When are the French going to learn that closing all their shops on holidays, especially this week, really does not help the economy. Leclerc was open today but closed yesterday, but the drycleaners within the huge store was closed. The store was jam packed. Gamm Vert, Bricomarche, Briconaute all closed. So who is going to break the mold and open on a holiday so that people that work can actually go and buy whatever they want when they want?
:-D
:)
Well if it's in The Connexion it must be right.
Well, there you go. The May holidays cost the French economy 2 billion euros according to The Connexion.
on a pris un petit pont, ou un week-end selon beaucoup de nos clients, un pote a fait le viaduc et un client a parlé d'un aqueduc ce matin, mdr !!!
I avoid supermarkets when possible, and try to buy all our veg at the greengrocers, all our meat in the butchers, dairy from the co-op (there is a raw milk dispenser in the village), and there is the "egg man", for eggs, and poultry.
Because of that, I am succeptible to closures, and because I work in a job that isn't 9-5, monday to friday, as does OH, neither of us think in terms of days of the week, or even hours of the day, sometimes, meaning we get caught out.
The freezer is usually well stocked, but there are times, like this week, when we need something specific, and we go out into the village, only to find it has become a ghost town, even the bars are closed.
Thones has been a ghost town for 3 days now. I need a part for my drill, and will have to wait till monday.
Have you heard the question everyone was asking this Monday 'Est-ce-que tu fais le viaduct?' ie a very, very long 'pont'...!
Friday 10th May in Amiens - schools are shut, the CAF is shut, many public offices too. Fortunately the bank and the Mairie were open, as it's the one day I've been able to get into town to do vital administration for ages (being on the viaduct myself...) :)
I grew up in the UK. When I was a child, there was "half day closing" (Thursday afternoon, I think) in our nearest town, and most shops closed at 5.30pm. I remember Sainsbury's arriving and opening until 7.30pm, which everyone thought was a tremendous innovation.
Small shops around here (I'm 20km from Fontainebleau) are all closed all day on Monday. Some open on Sunday morning to cash in on trade from the market. Small shops also close for two hours at lunchtime. I work fulltime (self-employed) and appreciate that my local supermarket is open on a Sunday morning, but I could manage without if I had to. Because I have to drive 5km to the nearest shop and 8km to the nearest bakery, I live with lists and a full freezer and store cupboards. As far as I'm concerned, in an era of fridges and freezers, people don't NEED to shop every day, they just need to get organised!
I don't think anyone needs 24/7 opening. What about the safety of staff travelling home after their shifts?
Extending the original topic ever so slightly, in quite a number of countries even Saturday afternoon shopping used to be a rarity, or with closing quite early (like 14:00 or 16:00) on a Saturday. These seemed to be mainly germanic & scandinavian countries. Living right on the Swiss border, I've seen how the Swiss shops round here have gradually opened later & later on a Saturday over the years. People tell me that this has also happened in Germany & Denmark, and elsewhere, I'm sure.
What has, however, always struck me is just how busy French shops are on a Saturday around 19:00 - 20:00, and I wondered if anyone knew why this should be so. It was noticeable even many years ago when shops in most other countries would be closed way before 18:00 and it still seems to be the case. Is it just because 'it's always been like that', or were so many people working on Saturday in the past that it was the only time available? I'm sure there is a reason behind this, or maybe more than one.
Morning Celeste, i'm not even sure it's about consumerism, it's just about the pint of milk when you need it. I remember when I lived in Belgium, the day shop would close at 8, or therabouts, and the night-shop would open, just across the road, it meant that no matter what time, day, or night, you always had the basics, bread, milk, beer, shower gel, even a frozen pizza.
I'm not saying toni and guy, and H&M should be open 24/7, but what's wrong with the small businesses that would like to open on a sunday, or bank holiday opening. We are starting to see, in Annecy, more and more small shops opening on sundays, and they weem to say they're doing well.
