It is eleven o'clock this Monday in the L'Atoll shopping center, in Beaucouzé in the suburbs of Angers. Sparse in places, the car parks are not empty either, as they were two months ago. In front of Babou, a clothing and home accessories store, a line forms. An employee, then the manager, fails to open the electric swing doors. After ten minutes, they finally open the emergency entrance, next door. Customers, most of them masked, crowd in the store, at a respectable distance. These two months of closure will have got the better of the mechanism of the large door. “ We were caught off guard with this door. But I'm a little surprised that there are so many people, ”says Eric Loussouarn, the store manager.
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The opening of shopping centers of more than 40,000 m2 was subject to the decision of the prefects. That of the Atoll (71,000 m2) was decided in extremis Saturday evening by the prefecture of Maine-et-Loire, which estimated that the sanitary conditions to accommodate the public were met.
However, not all of the stores reopened on Monday morning. The Célio men's clothing store waited 2 pm, the time for managers to refine the preparations. Conversely, at Intersport, the team that has been busy for two weeks to redevelop the store, seems perfectly established, making sure to enforce the barrier gestures: hydroalcoholic gel on the hands required for customers at the entrance, disinfection trolleys with wipes after each use, arrowed path in the store to prevent customers from crossing paths…
A stone's throw away, at the entrance to Boulanger, a home appliance and multimedia store, the hydroalcoholic gel even flows freely. " Go very slowly or you risk taking a shower, " advises an employee responsible for ensuring that each client disinfects their hands. Despite the rain and gusts, customers are there. " There are more people than a traditional Monday ," said Valérie Brentel, director of Boulanger. Here, most of the customers went out for specific needs, like Florine, who came to buy vacuum bags and an epilator.
At Intersport, others take advantage of this to break a strict confinement. Like Lalie, 8, released for the first time in two months. The girl came with her mother to try on a tracksuit before going back to school. " My daughter grew up a lot during these two months," explains her mother. She needs clothes in which she feels comfortable. On the other hand, 200 meters away, the corner of the restaurants, in the heart of the shopping center, remains sadly empty. They are indeed waiting for a reopening date which should be announced in late May by the government.
Then head to the city center of Angers, five kilometers away. Between noon and 2 p.m., only the hairdressers are really active. In the spacious Jacques Dessange lounge, the appointment book is almost complete until the end of May-beginning of June. “ For three weeks, we have received an average of 110 calls per day, says one of the two managers of the salon, Tanguy Le Guen . The whole team was happy to resume and agreed to work six days a week. ”
Same enthusiasm in the large Richer stationery and bookstore. " We are happy to resume and exchange, " smiles behind his mask Nicolas Auvinet, the assistant director, obviously impatient to resume. This Angevin institution had however reopened for two weeks a “drive”, service of sale of books on the doorstep. Such a service will be maintained on Wednesday and Saturday morning from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. " It allowed us to keep in touch with customers and to give some advice on reading, " adds the bookseller, who does not however expect a return to financial equilibrium between now and the end of the year. In the meantime, he must enforce the health rules in his establishment. Even offending some customers, such as this woman, politely escorted to the door because she is not wearing a mask.
In the pedestrian center, crossed by a tram line, the rain subsided and the sun came back. Place du Ralliement, a few onlookers nibble on a sandwich on stone benches, for lack of being able to take advantage of the terraces. Others walk around, with family or friends. The city seems to be waking up. And life gradually resumes its course.