While inflation is close to the peaks, the inhabitants of Belle de Mai and the 3rd arrondissement of Marseille, the poorest in France, remain stoic. Here, 46% of the population aged 16 to 65 is unemployed according to INSEE. Nearly 55% live below the poverty line, or just over 2,000 euros per month for a family with two children under fourteen. “We count and pay attention. We’ve always done it that way,” explains Serge simply, with whom the essence is not a debate; they don’t have a car. “We take a little less in quantity, less meat too. But oil, flour… there are products that you cannot do without”, observes Myriam, mother of a family of three children, the two youngest of whom are in kindergarten. “It’s okay that there aren’t too many supplies at this age,” she breathes in front of the exit from the Félix Pyat school.
“I give credit to customers a little more often”
However, traders are seeing a drop in their turnover, despite an increase in their price. “Chicken thighs, my cheapest product that I sold at 1.90 euros per kilo are now over 3.50. The rise had never been so brutal,” admits Farid, a butcher who has been living in the neighborhood for sixteen years. “People take less in quantity. Often 800 grams instead of a kilo, 300 instead of 500… At the start of the month it’s still fine, but at the end of the month it’s really calm”, he observes in front of a customer trying to negotiate his basket of 10.40 euros to 10 euros all round. Mohamed, a neighboring greengrocer has trimmed his margins to keep his prices which defy all competition: 1 euro per kilo of peaches, 1.50 that of tomatoes… “People have to eat well”, says this boss. “And inevitably I give credit to customers a little more often at the end of the month”.
It’s hard for someone who isn’t familiar with the neighborhood not to have the impression of saving money. Between greengrocers, wholesale/semi-wholesale retailers, obscure hard discount brands and bakeries at bargain prices, all the merchants in the neighborhood have long since pulled prices down and turned off the air conditioning on the shelves. The five baguettes at 2.50 euros, the kilo of brand name dough at 1.98 euros. “I still compare prices more often to see where it’s cheaper,” explains Lydia, shopping bag in hand and heavy makeup. “But I live alone, so it’s fine,” says this fifty-year-old. “Finally, they say it will stop in 2023,” she hopes. A sign that inflation is still there, however, the traditional three large cheese pizzas have gone to neighborhood snack bars at ten to twelve euros, as noted on the sheets of paper taped with the new price on the menu printed in front.
For their part, aid associations are always full. They are eighteen on this district of 50,000 inhabitants, to work with the Food Bank for distributions. New fact: “we are doing more and more mediation with lessors or energy suppliers to spread out the unpaid bills”, remarks Fathia who, with her association, supports 80 families in the district. Winter, and the announced crisis on gas prices, especially when many homes are still equipped with old boilers, should not simplify his work.