NormanH Posted March 8, 2017 Share Posted March 8, 2017 Have been a problem for a while, but now even the New York Times is writing about them.; and surprised me in that the last time I was in this town it felt relatively flourishinghttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/28/world/europe/france-albi-french-towns-fading.htmlOf course Béziers is famed for being one of the worst cases Le phénomène des commerces qui ferment les uns après les autres, ce qu'on appelle pudiquement la vacance commerciale, s'aggrave d'année en année. Entre 2001 et 2015, ce taux de magasins inoccupés est passé en France de 6,1 % à 10,4 %. Ce phénomène touche surtout les villes moyennes (de 10.000 à 100.000 habitants). En France, c'est Béziers qui affiche le pourcentage le plus élevé de boutiques abandonnées avec un taux de 24,4 % Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loiseau Posted March 9, 2017 Share Posted March 9, 2017 The only flourishing commerces in towns I know seem to be hairdressers, chemists, poodle parlours, tattooists - oh and insurance companies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted March 9, 2017 Author Share Posted March 9, 2017 There was a fashion about 2 years ago for electronic cigarette shops but they seem to have run out of breath.[:-))]I regret the dearth of real boulangers, who seem largely to have been replaced by industrial chain versions. I suppose it was a demanding lifestyle with a very early start, the risk of flour on the lungs, and the obligation to be open. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alittlebitfrench Posted March 9, 2017 Share Posted March 9, 2017 Out-of-town shopping centres and online shopping is killing rural/semi rural towns. Also of course, less disposable income and high costs of running a business does not help either.Plus of course, the younger generation are heading for cities.Another reason why France can't afford to lose the British moving to rural France. In fact they should be encouraging it !!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lehaut Posted March 9, 2017 Share Posted March 9, 2017 They need to invent charity shops here: It seems to keep the UK city centres busy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted March 9, 2017 Share Posted March 9, 2017 Our village had lots of commerces initially, and they whittled down, there are a few now, that have been there for years. I imagine that when the current owners retire, they may not be replaced though.They seem to be doing OK in spite of the village expanding there are not more than there were. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted March 9, 2017 Author Share Posted March 9, 2017 The village where I also have a flat is much less affected then Béziers, because the nearest town with grandes surfaces is over 25 kms away.This is primarily a decline in the centre of quite large towns that have out of town shopping areas around them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suein56 Posted March 9, 2017 Share Posted March 9, 2017 [quote user="Loiseau"]The only flourishing commerces in towns I know seem to be hairdressers, chemists, poodle parlours, tattooists - oh and insurance companies.[/quote]We don't have any tattooists - one opened a couple of years ago, lasted a few months and then closed down for good - but we do have an abundance of estate agents, at least 7 agencies for our population of around 7 000 permanent residents.Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alittlebitfrench Posted March 9, 2017 Share Posted March 9, 2017 I would say in the other place where we live, it is mostly estate agents and pharmacy's...lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gardengirl Posted March 9, 2017 Share Posted March 9, 2017 Our town has around 10,000 residents according to the mairie, although that was the number 9 years ago and lots of houses and apartments have been built by then. The number shoots up in the tourist season too. We are very well off for cafés, restaurants and everyday shops, although the only hardware shop closed last year and we've had a soap shop open fairly recently - on the slippery slope towards turning into a St Remy..........Quite a few shops/boutiques open each year in time for the tourist season, but most only last the one season.A couple of bakeries closed a year or two ago but one other opened; I think we still have 15 or so without counting any on the outskirts, so we're still well-endowed with those. I buy from two artisan bakeries, really enjoy watching through the pavement-side windows of one when they are busy baking. I also buy lovely cakes from one of the shops, where again everything is made on the premises, including delicious chocolates.There are three small supermarkets in the town centre, with two large ones on the outskirts. We have two markets each week, one mid-week selling only local produce and a huge provençal-type market on Saturdays.I've been down twice without a car recently; almost everything we need can be bought in town, otherwise it's a 1.50€ bus ride each way to Nîmes or Avignon, although friends are generous with lifts there and back too.I think we're pretty well-off for shops generally; the only thing we haven't been able to find was a mousseur for the kitchen tap - would that be an aerator? