Recovery ?
Parisian traders do not see it coming.
Unlike several sectors which have benefited from a strong rebound in consumption since May, in Paris and Île-de-France, activity remains sluggish, far from its 2019 levels. the alarm bell.
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A study published on Saturday by the Federation of Parisian Traders and Craftsmen Associations (FACAP), the Alliance du Commerce, the Confederation of Independent Traders of France and the federations of clothing and shoe retailers underlines that "
nothing is going anymore.
" in the Paris region. "
Paris is failing to recover
", and its turnover collapsed by 21% in June 2021, compared to the same period two years earlier, in the clothing sector, considered to be representative of the "
Dynamism of trade in the capital
", reports the document.
The drop differs depending on the district: those for business and tourism are "
on the verge of death
", whether it is the Champs-Élysées (-39%), the Saint-Germain / Saint-Michel district (- 28%), left bank, or the Opéra / Haussmann district (-33%), in the 9th arrondissement. The same goes for Les Halles, Le Marais or Beaugrenelle.
"
The figures come from the traders themselves
", explains to
Le Figaro
the president of FACAP, Thierry Veron. His organization prides itself on representing “
about 8000 businesses in Paris
”. Businesses suffer first of all from a flight of international tourists, in the capital as well as in the Paris region. "
This lack of customers explains these figures so bad in Paris, compared to the rest of France
", worries the representative. On Saturday, the boss of the Paris Tourist Office, Jean-François Rial, gave a pessimistic panorama of the season, on France Inter: after a "
rush
" in May and June, reservations fell, as the variant Delta was growing. "
People [...] enroll least [...] and
c
e rush is about to fall sharply
, "he regretted.
Deporting the debate on the ZTL
In addition, the capital also suffers from a problem of "
mobility
" and parking, linked to the management choices of the town hall. “A
lot of businesses are complaining. Some customers tell them: 'We can no longer come to your home, we can no longer park because there are cycle paths'
"or ephemeral terraces, reports Thierry Veron. This “
total aversion
” for the car scares customers away from the capital, in favor of peripheral shopping centers. “
The issue of mobility will weaken the commercial attractiveness of Paris. If we do not come back to it, we risk having establishments closed
, ”warns our interlocutor.
The FACAP notably asks the socialist town hall to deport the explosive debate on the establishment of a “
limited traffic zone
” (ZTL) from 2022 to the national commission for public debate (CNDP). "
The subject is serious, too much not to treat it seriously
", considers Thierry Veron. Professionals are worried about a reform that risks worsening the bleeding for the sector: "
the cars will evaporate, they will go where they can go
", in the suburbs, therefore. A “
recovery plan
” integrating the city's safety and cleanliness issues is also suggested.
Refusing to play politics, the boss of the FACAP calls on the mayor of Paris to "
go back on certain points
" of his program, so that small businesses are not the turkeys of the farce. Because a city center without stores is a dead city center.