It is now possible to have Lourdes candles delivered.
In fact, the ciergerie of the Marian city, almost a hundred years old, has just launched into e-commerce.
And she hopes to restart her business as well.
Deprived of a large part of its faithful for seven months, the city suffers from a very important loss of activity.
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In fact, this project was set up just before the onset of the health crisis, at the very beginning of the year.
But it has really accelerated in recent days.
"
Lourdes is at -80% of its usual attendance, if the city is no longer functioning, the whole sector is in the red so we all said to ourselves that we had to fight
", comments Catherine Cervantes, sales manager of the ciergerie.
She sums up this new possibility of ordering in one sentence: "
if you cannot come to Lourdes, Lourdes can come to you
".
For several months, even before the appearance of the coronavirus epidemic, the Lourdes ciergerie had therefore set up a showcase site, on which we could see the catalog of candles.
But then it was impossible to buy it.
"
We realized that we were visited all over the world
", relates Catherine Cervantes, which prompted the company, with a turnover of 1.2 million euros, to start online sales.
What pushed the company to take the plunge.
“
We have to try to make ourselves known,
” continues the manager, recalling that the Lourdes ciergerie, supplier of the sanctuary of Notre-Dame de Lourdes, has been labeled “
Living Heritage Company
” since 2017. “
The Lourdes candle conveys know-how and a history,
”insists the sales manager.
For the moment, online sales are not up to the expectations of the ciergerie, despite an acceleration in recent days in France and even in Europe.
But the stake is very important.
"
Two years as we spent there, we do not know if we will hold,
" worries Catherine Cervantes, who is already reporting cancellation of reservations for the coming season.
She recalls the catastrophic summer of the Marian city: "
Usually, we have 20,000 people in Lourdes per day in summer, but this year, 3000 was already very good
".
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Usually, the Lourdes ciergerie produces between 300 and 500 tonnes of candle per year, with a maximum capacity of 800 tonnes, "
if a pope comes
", explains Catherine Cervantes, for example.
This year, the 100 tonnes may not be exceeded, she fears.
In early August, the Minister of the Economy and Finance visited the Marian city.
He had not announced a miracle at the time, but had reassured the traders with some promises.
In the case of the ciergerie in this case, partial unemployment, implemented on April 1, is extended until the beginning of next year.
During Bruno Le Maire's visit, souvenir and piety shops had been added to the list of businesses that could benefit from the devices planned for the highly impacted tourism sector.