Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1297549
7 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 11 OCTOBER 2020 NEWS The free influenza vaccine will be available for the following groups as from #fighttheflu Sunday 11th October 2020 Persons aged 55 years and older Children from the age of 6 months to under 5 years Persons of any age with a chronic disease The vaccine will be available for the general public for free as from 1st November 2020. The vaccine will be available from health centres, community clinics (bereġ) or your family doctor. C M Y CM MY CY CMY K INFUENZA - Advert Eng & Mlt - 2020 (11th Oct).pdf 1 07/10/2020 11:57:59 K ARL AZZOPARDI THE shops trying to steal a march on Christmas by open- ing early into the year to flog decorations and trees say they are in for a difficult festive sea- son ahead, as the COVID-19 pandemic brings more uncer- tainty for business owners. With October well underway, Christmas shops have started opening around all Malta and Gozo. But some retailers fear the worst. Alistair Christmas Shop in Birkirkara has been open since 1 October, with customers al- ready coming in. "People are looking forward to Christmas, and so we have started to see people buying already," a store representative said, who ven- tured a prediction that business will be better than last year. "I think people will stay more and more at home, and so we are seeing that it will be a better Christmas than last year." But a represent- ative from the Mega Christmas Shop, also in Birkirkara, told MaltaToday that response from customers had been weak. "We started back in Sep- tember like every other year, but people have been afraid to come out and shop," she said, fearing their early march on the season has count- ed for nothing. "We've had con- tainers ordered for months now; they're already on their way and there's no way of returning them back. We are taking a very big risk, and we hope it pays off." The owner of The Christmas Shop in Rabat, Gozo said that while it was too ear- ly to predict how sales will fare, a difficult time ahead was being predict- ed. "We're looking to fast-track our opening date, having planned to open two weeks prior when com- pared to previ- ous years. Despite the u n c e r t a i n t y that lies ahead, all three estab- lishments are looking to hit the ground running once the festive season truly gets under- way. But the Mega Christmas Shop was expecting custom- ers to just buy the bare mini- mum. "People last year would sweep the shop. This year they just buy a Christmas tree and lights," she said. The Christmas Shop owner said he believes there will be no change in shopping trends. "I think people will either buy or they won't," he said. All three Christmas shops said that the lack of festive activities and events will affect them ei- ther directly or indirectly. The impact will be felt the hardest by Alistair Christmas Shop and The Mega Christmas Shop, who are engaged to decorate hotels, parties and venues. "If we don't have parties, it will affect us. We decorate events and parties; therefore, it will be very difficult for us," the Mega Christmas Shop said. Who needs trees in a pandemic? Christmas shop owners speak of uncertainty as festive season gets overshadowed by COVID-19 Shops taking early march on Christmas fear the worst "People last year would sweep the shop. This year they just buy a Christmas tree and lights,"