“The days are long. It’s stressful and tiring to see that. We just want everything to end quickly,” says Dominique Chabert, the manager of Maryland, behind his counter, with Marine, his young employee. Since March 17 and the closing of bars and cafes, the atmosphere is very different. The focal point of Foulayronnaise life and even more before the municipal elections, where we used to meet candidates, life in Maryland has changed a lot. There is no one left at the bar or in the room for a little aperitif and remake the world.
Staff mobilized
The establishment is suffering, like all businesses of this style, from the Coronavirus crisis. “We have a big shortfall with the loss of our sales of the whole café-bar and sandwich shop, due to their closure. We are still depositing bread.”
The Maryland team is on deck, Monday through Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. “We came to an agreement with Philippe Pinos, the manager of Intermarché, to open at the same time and thus allow our customers to have the possibility of going to one of the two”. Maryland is closed on Sundays and will reopen as soon as possible.
Attendance is therefore in free fall because of the confinement: “We have marked the ground with orange bands, for the direction of movement but people do not see them. Anyway currently there are very few people at the same time . They respect in any case the distance of two meters between them “. In addition, dropper visits are carried out at lightning speed. If the PMU corner is closed, Mondial relay parcels stopped, scratch cards, Loto and Euromilions games, postal service and parcel deposit continue.
New customers for the purchase of cigarettes
“Fortunately we have the sale of packs of cigarettes. We have a lot more customers coming from outside. They are probably people used to buying elsewhere. For us, it is more difficult for orders, compared to before. where we had a steady flow. Electronic cigarette sales are on the rise. The crowded area like arrow games, sudoku, etc. ” It is of course possible to get the Petit Bleu and the Dépêche du Midi. Apart from one employee, confined for childcare, all the staff take turns. Jean-Michel Chabert, the manager, if he is not necessarily visible, is also busy behind the scenes for administrative tasks and orders. “The clientele, understanding of the current situation, is very sympathetic. They are playing along”, rejoice the managers.
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