Trade on its knees: two shops disappear every hour. And the neighborhood shops are shaking

MILAN. The economic crisis and the uncertainty about the future weigh on consumption but the effect reaches even the new businesses in the retail trade. Many shops are closing while the number of establishments created from scratch is in sharp decline, so much so that last year a fifth fewer appeared. The data says that only 22,608 new businesses were born in 2022, 20.3% less than in 2021. A wholly insufficient number to compensate for the more than 43,000 companies that have lowered the shutters forever, and which closes the year with a negative balance of more than 20,000 units, for an average of more than two shops disappearing every hour. This is what emerges from the elaborations conducted by Confesercenti on the data made available by the Chamber of Commerce sources. According to the study, the number of closures is in line with that recorded in the pre-pandemic years, while the opening figure for 2022 is the lowest in the last ten years, -47.9% lower, not only the 2012 value – when, despite the crisis, over 43,000 trade businesses had opened – but also compared to 2020 (the year of the Covid pandemic and the lockdown) which in any case recorded the arrival on the market of over 25,000 trade businesses; in 2019, there were 29,000 openings.

In general, the desertification of commercial activities – underlines Confesercenti – affects the whole national territory, even if the worst balances are recorded in the regions with a more developed commercial fabric. In absolute terms, Campania recorded the most significant loss, with a negative balance of -2,707 stores; closely followed by Lazio (-2,215) and Sicily (-2,142). Significant losses also in Lombardy (-2,123), Piedmont (-1,683), Tuscany (-1,479), and Emilia-Romagna (-1,253). In relative terms, however, the worst loss is that recorded by the Marches, where the percentage drop in active trade companies, compared to 2021, is -8.8%: almost one in ten. Friuli-Venezia Giulia (-4.7%) and Molise (-4.4%) follow. Between closures and non-openings, the number of neighborhood shops serving the community decreased by approximately -14.3% compared to 2012. In the autonomous provinces of Trento and Bolzano, by now, there are only 6.9 businesses in the trade for every thousand inhabitants; in Friuli-Venezia Giulia 7.8, and in Lombardy 8.4. In the southern regions, the fabric of commerce resists a little more, particularly in Campania (19.7 enterprises per thousand inhabitants), Calabria (18.7) and Sicily and Puglia (both with 15.1).

«The post-pandemic restart has failed to give new impetus to small retail businesses. Opening a new neighborhood business, in a market increasingly dominated by large groups and online giants, is increasingly difficult: and new entrepreneurs simply give up, as evident from the drop in new openings, even lower than the year of pandemic» explains Patrizia De Luise, president of Confesercenti. “At risk is the pluralism of the distribution system and service to citizens: precisely the year of the pandemic demonstrated the value of the network of small shops – from grocery stores to newsagents – for the population” continues De Luise, according to which «small sales areas need to be helped to enter the market and stay there. First of all, focusing more on active policies, starting with entrepreneurial training and the mentoring of start-ups by trade associations”. “But – he concludes – a push would also be needed on the fiscal level, with a subsidized regime for neighborhood activities”.