurants and hair salons to Monday, rather than the original date of June 1. Conte over the weekend acknowledged the possible downside of an accelerated easing of the national lockdown from Monday, but pledged to move ahead.
“We’re taking a calculated risk, aware that the contagion curve could rise again,” Conte told reporters in Rome. “We have to accept it, otherwise we could not restart.” Italy on May 17 reported its lowest number of coronavirus-related deaths since March 9.
An earlier government decision to allow only the construction and manufacturing sectors to restart in early May outraged some retail business owners, who argued an additional two weeks without revenue could push them over the edge.
They may have a point. One in ten Italian retail businesses — some 270,000 — is at risk of failing, according to the Confcommercio business lobby.