When she arrived this Thursday, October 29 in the morning in her chic furniture store, her voicemail was full of customer support messages, on the eve of the re-containment imposed against the worsening of the Covid-19 epidemic.
It warmed her heart.
Because after fifty years spent here, rue du faubourg Saint-Antoine in Paris (eleventh), after having survived the demonstrations of yellow vests or those against the pension reform, the incessant work imposed by the mayor of Paris, Solène Terranti does not see how, this time, it will escape it: Prestige decoration will close very quickly.
She won't be the first.
Since the Act I confinement, around fifteen traders in this thoroughfare near Bastille have lowered the curtain.
Solène recounts without blinking these months without clients, these bank loans that she could not obtain - "I was told that at 71 I was too old" -, these craftsmen around, above all, who are wasting away. silence, lack of work.
Then, the tears rise.
"Street trade is over," pings this pugnacious, whose apartment building neighbors, in the suburbs, "recently fought to have a guard who could receive parcels from Amazon and others."
But sadness gives way to anger when she speaks of the inconsistencies of the government system: “I have to close my shop, but on Sunday, I have the right to go and take measures with customers, where is the logic?
"
"Many traders will open secretly"
Not far from there, Alain Vidal, the manager of the magnificent flower shop Champ Libre, avenue Ledru-Rollin, is doing his accounts: since March, he has lost 290,000 euros in turnover and drawn 70,000 euros from his savings.
And again, he considers himself well off compared to his colleagues: he has six months of cash in advance.
He did not want to ask for help - "I am a patriot" - and wanted to compensate for his partial unemployment employees to be paid 100%.
"He's our daddy," said one of them.
During confinement, "we were closed, but Monoprix had enlarged its flower department", regrets the florist Alain Vidal (right) ./ LP / Olivier Arandel
Alain, too, points to the unfailing support of customers, the suppliers of desperate trees, the sleeping pills which have been his daily lot since March.
And his great anger when he thinks of what happened in the spring, and which could happen again: "We were closed, but Monoprix had enlarged its flower department and the nurserymen could remain open, on the pretext that they were selling thyme and other aromatic herbs, dog food, ”he got carried away.
He is convinced of this: around him, "a lot of traders will chomp and open in secret, it's a question of survival".
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Stamped "oldest record store in Paris", surrounded by musical nuggets and autographed records, Michel Laby of Plastic Soul Records, keeps a smile and wants to "continue to transmit" his passion twenty-four hours a day.
He has just hung up with the Ministry of Culture to ask to remain open “just in the afternoons”.
He will have the answer the next day.
He is confident.
A customer approaches the cash register, "Les Bronzés font du ski" in hand.
"You are right, we will have to relax", tries Michel.
What if the exemption does not happen?
He doesn't know if he will be able to hold out.
"So there, we will have to shout
Help
, like the Beatles in 1965," he metaphorizes.
Hoping that the steps to obtain a loan will no longer be “that brick wall” he experienced in the spring.
"The adventure will end on December 31"
Amélie learned Thursday that her boss was going to close his hair salon in Meudon at the end of the year. / LP / MF
On the other side of the ring road, in Meudon (Hauts-de-Seine), Geoffroy Leblond, for his part, "no longer wants to do paperwork" to try to get out of it.
Just two years after opening, the Gianni Capelli hairdressing salon closes its doors.
"The adventure will end on December 31," announced the boss to his two employees.
The voice tied, he evokes pell-mell “30,000 euros of investments, charges too high, a rent of 2,200 euros”.
For its employees who will be made redundant, the announcement is "unfortunately not a surprise".
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After a return from customers in the wake of the first deconfinement, the faithful had become increasingly rare since September.
A stone's throw away, in the Joli-Mai district, the situation of Tanveer, owner of the “Cadeaux Bazar” is less dramatic.
But the new confinement is at its worst.
He has just received hundreds of Christmas items that he had ordered a few days earlier.
The trader now finds himself with “5,000 euros of merchandise on his hands”.
A sum "enormous on my scale", he chokes.
His greatest fear?
“That customers cross the course of buying everything on the Internet and then keep this habit after the end of December.
"
Tanveer, owner of “Cadeaux Bazar” in Meudon, finds himself with an order of “5,000 euros” for toys and Christmas decorations on his arms ./LP/MF
His neighbor, Inayat Arsfan, a young manager of a declawed clothing store, is trying to sell off his stocks “as quickly as possible”, collections from previous months that he has not yet managed to sell.
Added to this are seasonal clothing at low prices received the day before, in anticipation of Christmas shopping.
“Usually it's the best period,” he explains.
People come to buy sweaters and shoes at low prices to give gifts to the whole family… but not this year ”.
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He also fears competition from Internet sales.
In an attempt to get his head out of the water, he spent all the merchandise at −50%.
"Despite this, customers negotiate a 75% discount, which is granted to send the goods," he says.
In the maze of this popular district and out of the city, few believe in "click and collect", this service supposed to allow customers to choose an item online and come and collect it fully packed.
"For this to work, you have to have a website, products listed, an employee who manages a shop while teleworking is mandatory," sigh several managers.
In short, an organization that represents "new costs, unthinkable despite state aid".