Parisian department stores, Galeries Lafayette and Printemps in the first place, are closed to the public until July 10, in application of the government decision preventing shopping centers of more than 40,000 m2 from reopening in Ile-de-France, announced Wednesday the Paris police headquarters. Other orders along the same lines have been taken concerning other shopping centers in Paris and its region: Aéroville, Beaugrenelle, Forum des Halles and Italy 2, with the aim of limiting a further spread of the coronavirus.
Earlier reopening always possible
The date of July 10 also corresponds to the extension of the state of health emergency, voted by the Parliament last week. But, said a spokesperson for Galeries Lafayette, "this decision does not prevent the order from being lifted at any time if the conditions are met". "We continue to exchange very regularly with the prefecture," she added.
"The mention of this date in the orders is a standard provision corresponding to the end date of the state of emergency, which absolutely does not exclude an earlier reopening (the Prime Minister having mentioned June 2 as the date of re-examination of files at this stage) ", also underlined in a press release the Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield group, one of the giants of the sector, owner of the Forum des Halles in Paris or Part-Dieu in Lyon.
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Ile-de-France classified red
On May 7, after Prime Minister Édouard Philippe's speech specifying the terms of the deconfinement, the Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire had specified that shopping centers of more than 40,000 square meters in France, the reopening of which was uncertain, could reopen May 11 "in agreement with the prefects, except in Ile-de-France" due to persistent health risks.
The Paris region is classified as "red" for the risks linked to the Covid-19 epidemic. In its decrees, the prefecture of police considers that, in view of these measures, the opening of Printemps and Galeries Lafayette, both located on Boulevard Haussmann and its surroundings, "could, in the current situation, only encourage the spread of Covid-19 virus and endanger the lives of the people. "
In a press release, the UNSA du Printemps union, while taking note of these orders for the two brands, said "to be concerned about the consequences of this measure for employment in small and medium-sized commercial enterprises, for which Department Stores Boulevard Haussmann are an essential vector for their development. " "As of tomorrow, UNSA-Printemps will enter into national negotiations with Printemps management and the social partners, of the CGC and CGT, to set up local Covid-19 commissions", responsible for "ensuring the deployment and compliance with the health measures presented in the ESCs and develop "preventive measures and practices according to the evolution of the epidemic," so as to adapt them to the circumstances.