More openings to support trade… and avoid crowds.
Like many prefects throughout France, the representative of the State in Hauts-de-Seine took decrees last Friday authorizing certain businesses to open on Sundays all day throughout the month of January.
"This follows national directives to support businesses but also the desire to better distribute the flow of customers and thus to comply even more with health rules", explains Vincent Berton, the secretary general of the prefecture.
It also specifies that the businesses concerned are those which have made the request via the professional federations.
This exemption therefore applies to seven branches: audiovisual stores and household equipment stores, ready-to-wear and lingerie stores, department stores, footwear, tableware and other brands. finally, car dealerships and so-called “popular” stores, ie distribution.
On the other hand, no bookstores open to the Sunday outing program.
Few traders yet informed
If the decrees were signed on Friday, few brands got wind of the information this Sunday morning.
This is particularly the case in Levallois-Perret, in the very commercial rue du Président-Wilson.
Half of the thirty stores, mainly major ready-to-wear brands, are open, like every Sunday morning.
But almost all of them plan to lower the curtain between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m., without changing their habits.
With the exception of two brands, but unrelated to the prefectural decree.
These are shops that offer "private sales" to their loyal customers and who had made specific requests to the town hall in a completely different setting.
Cities can in fact authorize twelve Sunday openings throughout the year.
"We will then continue with the sales on January 20, so with us it has already been organized for a long time, but it is true that each sign on the street does differently", explains the head of The Kooples.
"I will try to organize myself for the next Sundays in January"
Among franchisees and major brands, the saleswomen present this Sunday are not resistant to this opening all day but immediately point to the issues of remuneration and organization.
"You have to find volunteers, pay them double and then review the schedules to allow them to have two days off in the week", explains a store manager for children.
It is moreover clearly specified in the announcements of the prefect of Hauts-de-Seine that “the companies concerned must respect the rights of their employees as defined by articles L. 3132-25-3 and L. 3132-25- 4 of the labor code, in particular on respect for the principle of voluntary service ”.
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A simpler measure to apply when you are your own boss, like Chloe, who opened Romy, a small boutique for women's clothing on November 28, after the second confinement.
"I was not aware but I will try to organize myself for the next Sundays in January", explains the young woman.
Chloe, who opened her shop at the end of November, will try to organize to open every Sunday in January.
LP / A.-SD
“Why not, but everyone has to open up to create a dynamic, otherwise it is of no interest,” adds Carole, the manager of an independent shoe store.
“On Sunday mornings, there are a lot of traffic because of the market, but from 2 pm it's over,” she adds.
“We'll see if I'm in good enough shape since I'm alone,” explains Sylvain, one of the oldest traders in the street, who has been living here since 1964. “With the Internet, it attacks from everywhere and I am not certain that a few Sundays change a lot.
What is really damaging is to have delayed the start of sales to January 20, especially since by then we may all be re-defined, ”worries the merchant.