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In the stations and stations of Ile-de-France, shops reopen while trying to be optimistic

2021-05-21T00:51:43.111Z


Clothing, perfume or watch shops ... Many businesses, which know that "the recovery will take place very slowly", reopen


Finally, the curtain is ajar.

At the foot of the escalators, in the Gare de Lyon, the “non-essential” shops have re-lit the neon lights for a few days, to prepare for the reopening of this Wednesday, May 19.

In the Etam boutique, the saleswomen are setting up the new lingerie collection.

“We were six saleswomen, but there are only four left for the reopening,” says Adeline, one of the managers.

We had two contracts that we were unable to extend.

After the yellow vests in 2018 then the strike at the end of 2019, we are coming out of three very hard years ... But we refuse to complain and we hope that the regulars will come back to us soon.

"

"The recovery will take place very slowly"

At the other end of the network, in La Défense, the recovery is also expected to be timid at first.

The gigantic hub of exchange is almost deserted.

The usual executives of the business district are mostly teleworking.

"The reopening of the 4 Temps shopping center will bring us a little more people," hopes the manager of the Tamaris shoe store.

We have repacked the previous collection.

I also hope that customers will understand that we cannot sell off our products before the sales either ”.

Read alsoReopening of shopping centers: at Quatre-Temps, "the public will be safe"

For more than two months, only so-called essential shops, such as sandwich shops, continued to provide a little presence in the deserted corridors of RATP or SNCF commercial spaces. While the use of transport in the Ile-de-France region is capped at 50% of normal, the flow of customers will be permanently limited. "The recovery will take place very slowly," predicts Bruno Manciaux, manager of four Columbus & Co catering outlets in the metro. Until the tourists are back, we will be idling. I don't see a return to normal before 2022. "

To survive the shock of this interminable period of inactivity, “non-essential” traders have benefited from partial unemployment and state aid.

But also actions taken by RATP Travel Retail and its counterpart from SNCF Retail & Connexions, the entities that market the commercial spaces.

In 2020, the RATP exempted the 500 businesses from their occupancy fee between March and August.

For 2021, SNCF and RATP continued to support the most vulnerable companies by adjusting rents according to the drop in their turnover.

“Without all this help, we would all be unemployed,” notes Emilie, a perfume saleswoman.

I try to be optimistic: after everything we've been through, I think a lot of clients are going to want to have fun.

"

Source: leparis

All news articles on 2021-05-21

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