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave21478 Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 Albi has always been a weird place for shopping. Ten minutes walking in the centre will turn up half a dozen shops where you could spend over a hundred euros on a pair of lacy underpants or three hundred on a handbag with somebody elses name printed on it, but nowhere to buy something to eat or anything useful.Now, those same stupid boutiques are still there....the inevitable two dollybird sales assistants fiddling with their telephones in the empty shop and there is still nowhere to get something to eat and good luck finding a restaurant for lunch outside of tourist season.The article is hardly groundbreaking though is it? retail parks take business from town centres....That applies to pretty much everywhere in the western world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plod Posted March 16, 2017 Share Posted March 16, 2017 You obviously don’t know Albi very well. There are plenty of restaurants; I agree with the tenor of the rest in that it is very quiet, especially in the evening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alittlebitfrench Posted March 16, 2017 Share Posted March 16, 2017 @ PlodDave does not do France. It is best not to talk about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted March 16, 2017 Share Posted March 16, 2017 [quote user="plod"]You obviously don’t know Albi very well. There are plenty of restaurants.[/quote] Plenty that can be found by walking 10 minutes in the twon centre? If I arrived by train at 16.00 would I find anything at all anywhere to eat? I dont know Albi but i know the answer in my town centre. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybanana Posted March 16, 2017 Share Posted March 16, 2017 Dave, I am impressed by your knowledge of the knicker shops of Albi; obviously you have gone to a lot of trouble to sniff them out!My little village of Montreuil sur Mer still has a hardware store and an old fashioned, private DIY store, but both the owners will be retiring in a couple of years and feel that noone will want to take on theses businesses. Such a pity.But, they are both very expensive and the choice is somewhat limited.Guess we all have to get used to change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted March 16, 2017 Share Posted March 16, 2017 You mean the nearest town to your village I presume WB? Montreuil and the areas around it are very very nice, well chosen!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted March 16, 2017 Share Posted March 16, 2017 I did my little bit to delay the inevitable closure of our rip off bricolage shops today, I needed 7 metres of 10mm2 earth cable, bricodepot is €1.22 per metre but a 30 minute drive away, we have both a M. Bricolage and a Brico-Marché locally, having checked the B-D base price I knew that one shop would be 60% more expensive and the other 40-50% more expensive than that, the only doubt is which one is going to be the lesser rip off. And of course I was right, €1.91 per metre in Bricomarché and €2.95 in M. Bricolage. They have a cartel running between them, for any product one will be 40-50% more expensive than the other and even within the same line, ie 2.5mm cable will be cheaper at one, 6mm at the other, 10mm at the first one, 16mm at the other and so on, their base price is always 50% more than B-D, on average a basket of products from either will be 220% more expensive than Bricodepot, if I need anyting more than €13 its cheaper to spend the diesel to go to Brico-depot. If its one cheap item like the cable I go into my normal routine, drive to the first one and check the price, then go to the second one, buy it there if its cheaper or return home via the first one, I always save 40% by doing this every single time, if I need 3 or 4 things even if they wont cost the €13 threshold its too much to-ing and fro-ing so Brico-depot wins again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted March 17, 2017 Share Posted March 17, 2017 Talking to a friend and she said that a proper supermarket is going to open just outside the village. Her worry is that the butchers and bakers will close, the only place she reckons that will remain open is the Tabac, as folks'll still need their tobacco. Also, as the post office has now closed the tabac has taken over some of the services. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pommier Posted March 17, 2017 Share Posted March 17, 2017 A village we used to live in in Normandy has a small Ecomarche, but the three bakers still kept going as they supplied the supermarket with bread, each supplying on two days a week. It seemed a sensible solution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre ZFP Posted March 20, 2017 Share Posted March 20, 2017 There was an interesting article on Dinain on BBC 'From Our Own Correspondent'. I always knew it was a grindingly poor place even at the height of the coal mining when the miners were treated worse than slaves as revealed by Emile ZolaThe only difference now seems to be that there is no longer coal mining. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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