Jesus, you just reminded me of good friday back home, and when I sit out on a terrace with a beer, and might text a friend back home, I get all sorts of comments.
In saying that, the queen's birthday in Australia... nothing open, not even a resto. The problem is, in Oz, there are 2 queen's birthdays.
Yesterday I drove into Paris with a friend (160km round trip) to go to an exhibition at the Mona Bismark centre. They are only open Wednesday-Sunday. Before leaving I again checked opening hours on their website. There was nothing about closing on Thursday 9th May, but when we got there, everything was well and truly closed. I shall be asking them for free entry tickets in compensation. We did do something else, but not the exhibition I went for.
Patrick, I think France has learnt from the chaos within the UK, Public Holidays shops closed Simple.
Zoe - Carrefour owns the shopping centre! If the little shops don't comply, leases aren't renewed...
I am also married to a French national, Andy, and if you wish (as many often do) to take offence where none is meant, then please feel free to do so. Unforunately, tone does not convey well in the typed word.
I never said anyone was committing a crime, Andy, let's not dramatise the situation. I'm saying that if you have signed a contract for a 43 hour week, counting the seconds at 42 hours is lazy. I'm saying using a bank holiday as an excuse for a sleep in when ALL your colleagues are working, and in an area where national holidays are not recognised is lazy, yes. What if all the people who signed contracts which include Christmas and new year all told me they wanted the two most important nights of the year off. What do I do, one week beforehand, when there are about 100 or 150 people booked in for dinner? People sign a contract with certain conditions involved. If the person signs, but then decides they will change A,B, and C of the contract.. they are not worth having as personnel.
this happens to me every year. My team all dodge work on these days, and as for lazy, yes, when you have sore knuckles from knocking on staff room doors at 8AM to wake up an entire team of drunken waiters, irresponsible, and lazy are the words
I don't see how the hairdresser in a shopping mall is forced to open when the super is open too. They all have roller shutters where I live, and all shops open and close as they please, even though the Carrefour, or Auchan stay open till 9
I appreciate that there are some people who have difficulties with local opening hours and want to shop on public holidays. However, I think that (i) employees should have the right to say no to working on public holidays. If shop employees said no, then shops wouldn't open; (ii) an awful lot of people should find themselves something more worthwhile to do; and (iii) above all hypermarkets should stop pressuring the small shops in their shopping centres to open because they do. When Carrefour in Villiers-en-Bière opens on public holidays, it obliges the shops in the shopping centre to open too. People might go to a hypermarket on a public holiday, but the hairdresser is also obliged to open and doesn't take enough to cover the extra staff wages - for staff who don't want to be there anyway. It's time a little common sense was applied.
Not a particulary pleasant rant Zoe, there are French nationals and some married to them on this site who will find your comments unsulting. So workers who refuse to work extra shifts are lazy, is that what you are saying? I see no crime in some workers sticking to the 35 week if they wish to do so.
The tyre company executive you speak of visited a factory in Amiens already on short time, made some disparaging spurious comments about the workers, and then left to buy a factory in either China or India where he can pay a Euro an hour and import as many as he likes into France.
"can refuse to work"... only someone very lazy would "refuse to work, within reason. I work in hotels, and the management thereof. When the hotel actually makes money from holidays, and the people working seasons in the hotels know this, there is still a huge contingent of French people who will just refuse to work at the drop of a hat. Taking their hour off on sundays to go to "mass" (also known as propping up the PMU for an hour), and so on.
I read earlier in the year of a foreign tyre company pulling out of France because they workers only work a small number of hours, and refuse to do overtime, or weekends, even when offered double, and triple time.
You go most other countries on a sunday, you'll find shops, even clothes shops open, garden centres, open, bricorama type places, all open.. why?? Because they know that Sunday is the one day when people are NOT in the office, and so can get the painting, gardening, and extra bit of shopping done.
I have no idea why France has not caught on to this. apart from the lazy workforce, that is.