Restaurants, bars and cafés had already been closed when the government announced non-essential shops and businesses like hairdressers also had to shut until mid-December.

But with lighter restrictions in place in Belgium’s neighbouring countries, including Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, interior minister Annelies Verlinden has urged citizens to stay home.

“We must take responsibility together. The measures taken are not pleasant, but they are necessary for everyone's health,” she said in televised comments also shared via social media. Taking business across the border showed a lack of solidarity with entrepreneurs in the country, she said.

Luxembourg businesses on the other hand benefit in the greater region context, with France also having entered a second lockdown. While in Germany shops remain open, restaurants are closed.

Stores in Luxembourg City over the weekend witnessed more footfall, saying this was due to people beginning to prepare for Christmas but also that the number of cross-border shoppers had increased.

“They told us that they came here because everything’s closed in France and Belgium,” one shop assistant told Delano’s sister publication Paperjam. “There were a lot of people from outside who came to eat,” said one restaurant manager. “The streets were full; there was a queue to eat.”

This article was originally published in French on Paperjam.lu and has been translated and edited for Delano.