The re-containment decreed by Emmanuel Macron forced non-essential specialist shops to close.

Toy stores, which suffer from competition from mass distribution, are asking to reopen absolutely for this crucial period of Christmas shopping.

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They are housed in the same boat: all businesses deemed non-essential must lower the curtain due to the containment in the face of the coronavirus.

This period is even more badly lived as it is crucial for toy stores.

The Federation of Toy Merchants has already filed a summary before the Council of State against the sale of toys in hypermarkets, for "manifest violation of the principle of equal competition".

In supermarkets, toy shelves are open while stores have to set up deliveries and simple withdrawals.

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At the Grande Recré in the Beaugrenelle district, in Paris, it is effervescence.

“Upstairs, can you hear me?” Asks one of the store's employees.

"Can you shoot me a Twister for a client, please?"

The game is brought outside the store and handed to Chloe, who is waiting in the rain: "It's good to come in there and bring them to life. We would have preferred to go in and we would have bought more things if we had seen. more things we liked! "

The gambling specialist, like a dentist

Evelyne, another client, tries the medical comparison: "When I have a toothache, I go to a dentist. So when I need a game I go to a game specialist", she explains. defend specialty stores.

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In the store, employees are frustrated to see passers-by carrying toys bought at the supermarket opposite.

"It's not always easy to see your store without customers", concedes Sébastien, deputy management, who also denounces this inequality: "You can do your shopping in a supermarket with a dispensation and you can come and pick up your toy purchases. "

60% of turnover for the year

For these stores, it is unthinkable not to reopen before Christmas: the coming months represent 60% of the turnover for the year.

"It is clear that we are not authorized to open so there is no reason why our competitors should be authorized to sell toys", underlines Jean-Michel Grunber, president of the Grande Récré but above all a member of the Federation of merchants. of toys. 

"What we ask above all is that we can open", continues the leader.

"For us the subject is 'open or die'."

Online orders and in-store pickup represent only 20% of the company's usual turnover over this period.