Monaco showed the way with its successful Sunday shopping, now Nice wants to catch up. Sundays in August will be dedicated to shopping following a last minute decision by the city council. Only 4 days before the first open Sunday, on July 28th, could the council come to an agreement about the terms of the four extraordinary trading days – Too short notice for many shops to open their doors.
Shopping without limits, but not everyone profits from the open Sundays in August
Consequently many shutters were down on the first Sunday this month. Only
a couple of larger chains like the Virgin Megastore profited from the
regulation, which applies to the main shopping street Avenue
Jean-Médecin and the surrounding area. The Virgin Store saw the day as a
trial run for the upcoming dates and was fully satisfied. As expected the new
opening hours attract mainly tourists.
Last weekend was the second chance for the businesses on Jean-Médecin,
but still many of the small merchants criticise the organisation. Of course
they want to profit from the high season, but why did it have to be on such
short notice? The abrupt decision did not leave enough time for smaller
businesses to reorganize their staff. Many of them just do not have the
workforce to keep their shops open 7 days a week. The merchants complain that
if the dates had been planned for September instead, they would have had a
chance to participate.
Sunday the 15th will be the third date and it seems as if the
big chains will be the main beneficiaries in the end. While department stores
like Virgin, FNAC and the famous Galeries Lafayette will attract tourists and
residents on this bank holiday, small boutiques, even in the huge mall
Nice-Etoile in the city centre, remain closed.
This was one of the arguments brought forward beforehand against the new
regulation, delaying a final decision. Already in the earliest stages of
discussion many merchants feared for loosing their customers to bigger shops. Especially
businesses which traditionally open on Sunday like bakeries and patisseries
were worried about the competition of supermarkets.
Apart from
all the argy-bargy and the businesses’ legitimate fear for their existence the
past Sunday-tradings brought a lot of fun and enjoyment to shoppers in Nice. Furthermore
these first complicated steps break ground for weekends to come. The three
Sundays in Advent are already approved as shopping days.
Life on the otherside of "La Manche"
Since moving to France a couple of weeks ago, I am slowly becoming accustomed to the culture and lifestyle. But something that I have struggled to understand is the way French shops operate, especially on Sundays.
Flicking through last weekend's Nice Matin I was surprised to see a double page spread dedicated to Sunday opening times. But surely most places will be open on Sunday? I thought. Obviously, that is not the case and I found this out for myself the following day.
Call me naïve, but I automatically assumed that French Sunday trading would be similar to that in Britain, restricted but automatic. Now, that I can see that this is not the case, I can't help but find it a little ironic that a secular country prohibits Sunday trading the way they do here.
In 2008, Swedish furniture giant Ikea was fined 850,000 euros for opening on Sundays after a public witchhunt by lawyer Vincent Lecourt, who has promised not to rest until major chains start adhering to the rules. Sounds to me like he could do with indulging in some weekend retail therapy.
Up and down the Riviera towns are taking advantage of having a month’s grace over the strict Sunday trading laws with stores opening in Cannes, Antibes and Saint-Laurent-du-Var as well as Nice and Monaco.
So with only three Sundays left to take advantage of a full seven days of shopping a week, it may be time to put all other plans aside and hit the stores.
TD & LS
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