In Paris, the animated Christmas windows are in place on Boulevard Haussmann, the huge Christmas tree is installed: the Printemps and Galeries Lafayette department stores are ready for their reopening on Saturday at 10 a.m.
The heart is at the party, but it beats in slow motion.
The sector, which has suffered in recent years the wave of attacks of 2015, the crises of "yellow vests" and the strikes of winter 2019, is experiencing this year the worst vintage in its history.
The Covid-19 pandemic has led to an unprecedented combination of trials;
a “perfect storm” combining the closure of points of sale, desertion of international customers and the French disaffection with fashion.
Read also:
The Printemps group closes seven stores in France
In a century and a half of existence - the Bon Marché opened in 1852 - department stores have resisted wars and the appearance, every decade since the 1960s, of dangerous competitors: hypermarkets, specialized distributors, ready-to-wear chains, the giants of “fast fashion”, then e-merchants.
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