Benidorm’s first day of Phase One de-escalation sees few shops open and fewer clients seeking retail therapy

BENIDORM shopkeepers’ association AICO calculated that only 38 per cent of shops opened on the first day of lockdown de-escalation.
Shutters went up with “uncertainty, fear and many preventive health measures to win the confidence of shoppers” but most of the town’s 1,842 commercial and services establishments remained closed because the Covid-19 pandemic meant there were no tourists to buy their products, AICO said.
“There are two defined types of shops in Benidorm,” the association explained. “Those that depend 100 per cent on tourism and account for 60 per cent of stores and the remainder which cater to residents as well as tourists.”
The majority of those that have opened are located in the town centre, the Old Town and residential neighbourhoods, AICO pointed out.
“With beaches to remain closed and inter-province travel barred until Phase Three of de-escalation is introduced on June 8, opening a business without clients is not profitable.”