“Another blow of the club”, Calmly analysis in Lille Romuald Catoire this morning of Saturday March 20: since midnight, Lille like the Hauts-de-France region is one of the 16 departments where this”3rd containment new formula“applies.
This Lille camera seller, president of the Lille Federation for the Trade in Crafts and Services, was unable, like 90,000 other stores in France, to open its doors. Neither the sale of cameras, nor the taking of photographs are in fact part of the “essential shops”, The list of which was expected after the announcements of Jean Castex, and the statements of the government which followed.
The decree published this morning came to confirm his hopes of seeing the list of exceptions grow, he who came from 9am to set up the click and collect and “all these other tools of the 1st and 2nd containment”.
“Small traders are doing everything to adapt”, He explained,“and customers don’t forget us”He added, gratefully. His fear? That this confinement, and therefore the closure of his business, lasts longer than the four weeks planned.
Florists, hairdressers, chocolate makers, and why not jewelers?
“Overnight we are told to close”, Regrets this other shopkeeper“non-essential”From Linselles (North), Marie-Hélène Sence. In this small town located between Lille and the Belgian border, the jeweler “angry and disillusioned”Also organizes the click and collect and updates his Instagram in his sixty-six year store, before looking back on these last days of “soft focus”.
“We thought we had left, we brought in stock again, we started to resume a normal rhythm, she remembered, and there, for a month, nothing. We will have been closed for 3 and a half months in all, in addition to pivotal periods, we will not make up for lost time and moneys”.
An “arbitrary” difference in treatment
The object of his incomprehension: the feeling of having already done a lot to “sanitize everything, arrow, check the gauge and the wearing of the mask in his store, as well as pack everything”. But it is above all this difference in treatment between those who can remain open to them, such as florists and chocolate makers, and jewelers, that she judges “arbitrary“.
These two professions, which were not part of the businesses that could open during the first two confinements, are well listed as “essential”In the decree published this morning. Bruno Le Maire gave the reason this morning at our colleagues from France Inter : “Why florists? Because they sell almost half of their stock at spring time. Why chocolate makers? Because we have Easter coming and they make a very large part of their turnover in that period”.
Open or closed businesses, a return to absurdity? “We are tailor-made.” This is “not ideal but it corresponds to a simple logic: guaranteeing the health security of the French and preserving economic activity as much as possible.” @BrunoLeMaire #Narretepasleco @France Inter pic.twitter.com/2BIG2mEZX6
— Alexandra Bensaid (@Alex_Bensaid) March 20, 2021
“I’m really happy for them”, Explains the shopkeeper,“but I want to say: why not us, while we are in the middle of a period of communion, of baptisms, with the period of weddings which will soon begin”?
The point is rightly underlined by Christophe Petit, the president of U2P, the Union of local businesses Hauts-de-France. “When it was announced that hairdressers could open, which is welcomed, many hoped to be one of the exceptions for a day. And no. We were really hoping for more openness”, He regretted, after having read the decree. “Our feeling, he added, is that these government decisions were taken hastily and above all without consultation”.
A lack of information deplored by traders
Another object of criticism from northern traders: the lack of information on the part of the State. “Who can stay open, who should close, it is not necessarily clear to all those who are not members of a union or who are not familiar with social networks”, Summed up this small business unionist.
The case of shoemakers, for example, remained unclear this morning after reading the decree which does not list this profession among the essential businesses, in contradiction with the press release from the Ministry of the day before which listed the latter among the exceptions.
We called each other among shoemakers. We concluded that we could open this morning
“If so, we are open”, Confirmed this shoemaker from Croix on the phone this morning. “There was indeed a blur, but we called among shoemakers, and we concluded that we could open this morning”, Explained the fifty-year-old, relieved to be able to work. “We are showered with information, but when it comes to practical matters, there is no one left“, he added.
Finally, the official decree of the essential “commercial” sectors: shoemaking would no longer appear.
– Dominique C. SMALL (@DOCEKL) March 20, 2021
Jean-Pierre Verneau, the president of the French Federation of multiservice shoemaking, explained this morning that he had joined the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises. “I have been confirmed that shoemaking operations may well remain open in confined areas. This profession does not appear on the last decree because we were already authorized to open”.
What aid for “non-essentials”?
Shoemakers therefore escape closure. But what about the others, the “non-essential”, Limited to click and collect? “We were told that we will be entitled to the same aids as during the confinement in November, indicates the president of the Lille Federation of Trade in Crafts and Services, i.e. partial unemployment up to 84%”.
“But for example, for the reimbursement of rents (Editor’s note announced by the vice-president of the Region on Friday morning with our colleagues from France Bleu Nord), we do not know what conditions will have to be met to be eligible”. However, for the month of November, he added, “I can tell you that it was quite complicated to fill them out, many businesses are excluded”.
This morning, the Minister of the Economy announced four additional support measures for closed businesses the implementation of which will be particularly scrutinized by Christophe Petit.
Stocks for clothing stores, solidarity funds: @BrunoLeMaire announces new decisions to support businesses. #Narretepasleco @France Inter pic.twitter.com/gjDN41rKxL
— Alexandra Bensaid (@Alex_Bensaid) March 20, 2021
For the latter, there is no doubt: “All fixed charges should be borne by the State for these administrative closures”. A “minimum”For all those traders who would like not to have to ask for help, like the traders surveyed.
“What hurts us the most is this date, one year to the day after the start of the first confinement“, explains Romuald Catoire,”on the war footing for twelve months“, testifying to”the immense weariness among Lille traders“. A feeling shared by the jeweler from Linselles:”All we want is to open up and work”.
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