In a few days, confinement requires, the French quickly changed their consumption habits. In the past week, after the rush to the pasta shelves, the flow of customers has clearly decreased in supermarkets. For fear of moving away from their homes, consumers prefer to stock up on supplies near their homes and / or to use drives and delivery services to avoid contact as much as possible.
In Paris, Lidl lowers the curtain to 7 p.m. or 7:30 p.m.
Also finished shopping in the evening after his work day or on Saturday. It is now "mainly in the morning that customers will shop", confirms Jérôme Nanty, the HR director of the Carrefour group. “When you are confined, the border between morning, afternoon or evening no longer really exists. Nor the one between weekdays and weekends, "he continues.
Faced with this reduced influx, especially at the end of the day, several distributors have decided to review their closing times. Carrefour has now closed all of its supermarkets and hypermarkets “at the latest at 7 pm”. "Sometimes even earlier in certain areas," says Jérôme Nanty.
… Some Monoprix or Franprix at 8 p.m.
With the exception of those located in Paris, Lidl stores also lower the curtain at 7 p.m. or 7:30 p.m., some Monoprix or Franprix at 8 p.m. at the latest. "And this for two reasons: there is less crowds on the niche from 8 pm to 9 pm, people coming throughout the day, and this allows the teams to breathe," said the spokesperson for the group.
Auchan also lets its store managers make the decision on a case-by-case basis. "If they feel it's necessary, they can close at 8 p.m. It is useless to mobilize employees, already in great demand, for not much, we tell Auchan. They are also responsible for opening or not opening Sundays, depending on the number of people and the staff present. "
VIDEO. Coronavirus: "Our activity has increased by 30%", assures the manager of a drive
Other brands, on the other hand, have chosen not to change their opening hours. This is obviously the case for the drives, which are still just as busy. Casino even opens one hour earlier (at 7:30 am).
Intermarché also gives access to its stores from 8 am (slot reserved for the elderly) while maintaining its usual closing hours. “A wide hourly amplitude allows customers to better distribute their arrival during the day. If there are fewer customers present at the same time, this reinforces security with regard to compliance with the safety distances at the point of sale ”, specifies a spokesperson for the group Les Mousquetaires.
At Casino, wipes to clean automatic cash registers
The Casino brand is on the same wavelength. For the past two weeks, it has even continued to deploy its autonomous stores (those which can remain open without staff by operating only with automatic cash registers at certain times of the day) which have previously been controversial. “Today, we have just over 180 Casino supermarkets and hypermarkets that offer extended evening or night hours or Sunday afternoon openings using this automatic mode. This allows our customers to spread their purchases and meet as few people as possible, ”said the spokesperson for the group.
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But who is responsible for ensuring that health regulations are respected if no employee - apart from the security guards - is present? "We have wipes and gel available to allow customers to clean the automatic tills," she says. In addition, we have implemented filtering measures on very busy days. "