After the violence that affected many small businesses, professionals will be able to benefit from new measures to revive themselves. In order to bring some fresh air to traders and relieve them, the Minister Delegate in charge of Small and Medium Enterprises in particular announced this Wednesday the extension of the sales. Consumers will therefore be able to take advantage of price reductions for a few more days: “At the request of merchants, we are going to extend the sales by one week, until August 1,” Olivia Grégoire told France 2.
In addition to this emergency measure, the Minister Delegate also announced that all traders will be able to open this Sunday, regardless of the usual time constraints. “The prefects will receive an instruction so that all traders who wish to open on Sunday can do so to catch up with last weekend,” she said.
The weekends are indeed “decisive” during the sales. However, the first weekend of the summer sales, July 1 and 2, was largely marred by the urban tensions that plagued several urban centers. In a press release published on Wednesday, the Alliance du Commerce estimated that the riots linked to the death of Nahel “brought a sudden halt to sales activity” in most stores. “The first few days of sales are critical for merchant success. They represent at least 25% of the activity carried out during the period! However, some traders have suffered losses of turnover of up to -36% as in Strasbourg, -24% in Marseille, ”deplores the federation. The fall is particularly marked in the Paris region, where the Alliance du Commerce recorded an overall drop of -2% in turnover over these first days.
At the same time, professionals warn of the destruction suffered by many of them. More than a thousand businesses have been vandalized during the urban riots that have rocked the country in recent days, including several hundred tobacco shops, for example. However, only one in two businesses is insured against operating losses and can therefore be compensated for the loss of profit linked to the closure, before a potential reopening. If the executive claims to be alongside small bosses, in particular by allowing them to benefit from deferrals or even cancellations of charges, their concern therefore remains.