The self-tests long awaited by supermarkets are starting to arrive in the region. Some boxes were delivered this morning as in this supermarket in Dijon (Côte-d’Or). Customers are already numerous, especially in anticipation of the New Year.
They made their arrival in supermarkets. The self-tests are now available in certain supermarkets in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, in particular in Dijon (Côte-d’Or). Customers are already numerous a few hours before Christmas Eve on December 31st.
“There has been a very strong demand since the beginning of the week, since we were authorized to market these self-tests. Every day, customers asked us for them”, confides William Thuel, manager of the Intermarché Jean Jaurès store in Dijon. As a reminder, the government authorized this Tuesday, December 28, supermarkets to sell self-tests on their shelves, until January 31, 2022. Previously, they were only available in pharmacies.
Intermarché Jean Jaurès in Dijon has chosen to make self-tests available at the reception of its store, in order to supervise distribution. “It is the hostesses who distribute them to customers who need them. With the masks, we realized that self-service distribution was complicated”, describes William Thuel. In total, the box of 5 self-tests is displayed at 6.20 euros, a cost price. “It is one box per household that we donate”, specifies the store manager.
For comparison, a single pharmacy test costs between 4 and 5 euros. This client welcomes the price differential and the ease of access to tests in supermarkets: “It’s good because in pharmacies, it’s more expensive and it allows everyone to have it”.
This Friday, December 31, all the customers came to get their supplies in anticipation of the New Year’s Eve. “Tonight, we would like to be clean as a family. There aren’t many of us but you never know. So I came to look for a box to be sure. And if we are ever positive, we will stay at home!”, details a retiree. “It is as a precaution that we do that. If we go out, we have to be tested, we are careful. I came because in the pharmacy there was none”, adds a lady.
But Intermarché is not the only brand to offer self-tests in its stores. The Carrefour and Leclerc franchises have also announced that they will sell them to their client. This Friday morning, we therefore went to other supermarkets in the Dijon metropolitan area to try and get ourselves a precious box before the New Year’s festivities.
Head first to the Carrefour de la Toison d’Or hypermarket where it is well planned to sell it, but “from Wednesday… normally!”, explains an employee. A client hears that Leclerc has it. But again, it is the disappointment. That of Chenôve does not have any, that of the North Cape zone has not received them.
We then try a neighborhood mini-market. The manager of a Casino Shop unpacks the goods just delivered this Friday… but no self-tests in the lot. “I have understood that we will have the right to sell some, but I have no date”.
If customers welcome the arrival of self-tests in supermarkets, for Pierre-Olivier Variot, president of the Union of unions of dispensing pharmacists (USPO) and pharmacist in Plombières-lès-Dijon, this government decision constitutes a “serious political fault”. “A lot of people come to buy it just to be sure, and may not report if they are positive afterwards.”, he breathes.
Faced with competition from hypermarkets, self-tests could become a rare commodity in pharmacies once supermarkets have filled their stocks.
A pharmacist we met this Friday, December 31, explained to us that he no longer ordered self-tests knowing that they are sold for more attractive prices in shopping areas.
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