in shops, redo shop windows and set up seasonal products and promotions before reopening

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In mid-March, during a videoconference meeting, Alain Griset, Minister for SMEs, tried to reassure the operators of stores and shopping centers, closed since the end of January and in demand for visibility. “Do not worry, for the reopening, you will be notified three weeks in advance”, he had then indicated. Feeling of dread in the assembly: “No need for three additional weeks, the traders replied. We can even reopen within three days! “” The situation was funny “, remembers a participant.

Non-essential goods shops should be able to welcome customers from Wednesday, May 19, as well as non-food departments in supermarkets. A “Visibility” welcome for traders, which goes in the direction of their request: “Reopen at the same time for all businesses regardless of their size or location”, recalled several trade federations in a press release on Friday, April 30.

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Provided, of course, that the health situation does not interfere with this schedule in certain regions. The largest surfaces and shopping centers exceeding 20,000 m2 have been closed since January 31, while smaller stores rolled back the curtain on April 3.

“Reopening parties”

Frédéric Merlin, the president of the Société des Grands Magasins, at the head of a dozen downtown shopping centers in France, is even thinking of celebrating this liberation. “We are thinking about organizing ‘reopening parties’ in the centers, with, for example, specific musical atmospheres or exceptional promotions in the stores”, he explains.

Preparations to organize the curtain raiser can finally begin in the stores… Even if, reopening after a change of season, for the clothing sector independents, it’s a bit like the cross and the banner. “I reopen with what? I only had big sweaters when I closed, and the suppliers in the center of Aubervilliers [Seine-Saint-Denis], where I get my supplies, are also closed ”, declares a shopkeeper from 15e district of Paris.

“I reopen with what? I only had big sweaters when I closed, and the suppliers in the center of Aubervilliers [Seine-Saint-Denis], where I get my supplies, are also closed, ”says a shopkeeper

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