From this Monday, February 1, opticians in shopping centers of more than 20,000 m2 are forced to close shop like other stores considered non-essential, causing general misunderstanding. This is particularly the case at the Toison d’Or in Dijon (Côte-d’Or).
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“We are in the most total incomprehension“. Philippe Guillou is the manager of two Krys optical stores. One is located in the Toison d’Or shopping center in Dijon, the other in the city center of the city of the Dukes. Since this morning, his phone just keeps ringing. “Today, we are harassed by our customers who need their glasses“.
Many of his customers want to collect their order for glasses or glasses. Only here, unlike the second confinement, he can not this time receive them or deliver their orders.
No distinction this time between essential shops or not
Faced with controversy, the notion of “essential” or “non-essential” trade no longer exists today. With the closure of non-food shopping centers of more than 20,000 m² (and of certain shopping malls) announced on Friday evening by Prime Minister Jean Castex, it is therefore all gallery stores that must close their doors except pharmacies and shops. “of mouth”.
“Some of my customers go to pick up their capsules at Nespresso next door, which is number 1 in home delivery. They can go and buy chocolate from Jeff in Bruges. However, they cannot come and collect glasses ordered from me., “deplores Philippe Guillou.
Fortunately for him, he has a second store in the city center of Dijon. He will therefore have to reorganize all his activity this week. “We have a whole organization to set up in order to deliver all our glasses to the city center, ” explains the optician. “We are seeing how we can make shuttles.”
“For us, it’s complicated. We have no possibility of confusing our customers.”
More law in the gallery of the Golden Fleece, the six advisers of Atol chain calls behind the lowered gates. Nicolas Desprets, the manager, is not lucky enough to have a second store in the city center. It must therefore find solutions to overcome the ban on delivering or receiving its customers. “For us, it’s complicated. We have no possibility of confusing our customers.”
A health product is delivered to a parking lot while the same customer can return to the gallery five minutes later to buy his chocolate or his coffee. We are delirious. “
To manage emergencies, he and his employees therefore make specific appointments. “We give meeting points to our customers and we deliver them like that, where it is most urgent. For example, this morning we went to the parking lot of a store opposite Valmy to deliver an order to a parking lot. A health product is delivered to a parking lot while the same customer can return to the gallery five minutes later to buy his chocolate or his coffee. We are delirious. “
This optician hopes that the government will reverse its decision concerning “medical” businesses. “We don’t change glasses because we only want to change glasses. There is a medical need behind“, he emphasizes.”And the fact that we are located in a shopping center, we penalize customers and patients who have already ordered from us in the last two weeks..”
Three containments, three operating modes
Since the first confinement, opticians have never been housed in the same boat. They were closed then an emergency site was set up by the optical stores to ensure minimum service. “We experienced a first confinement where we set up an emergency service. We went to the people who had broken their glasses. We really mobilized but very clearly it cost us dearly“explains Philippe Guillou.
During the second confinement, “optical retail stores” could remain open. But since this morning, those located in shopping centers of more than 20,000 m2 have to close their doors for an indefinite period. “Suddenly, there is no longer the notion of essential trade but we the particularity of our job is that we have an order at a moment T , “explains Nicolas Desprets.”This is manufacture, this is not direct sale, there is no stock.”
Nicolas Desprets does not understand this government decision, especially since since May, he has implemented a strict health protocol in his store. “Since May, we have received 90% of our customers by appointment. Everything is gauged, we have an appointment book. And there, given the specificity of our activity, we cannot deliver. It is complicated.”
Partially unemployed employees
For the two opticians, this administrative closure requires them to review the reorganization of their workforce. Philippe Guillou has around fifteen employees in his store located at Toison d’Or. He plans to redeploy part of it to his downtown store. “We will remain as a full team until Wednesday because of the inertia. But then we’re going to get stuck. Unfortunately, we are going to have ten people on partial unemployment.”
If for the moment the activity is not lacking, the question arises of the after. “For now, we have inertia, we will have all the orders of the past week to carry out this week. We have 50% of the workforce on short-time work to absorb the flow“explains Nicolas Desprets.”When it reopens, not everyone will resume.”
The unions met with the Minister of the Economy Bruno le Maire last Saturday to try to convince him to reverse the closure of optical stores. But according to Nicolas Desprets, the Minister of the Economy remained “closed. They no longer want to talk about essential or non-essential trade. But we should rather talk about health business without talking about the essential“.
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