30 November 2020

Austria insight on the 14th day of 'hard lockdown': Viennese shopping boulevards prepare for the Christmas business after 6th December

The hard lockdown started on 17th November for a time period until 6th December. Currently it seems as if the measures become slowly effective. Even when new infections decrease, the number of hospitalized people is still high. For getting back a more normal situation, it's very probable that stores can reopen after the scheduled end of the hard lockdown.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, many Austrian retailers have continued their business digitally at webshops and social media activities such as the retailers of the luxurious shopping boulevards at Graben or Goldenes Quartier who provide under the title 'Wien (m)Eins' insights into the Christmas flair of the streets of Vienna's 1st district. The name of the digital initiative 'Wien (m)Eins' is a playful creation from the number of the district and the word 'my' for the denotation of the strong relation of the Viennese to the heart of the city.

Image right: The picture shows Miss Vienna 2019 & 2020 Beatrice Körmer at Kärntner Strasse; she is holding 'Wien (m)Eins' shopping bags in her hands. Photo: © Katharina Schiffl.

Pictures from shopping boulevards are posted by Wien (m)Eins at facebook.com/WienEins and instagram.com/wien.eins such as the one from the Pestsäule (plague column) at the Graben with Christmas decoration (on view below). The Pestsäule is a memorial of the Great Plague of 1679. During the Covid-19 pandemic, people left prayers, drawings at the column for the expression of their hopes of the end of the crisis.