Antwerp thrift shops will close every Monday afterwards “due to ongoing costs” (Antwerp)
The eleven Kringwinkel branches in and around the city of Antwerp will be closed on Monday from 2 January. According to Kringwinkel, this extra is necessary to cope with the rising costs due to rising energy prices, higher rents and additional wage indexations.
Source: BELGA
Kringwinkel that the shops themselves are actually not doing badly at all. “We see that the popularity of second-hand is likely,” spokeswoman Louise Vrints even indicates. “The problem is that we are currently becoming periodic with exponential growth in our costs. Rents, wage indexations and energy prices are currently rising at a much higher rate than our retail sales.”
A closing day on Monday means that the thrift shops can turn on the heating for two days instead of one day, while Sunday is also a closing day. The labor capacity also comprised 20 percent. “As a custom-made company, that is a very plausible case,” says Vrints. “It reached our employees with a distance to the labor market, who often find themselves in vulnerable situations. That is why we now have to look quickly at how innovations such as online sales and rentals can help us cover the increased costs.”
Kringwinkel Antwerp hopes that customers will understand the measure and will simply come by on another day. You can still visit the website on Monday www.uwkringding.be. How long the doors remain closed on Mondays will be reviewed “quarter by quarter”.