Italy Shops Reopen on Monday. For Many It’s Already Too Late
- Hit hard by lockdown, one in ten retail businesses could fail
- ‘No money in the till,’ as shop owners fret over debt, rules
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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-style grates used to protect some storefronts in Rome. “There’s no money in the till.”