Judge: "Clothing shops are essential stores"

“Clothing stores are essential, because clothes – like food – are a daily necessity.” That is already the opinion of a judge in the German state of Bavaria, which means that also unvaccinated people are allowed to go to clothing stores again.

No 2G

In Bavaria, the so-called ‘2G’ rule currently applies: shops are only allowed to enter customers who are fully vaccinated (“geimpft”) or who have a recovery certificate (“genesen”). There is, however, an exception for ‘essential’ shops: grocery stores, bookstores and flower shops are still allowed to admit people without a vaccination or recovery certificate. The state government decided to do so earlier this month, because the corona figures were going through the roof in Germany.

A Bavarian judge now also adds clothing stores to that list, with the motivation that “the importance (of fashion) to the general public is no less than that of shoes, books, flowers or garden tools, and that the need for clothing can arise on a daily basis”, local newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung reports on the authority of the DPA press service. Toy shops also count as essential (during the Christmas period), according to the judge.

The Bavarian Trade Association was happy with the verdict, but regrets that it has come so late: during the Christmas period, turnover in clothing stores have fallen by about a third compared to (pre-corona) 2019, because unvaccinated people were not allowed in and others were deterred by the long lines at the access control, the organization told the DPA through spokesperson Bernd Ohlmann.