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"Are they really going to close? How sad it makes me hear this!" Says a neighbor to Yolanda Valdehita, the owner of Ararat , a store selling clothes and accessories that for 40 years was located on Calle Almirante 10 , in Madrid. "Well, yes. Things are not going well. No one buys exclusive clothes anymore and there is no way to continue here," Yolanda responds. "It is a shame. But now things are difficult for everyone," laments the neighbor, who leaves the place without acquiring anything.

This scene is repeated throughout the Las Salesas neighborhood . The one that for a few years was considered one of the fashionable areas of the capital and whose protagonists were the independent art shops, gourmet food and boutiques of exclusive brands now has shop windows covered by newsprint and signs that indicate 'For rent this local ' .

In the streets Fernando VI, Piedmont or Barquillo, the businesses that have opened their doors after the confinement by the pandemic receive few customers during the day: at most three and often none. In the area more than 20 stores have closed permanently and others are about to do so. The Covid-19 has represented a real blow to the small business, which was already having problems.

"Before the health alert, consumption had already decreased due to factors such as lack of financing by banks, political instability and consumer uncertainty. We had symptoms very similar to what in 2008 was the prelude to the crisis, "explains José Manuel Fernández, head of the Madrid Business Forum, to the WORLD, adding that the definitive highlight was the health crisis that" came in the form of a tsunami for small businesses . "

The crisis for entrepreneurs

  • 15% of shops in Madrid remain unopened. It is still unknown whether they will do so again. A second wave of closings is expected once companies start paying off ICO loans.
  • Before the health crisis, there was already a drop in consumption, according to experts. There were vectors similar to those that in 2008 were the prelude to the crisis.

Yolanda Valdehita is selling the last clothes they have left in the store. She does it herself because months ago she was forced to do without the person who attended to the clients. "Without winning anything we had no way to pay him," he says. He also confesses that before the state of emergency he had already decided to close . It would do so in late March, but the pandemic came. "Luckily I had notified the owner of this place that I was leaving and I did not have to pay the rent for these months," he explains.

For that area of ​​the city, the rent of a space of between 90 and 100 square meters has a cost of around between 3,000 and 5,000 euros per month. "At a legal level, the State should have incorporated regulations that would make rents relax, but it did not do so. Each tenant had to negotiate with their tenants. In some cases they succeeded, but in many others they did not," alerts Fernández. .

Elena Carrera had a Pilates studio in this same area. Her concern began in the first half of March, when many of her clients canceled appointments. " We did not think twice. When we could no longer open our doors, we made the decision to close permanently, " he says. "Without people I could not afford the rent of 3,000 euros , plus taxes, from the first quarter, and more payment to our freelancers," he adds.

For her, government aid has not been viable . "How are we going to contract a loan at the moment, if in six months we are going to have to pay it? Also, we knew that the gyms were not going to open soon and for us it was almost impossible to comply with sanitary measures," he points out. In her case, she had to cut her clientele in half. Opening his center in these conditions represented him to take a long time lost .

The disappearance of small businesses in the capital

In Madrid there are more than 65,000 retail stores that represent 6.6% of GDP for the Community. Although it is still early to know the true effects that this new crisis will leave, according to Fernández, the current figures place the closure of shops between 20 and 25% . "The problem is that there has been no clear aid. It is that they have not given us absolutely nothing. The measures should not be deferred payments, but suspension or remission, " he stresses.

For his part, the president of the Madrid Business Confederation, Miguel Garrido, points out that there will be a second wave of closings once companies have to pay ICO loans and other obligations. " Government aid has been very relative. In other countries, better decisions have been made, such as suspending payments for six months or a year, because they understood the magnitude of this crisis, but this has not been the case here," he says. In addition, it indicates that some of the required sanitary measures do not reflect the reality of companies. "We understand the situation, but for many businesses it is impossible to meet these requirements."

He also warns that in the event of a virus outbreak, the situation will become "dramatic for the Madrid business community . " "Especially if this means implementing again the restrictive measures that we had at the beginning of the health crisis. In that case, surely many other companies will be forced to close, " he concludes.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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