Why a Lille flea market in covid-attic mode was not so bad

In the absence of a Lille clearance sale, we could still eat mussels and fries.

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Can we rejoice in bad news?

This is the second time in four years that the Lille clearance sale has been canceled.

The first time was in 2016, due to the terrorist threat.

This year it was because of the coronavirus epidemic.

Of course, there are a thousand reasons to deplore the sacrifice of this great popular event on the altar of public health.

Obviously, we could have collected many testimonies from visitors, bradeux or devastated traders.

But as it is useless to stir the knife in the wound,

tried to find positive sides to this non-clearance sale.

And we found ...

We don't step on each other

In the absence of a traditional clearance sale, a clearance sale for traders was organized.

The town hall had, for the occasion, prohibited automobile traffic a large part of the city center.

Suddenly, it turned out to be very pleasant to walk around Lille this weekend.

Especially since, although there were indeed many people, we were still very far from the millions of visitors usually attracted by the event.

"We were able to park easily while it is mission impossible during the clearance sale", explains a couple from Pas-de-Calais.

“We may be lining up in front of the stores, but in the streets, we do not step on each other”, appreciates a young woman in front of a children's clothing store.

The mold-fries stronger than the covid

Even if there was only the name left from the clearance sale, it was still possible to make the traditional mussels and chips.

Certainly, the few restaurateurs we interviewed confirmed that they ordered less merchandise than usual, but all of them nevertheless offered this essential dish.

“We felt the restaurateurs were warmer and less expeditious with customers.

We have time to eat quietly because there are not 20 people behind you waiting to take your table, ”explains Bernard, a septuagenarian from Lille.

Noise and smell

The counterpart of an event that drains so many people is the mass of waste generated and the cleaning that it requires the next day.

There, the cardboard trash cans arranged for the occasion were all half empty and no mounds of trash bags were seen.

“It's true that during a normal clearance sale, it's pretty terrible.

Especially on Sunday mornings with the sidewalks that stick and that smell of mold everywhere, ”concedes a mother accustomed to the event.

Prefectural decision requires, the party stopped at midnight in the night from Saturday to Sunday.

If the bars have deplored a certain shortfall, residents of lively neighborhoods have at least been able to make a full night.

Do not subject us to temptation

The clearance sale, as we know, is an opportunity to sell, but above all to buy anything.

This year, of course, the question did not arise.

“It's true that we can be tempted to fall for stuff because it's not expensive.

The risk is to wake up the next day and end up with filth that we do not know what to do with ”, jokes another non-cheap, who still hopes that the largest garage sale in Europe will return in normal version next year.

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• Coronavirus

• Clearance sale

• Lille