Belgian Chocolatiers Worried About Lack of Business

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Chocolatiers in Brussels are concerned about the decrease in business since the terrorist attacks on March 22 that left 31 people dead and 270 injured, The Associated Press reported. 

Their shops are usually bustling with customers who come from all over the world for their sweets, especially at this time of year.

A clerk at Planete Chocolat, Swannee Vranckx told AP that there are usually between 50 and 100 customers in the shop by the middle of the afternoon in the few days before Easter. This year, however, only a few people have stopped by the shop near Brussels’ main square.

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"I'm sure it will happen — people will cancel their trips," Vranckx told AP. "They think it is a place for terrorists."

Francesca Peck, an economist at IHS Global Insight in London, told AP that the attacks will probably only have a short-term impact on the Belgian economy.

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After the November attacks in Paris, shoppers did not change their spending habits, and Peck told AP she thinks the same will be true for spending in Brussels.

"As terrible as the events in Brussels have been, economic activity is typically pretty resilient to terrorist attacks," Peck wrote to AP.

 

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