The city of Montpellier wants to fight against the establishment of dark stores, these grocery stores without customers who deliver groceries until late.
The opening of such structures generate "nuisance for local residents", and "undermining our businesses", points out the municipality.
It is still necessary to have tools to fight against this new form of trade.
A decree should soon appear, to clarify a somewhat vague legal framework.
Rue Rigaud, in Montpellier (Hérault), since the opening of a Getir, the inhabitants are exasperated.
In this “dark store” (a grocery store without customers), couriers on scooters collect, until late, the products that they deliver illico to the customers of this “quick trade” giant.
“It's a parade, day and night, testifies a resident of the district.
And there is the truck, which probably delivers the products, between 6:30 a.m. and 7 a.m. in the morning.
In summer, when you sleep with the window open, you can imagine a little.
“Not to mention, continues this Montpellier in teleworking, the groups of delivery people, in front of the premises.
For its part, the city of Montpellier has undertaken, in recent days, to fight against the establishment of “these ghost businesses”, she says.
"These warehouses", points out its mayor, Michaël Delafosse (PS), "multiply the nuisance for local residents".
But this is not the only criticism made of these brands.
According to the elected official, they “undermine our businesses”.
At
20 Minutes
, the town explains, in fact, that the proliferation of these structures weakens "the fabric of local commerce", by using "unfair competition".
And in addition, dark stores are stealing premises from traditional stores.
An imminent order considering dark stores are warehouses
The municipality still has to have the means to act.
Because the legal framework was, until then, a little vague.
Should these grocery stores without customers be considered businesses, or warehouses?
If they are warehouses, there is no question of the managers signing commercial leases.
And if so, the municipality can grumble.
On September 6, Fanny Dombre-Coste (PS), the first deputy mayor of Montpellier, took part in a consultation with the government to reflect, with other elected officials from all over France, on regulations on this subject. .
And the State has decided: the dark stores are indeed warehouses, “whether or not there is a withdrawal point”, indicated the Minister Delegate for Trade, Olivia Grégoire, at the end of this meeting.
A decree should be published in the coming days.
A new tool, which should make it easier for municipalities to tackle these dark stores of which they are wary.
"We want to act locally to make it work"
In the meantime, in Montpellier, we manage.
On September 15, the municipality bought the business of the former Quick, on the Place de la Comédie, to "avoid the risk of setting up a possible dark store or an unsuitable business in the beating heart of the metropolis represented by the Place de la Comédie,” says Michaël Delafosse.
The signs, they defend themselves.
At
20 Minutes
, Getir claims to have established "a very fluid dialogue with the neighbors".
"The new manager of our store met them and gave them her phone number so that they could be informed as soon as possible of a problem and could resolve it quickly," explains the company.
We even have neighbors who are customers of our service and whom we deliver on foot.
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"The reactions are reminiscent of those of 20 years ago, when the first drive arrived"
Measures have already been put in place to appease the anger of residents of rue Rigaud: the truck that delivers products to the premises will go from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. next week, and the ringing of telephones delivery men "have been lowered".
Getir is, continues the brand, “a new distribution channel that meets a new need”.
A complementary service “to other forms of distribution.
In Montpellier, there are nearly 700 food shops (…), for two quick commerce stores.
The reactions we see today are reminiscent of those of 20 years ago, when the first drive arrived.
Today, more than 100 new drives open each year (…) without any problem.
»
OUR TRADE FILE
Flink, the other quick trade leader, also present in Montpellier, hopes, with
20 Minutes
, that a "legal framework that is both ambitious and favorable to the development of [its] activities" emerges.
"Aware of the challenges involved in the development of any new commercial activity, and a fortiori our own, in a city center, we have already made numerous commitments", confides Francois d'Hautefort, general manager of Flink France.
“By promoting local products (…), by communicating regularly with local residents to take their concerns and suggestions into account, by employing hundreds of people on permanent contracts, by training them, by favoring soft mobility or by forging links with the associative fabric to prevent food waste (...), we contribute to a local dynamism far removed from the image of the dark city wrongly portrayed.
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