Trade, Naples holds up but in other cities -20% of signs

He is highly critical, in Campania, the picture drawn by the Confcommercio Research Office on business demography. While in Naples retail trade has remained stable with 30.000 active businesses (also thanks to the city's tourist boom), in the main urban centers of the region, between 2012 and 2022, a percentage oscillating between 10 and 20% of commercial businesses have closed permanently.

These are the figures: in Salerno, in 10 years, 71 out of 300 shops in the historic center have closed, and 400 out of 1900 in the rest of the city; a decrease of 20%. In Caserta, the number of shops opened went from 1081 in 2012 (of which 521 in the historic center) to 927 in 2022 (462 in the historic center).

Dramatic decline in Avellino, where it goes from 862 shops in 2012 to 711 in 2022. Less marked the decline in Benevento, from 784 shops in 2012 to 705 in 2022. “Neighborhood shops provide an indispensable service to citizens and are a guarantee of liveability and safety of our cities – comments the president of Confcommercio Campania, Pasquale Russo – Furthermore, our commercial fabric, so varied and widespread, is a fundamental component of the identity of our urban centers: our cities would be unrecognizable without that dense network of shops characteristic of Italian urban civilization.

Therefore, commercial desertification is a problem that does not only concern the economy, but also society as a whole. Politics must finally recognize the social value of small commercial and artisanal businesses, placing them at the center of urban redevelopment and territorial development policies.

The Commercial Districts, a public-private partnership tool recently introduced in Campania also thanks to the commitment of Confcommercio, can be a valid tool for the regeneration of urban centers and commercial activities, as has already happened in Lombardy and Veneto: we therefore ask the Campania Region to intervene with adequate funds to co-finance the redevelopment initiatives that can be implemented by the Districts”.