SEE Covid-19 puts dampener on Christmas reopening of iconic Paris stores

After another month of lockdown, the doors are finally open again at Paris’s flagship department stores. The Christmas lights are on and the festive window displays are in place, but, with tourists noticeably absent, there might not be much for the stores to celebrate this Christmas.

Non-essential shops were finally allowed to reopen across France on November 28. With Christmas fast approaching, these major stores are looking forward to welcoming their old customers back in an attempt to save a disastrous economic year and hopefully look forward to 2021 with some optimism. But the dearth of tourists will have a serious impact on their annual revenue.

On one of Paris’s most famous shopping streets, Boulevard Haussman, the landmark Parisian department stores are already dressed up in their Christmas finery. The annual festive window displays show no traces of the coronavirus scrooge and the giant Christmas tree is in pride of place at the heart of the Galeries Lafayette.

“Reopening four weeks before the Christmas holidays is very good news for our members,” says Yohann Petiot, general manager of Alliance du Commerce, which brings together department stores and clothing and footwear retailers. “Now we’re going to do everything we can to save Christmas”.

“2020 has been very difficult for department stores,” Petiot explains in an interview with FRANCE 24. Over the course of the year, these key Paris shops have had to contend with three full months of shuttered windows.

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The CEO of the Galeries Lafayette group, Nicolas Houzé, estimated the loss to be as much as half of the sales for the entire year in an article in Le Monde. That company did at least benefit from the earlier opening of the BHV DIY department, the Lafayette food shop and the Italian delicatessen Eataly, as they fell into the category of essential shops.

The situation is much gloomier for neighbouring store Printemps, which this week announced a redundancy plan aimed at ensuring its survival. Seven stores will be forced to close in the coming months, threatening 430 jobs out of the 3,000 staff the group currently employs.

This restructuring comes not only as a result of the Covid-19 crisis: the group has been losing momentum for several years and the clothing market has fallen by 15% over the past decade. “Added to these economic challenges, there were the terrorist attacks, the Yellow Vest demonstrations, the transport strikes,” explains a spokesperson for Printemps. “Covid aggravated an already dire situation.”

Tourists contribute 40%-50% of trade

State financial aid — including a partial unemployment grant and help with commercial leases for the month of November, when department stores were forced to close — has helped to absorb some of the losses due to the crisis. “But there is no contingency plan for all the stock we already have, we must somehow sell what we’ve got,” says Petiot.

Petiot hopes that customers will flood back to the big stores “out of solidarity” to help reduce the stockpile. But Paris luxury goods shops will have to rely on a local clientele for the meantime, as international tourists are still not allowed to travel to France. “This represents a huge loss of income. Tourists represent 40% to 50% of the sales,” he says. “The exceptions are the shops BHV and Bon Marché, which are more oriented towards a Parisian clientele”.

Since the 1980s, Paris’s landmark department stores — which have existed for more than a century — have always relied on a high-end foreign clientele, says Sabine Heitz-Spahn, a marketing professor at the University of Lorraine who specialises in city shops. “This clientele is motivated by the pleasure of buying luxury goods at a lower tax rate, certainly, but they also come to discover the majesty of these shops. It’s a key tourist experience.”

These classic department stores are now suffering as a result of this strong dependence on foreign consumers, having failed to invest sufficiently in online retail.

“Management did not realise the importance of digital in recent years. As a result, they have invested little in digital tools,” Heitz-Spahn explains. “This was a huge strategic mistake, even before the arrival of Covid-19.”

>> Read: France unveils €100 billion economy ‘reboot’ rescue plan

Covid accelerated digital transformation

This year’s two lockdowns did have the knock-on effect of forcing flagship stores to quickly immerse themselves in distance selling services: click & collect, e-reservations, online shopping, personal shopper by video.

“The Covid-19 crisis has acted like a foot on the pedal in our digital transformation,” says Petiot.

