Lost in thought, one hand on her cart, the other on her crutch, Feyza stops in front of the automatic glass door of the Intermarché store in the Rose-des-Vents, in Aulnay-sous-Bois. She is patient. Look up. The door does not open.
This Thursday morning, the curtain is partly down. Inside, you can see empty shelves, piled up boxes, and the beginnings of a jumble. ” It’s closed ? »Says Feyza to the onlookers sitting in front of the supermarket. “Yes, for a few days,” replies a man pulling on his cigarette.
At La Rose-des-Vents, the supermarket that opened ten years ago suddenly closed its doors at the end of last week. At issue: a dispute between the franchise managers and the parent company that owns the premises, the Immo-Mousquetaires group, the property company which manages real estate for the Intermarché brand.
A buyer expected, but when?
A buyer is well planned, but “we do not know when he will be able to settle, because of administrative details to be settled between the former managers and the owner”, explains Séverine Maroun. The first deputy mayor LR deplores “a brutal closure which deprives many families of a convenience store”.
Because, between 15,000 and 20,000 people live in the Rose-des-Vents, the official name of this city previously called “the 3,000”, in reference to the number of homes. The largest in the city, one of the largest in Seine-Saint-Denis. For the inhabitants, the sudden departure of their supermarket, which had made up for the closure of the Galion shopping center, signals the beginning of a big galley.
“We could see that the shelves were shrinking, were not being restocked. There have even been major promotional operations recently, on fresh produce… but we never suspected that it would close so quickly, ”says Tarik, a thirty-something from the neighborhood, used to shopping here. Like all residents, the young man has done his accounts.
A closure that “will do a lot of harm” to single mothers and the elderly
“Plan B is now the Lidl of the city of Europe, almost 1 km away. There is also O’Parinor and its huge Carrefour, but it’s three kilometers away. You need a car! There remains the Exotic Center, in the Étangs district, a bit less far, of course… but you don’t find the same as in a classic supermarket, ”explains Tarik, who does the shopping for his elderly parents every week.
For him, this closure “will do a lot of harm” to single mothers and the elderly: “In the neighborhood, there are a lot of people who don’t have a car. But even 500m with your arms full of races, it’s not playable when you have young children to manage, or when you are old and sick ”.
