How to boost trade in the city center of Montpellier (Hérault)?

Faced with waves of protests, peripheral areas and the rise of online shopping, traders are suffering in the Ecusson.

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) gave the mayor, Michaël Delafosse (PS), a white paper of their grievances.

20 Minutes

details the angry subjects.

The cleanliness

In the survey carried out by the CCI on the perception of shopkeepers in the city center of Montpellier, the cleanliness of the streets and the collection of waste pose a problem.

The deposits of garbage or bulky items at the foot of buildings make them jump.

“It is absolutely necessary to associate traders in the deployment of a new management of waste sorting”, confides André Deljarry, the president of the CCI of Hérault.

“We spent, just after my election, an additional 500,000 euros, just on the cleanliness of public space, presents Michaël Delafosse.

There is work.

Because people throw anywhere, anyhow.

And sometimes a few traders.

We will crack down.

It's 1,500 euros a plum.

She will fall.

“On the sorting of waste, the elected official wishes to increase its capacity, but also to multiply the points of voluntary, “aesthetic” contributions, so as not to distort the streets.

Security

The CCI points to the demonstrations, “which plunge the consumer into a now entrenched mistrust”, as well as “the various incivilities and attacks” which traders face.

The various associations complain of the presence of drunk people and marginalized people, on the Jeu-de-Paume or in the rue de l'Aiguillerie, or of deal points in Figuerolles or on the Courreau suburb.

“For several months, we have set up a real system of exchanges between the national police, the municipal police and the CCI, which had never been done before, rejoices however André Deljarry.

This allows us to be very responsive.

You have to go further, especially on deal points, squats or marginals.

»

Michaël Delafosse lists the measures he has taken since his election in 2020: better reception of unaccompanied minors, the multiplication of the presence of the municipal police in town, his unprecedented coordination with the national police, or the allocation of 30 more national police officers.

If there is “a lot to do”, notes the elected official, this year, there has been “a 37% drop in public highway offenses in the Ecusson”.

Accessibility

By bike or on foot, easy access to the Ecusson.

But shopkeepers grumble about the accessibility of the city center by car.

It is necessary, indicates the CCI, to work on clearer signage.

The mayor works there, on the scale of the metropolis, "to say where the beating heart is, how to access it".

And it is not necessary, continues the CCI, "to oppose modes of travel, but to optimize them in relation to each other".

The car ?

If the time is rather for soft mobility, the CCI ensures that it will remain “indispensable”, in particular because 30% of customers live outside the metropolis.

The car, notes Michaël Delafosse, is “one mobility option among others.

There are people who need their car.

Of course, "we will not do 2×3 lanes to access the city center", he confides.

But its flagship measure is the removal of through traffic in the city center.

With the upcoming closure of the Comédie tunnel for these unwanted vehicles that paralyze the city center.

However, it will remain "accessible to allow people to take their car to the city center".

Animation

For the CCI, organizing events is "a major pillar for bringing shoppers back" to the city center.

And they must not, continues the consular chamber, be organized in the same places (on the Comédie, on the esplanade or at the Peyrou), “at the risk that the fallout for the commercial fabric will only be limited”.

Animations, there are: the sale of the Grand Bazaar, the Christmas festivities… But it takes more, for the CCI.

“We have to operate like a large open-air shopping centre, notes André Deljarry.

We need animations, month by month, with themes.

»

At the next city council, says the mayor, an envelope of 100,000 euros will be voted for associations of traders, who want to organize events.

“Band band, street theatre, etc.

Things that bring life, ”notes the chosen one.

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  • Montpellier

  • Trade

  • Downtown

  • Security

  • Cleanliness

  • Michael Delafosse

  • Occitania

  • Languedoc Roussillon