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After the first lockdown, Galeries Lafayette sales staff also learned to focus on a more local clientele, especially the younger customers, by attracting them via social networks.

“We highlight key products from our collections via Stories on Instagram,” says a ready-to-wear manager, who prefers to remain anonymous. “It’s up to us to recreate a sense of longing.”

The end of this second lockdown is accompanied by at least a real glimmer of hope: the possibility of a vaccine in the coming months.

“For us, this vaccine signals the possibility of an imminent return of our important international business,” says Petiot.

Coronavirus: French lockdown to ease after second peak passes

France will begin to ease its strict coronavirus restrictions this weekend, allowing non-essential shops to reopen, President Emmanuel Macron has said.

People will also be able to share “moments with the family” over the Christmas period, Mr Macron announced.

But he said bars and restaurants would have to remain closed until 20 January.

France has reported more than 2.2 million cases and more than 50,000 confirmed coronavirus-related deaths since the start of the pandemic.

In a televised address on Tuesday evening, Mr Macron said the country had passed the peak of the second wave of virus infections.

He said that the bulk of lockdown restrictions would be eased from 15 December for the festive period, with cinemas reopening and general travel restrictions lifted, as long as new infections were at 5,000 a day or less.

On Monday, France reported 4,452 daily Covid-19 infections — its lowest tally since 28 September.

The latest seven-day rolling average for new infections in France is reported to be 21,918. That figure peaked at 54,440 on 7 November.

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Mr Macron said the recent news of successful vaccine trials offered “a glimmer of hope” and that France would aim to begin vaccinations against Covid-19 “at the end of December or at the beginning of January”, starting with the elderly and most vulnerable.

The French president said the situation would be reviewed on 20 January, and if infections remained low, bars and restaurants would then be permitted to reopen. Universities would also be able to accept students again.

However, if the situation had worsened, he said he would look at options to avoid triggering a third wave.

“We must do everything to avoid a third wave, do everything to avoid a third lockdown,” Mr Macron said.

He later tweeted to say that all businesses forced to remain closed during the restrictions, such as restaurants, bars and sports halls, would have the choice of receiving up to €10,000 (£8,900) from a “solidarity fund” or the payment of 20% of their turnover.

He said that France’s ski resorts may have to remain closed until next year because the current risks associated with the virus made it difficult for such sports to resume.

However, he said he would discuss the issue with other European leaders and provide an update in the coming days.

Ski resorts were responsible for numerous outbreaks of Covid-19 cases across Europe in the early days of the pandemic.

Mr Macron said the lockdown would be replaced by a nationwide curfew between 21:00 and 07:00, except on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.

France has been under a second national lockdown since the beginning of November. People have only been permitted to leave home to go to work, buy essential goods, seek medical help or exercise for one hour a day. Anyone going outside must carry a written statement justifying their journey.

While all non-essential shops, restaurants and bars have been shut, schools and crèches have remained open. Social gatherings have been banned.

Measures to deal with coronavirus outbreaks remain in place across Europe, but a reduction in daily reported cases in some areas — coupled with the reported success of a number of vaccines — has led countries to revisit their restrictions. Some of the latest developments include:

• Along with France, politicians from other nations — including Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte — have said that Europe’s ski resorts should close over the winter and that it is too risky to spend the Christmas holiday on the snow
• The developers of Russia’s main coronavirus vaccine — Sputnik V — have said that it is proving to be up to 95% effective. They have also said that it will be cheaper — and easier to store and transport — than its competitors in the US. Some critics have suggested the vaccine is being rushed through, but Moscow rejects this
• Austria and Spain both announced vaccination plans. Nursing home residents and workers in Spain will be first in line to be vaccinated, while in Austria elderly, at-risk groups and health professionals will be prioritised. Both countries hope to start in January
• Leaders in Germany’s 16 federal states have agreed to allow gatherings of up to 10 people over Christmas and the New Year, allowing some families and friends to get together, but dashing hopes for larger gatherings