It was a reopening expected by some consumers. In Paris, the famous Printemps Haussmann department store, closed since mid-March because of the coronavirus epidemic, reopened on Thursday.
Read also: Printemps Haussmann reopens this Thursday
A queue had formed before the doors opened, scheduled for 11 a.m., noted an AFP journalist. The customers were masked and came in numbers to this flagship place in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, after more than two months of closure.
Customers await the opening of Printemps Haussmann in Paris on May 28, 2020. THOMAS SAMSON / AFP
Strict sanitary rules
The previous days, Printemps employees had prepared the department store to welcome the public in compliance with the rules of health precaution, via the establishment of signposted routes, the distribution of hydroalcoholic gel, awareness messages.
It was time, its director Pierre Pelarrey told AFP on Wednesday. " We need to make turnover ", because " since the confinement, that is to say on March 15, it was at zero ", but " with the fixed costs that continue to run ", he explained .
It is however " almost certain that we will not have the attendance that we usually have ", in particular because of the absence of foreign customers, he explained. The flagship of the group, Printemps Haussmann normally welcomes more than 20 million annual visitors, including many tourists.
Snowball effect ?
The Paris police prefect had prohibited the shopping center, like many others in Paris, from reopening in application of a government decision preventing the reopening of sites of more than 40,000 square meters in the Paris region, due to persistent health risks . But the administrative court of the capital suspended this decision, the sign having pleaded welcoming the public on several separate sites, none of which exceeds 40,000 square meters. Le Printemps was therefore able to reopen its doors.
Read also: Philippe Moati: "Returning to social life changes purchasing behavior"
This decision could snowball because the nearby Galeries Lafayette, another Mecca of Parisian shopping, confirmed to AFP that they also filed a legal action to be able to reopen their doors. The response of the justice should intervene very soon. Earlier already, last week, the Beaugrenelle shopping center was able to reopen. The Paris administrative court had indeed suspended the prefect's order closing this shopping center.
