Latvian garden and construction supplies store Depo has been told to close its doors because selling food does not make it an essential shop.
Construction stores and garden centers must shut under the government’s latest lockdown rules, but Latvian chain Depo’s Estonian stores have kept their doors open because shops also sell food.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications (MEAC) has said the store should be closed.
Laura Laaster, a spokesperson for MKM, said that if a construction shop sold groceries, it did not mean that it was a grocery store.
“This is not the case that when a construction store creates cheese counters and says “we are now a grocery store”. If a store sells several types of products, it will only be defined as a grocery store when groceries make up the majority of turnover,” Laaster said.
She added this was definitely not the case with the Depo and the Health Board was in contact with the store in Tallinn. (ERR/Business World Magazine)