Coronavirus ravages entertainment industry as Silverbird Galleria shuts down

CONSUMER SPENDING

The coronavirus shutdowns is laying waste to the high street, with Silverbird Cinemas announcing it was shutting its gallery and mall so as to protect staff and the general public.

Retailers are shuttering storefront locations to the public across the country as government has closed schools and asked workers to stay at home.

Banks and some companies have asked staff to work from home while rail operations have been suspended.

Nigeria has recorded 42 cases of COVID-19 with 1 death and 2 two recoveries, but if the country continues to record 3 cases a day then it could be heading for an economic quagmire.

“At Silverbird Cinemas, we are committed to providing a safe and healthy environment for our staff and customers,” said Guy Murray-bruce.

“Based on the Directives issued by Federal and State Governments, we have therefore made the difficult decision to close our Cinemas in

Nigeria until further notice,” said Bruce.

Bruce said the company deeply value our cinemaloving customers and have no doubt they will be serving everyone again as possible with a full slate of Hollywood and Nollywood blockbusters.

“Our thoughts go out to the people who have been affected and we appreciate the healthcare workers and those at the frontline working to contain the virus, keeping us safe,” said Bruce.

The closure of the largest and oldest cinema in Africa’s largest economy will led to loss of revenue because the country’s fast growing young population go to the movie house a lot, and forcing them to sit at home is inimical to the industry.

According to the Cinema Exhibitors Association of Nigeria (CEAN), Nigerians spent almost N7 billion to watch films in the cinemas in 2019.

Some Quick Service Restaurants (QSR) in Nigeria have suspended dine-in table service and replaced this with take-out options as the country continues to record new cases of the novel coronavirus.

These measures are designed to stop spread of the virus. Businessday survey of Chicken Republic, The Place and Mega Chicken in Lagos showed that the restaurants were offering take-outs instead of their usual dinning services.

While retailers, fitness centres, and movie houses are closing their stutters, on-line shopping is thriving as people now place orders from home.

Experts have tasked retailers’ especially fast food restaurant to take advantage of the on line medium to sell their products.

Businessday investigation gathered that some customers now use their mobile phones to order for goods via Wassap and Istagram platforms, but some of them prefer to go to the stores themselves and pick items for fear of coming close contact with the delivery man.

The novel coronavirus virus that started in the Whang city of China has killed 17,235 people while it has infected 274,829. Italy has been most hard hit as it recorded 6,077 death, 63,927 cases have been reported as of Tuesday.

The coronavirus continues to hurt economies across the continent as investors have been dumping equities with alacrity on the back of uncertainties since crude oil demand has dipped significantly.

The S&P 500 tanked nearly 15% last week alone, pushing the benchmark 32% below its all-time high reached on

Feb.19.

Analysts and economists say a global recession is inevitable, and that the downturn will be worse than the financial crises of 2008/2009, European debt crisis, and the recession of 1944.

The Nigeria’s reacted to the bang of the virus as stocks have been beaten down, but the central bank has intensified on stimulus measures to help small business weather the storm.

While central bankers across the globe have embarked on aggressive asset purchased and cut rates to zero, their Nigerian counterpart will use N3.5 trillion to mitigate the effect of the coronavirus on the economy.

The virus will affect companies depending on how long it takes. Manufacturers of cars and electronics will be the hardest hit a lot of people are buying food at the moment, according to Johnson Chukwu, managing director and CEO of Cowry Asset Management Limited.

“Businesses already in difficulty will suffer more while the ones with stronger balance sheet will weather the storm,” said Chukwu.