Tel Aviv store owner throws unsold apparel onto street after bankruptcy

The store owner threw the unsold merchandise outside so that passerbys may have a peruse through and take whatever they'd like.

By ZACHARY KEYSER
The streets of Tel Aviv are seen empty as Israel's second lockdown goes into effect on Shabbat, September 2020 (photo credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI)
The streets of Tel Aviv are seen empty as Israel's second lockdown goes into effect on Shabbat, September 2020
(photo credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI)
A shoe store owner in Tel Aviv, Avi Sammy, was shown in a viral video dumping his merchandise onto the street after the second coronavirus lockdown bankrupted him, according to local Israeli media.
The store owner threw the unsold apparel outside so that passersby may have a peruse through and take whatever they'd like.
"It’s all caused by despair, mental and economic desperation," Sammy, 38, a father of three from Holon, told Ynet News. "If I’m going to lose everything, at least others should benefit."

He intended to donate the goods to a few charities across Israel, but the charities required him to pay a delivery fee for the shipment. He felt as though that was a "spit in the face," so he decided to lay them out on the street in frustration.
He told Ynet that he will now "hand over the keys, look for a job like everyone else and be another one of a million unemployed."
For his actions, Sammy received a NIS 5,000 fine, after Tel Aviv Municipality workers wrote him up for littering goods onto the street.
Mayor Ron Huldai told Army Radio that the fine would be reversed, and that it was improperly issued saying the inspector was unaware of the situation at hand.
"An inspector who passed by after the incident and did not know his circumstances, identified piles of garbage and wrote a report on waste dumping in the public space. The store owner did not update the inspector on what happened, and even apologized for throwing the cartons into the street. We invite the store owner to submit a request to cancel the report and it will be considered. We have no interest in reporting quotas - only in keeping the law," the municipality said in a statement.
Sammy added that he feels as though the government is sitting on chairs and doing nothing, noting that part of what he did today was to give to others - even in his own time of desperation. He believes that both Jews and Arabs need to come together and get the right elected officials into office to stop the discourse.
Before the lockdown, Israel's Employment Service reported there to be 909,460 unemployed Israelis.
The predicted losses became steeper over the High Holy Day period, where that number steadily climbed until reaching 947,216, reported from figures shared late last week. The latest numbers from this week have not been disseminated as of yet.
In July, the National Insurance Institute paid unemployment benefits to the tune of NIS 2b., while last year in July it paid just NIS 300 million. The number of Israelis reporting they are unemployed went up by 163,297 between Rosh Hashanah and the start of October and rose by nearly 40,000 since then.
The more people lose their jobs, the more the state is obliged to offer support until June 2021.
In late September, the Bank of Israel reported that 17% of Israeli households previously having two employed persons (for example, a married couple with both partners working) now report that one person is out of work.
In 2% of households both workers were fired, bringing the total number of households disrupted by the crisis to 19%, TheMarker reported on Wednesday.
Families with wages of up to NIS 5,000 and NIS 10,000 reported a loss of income of 20.2% and 20.8%, respectively; those making up to NIS 15,000 reported a 16.4% loss. The average drop for all households has been 19.5%.
As the average income per family drops, its consumption, in turn, will also drop – making the likelihood of businesses bouncing back lower as the lockdown continues.
Hagay Hacohen contributed to this report.


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