Before the Covid crisis, we had a revival of markets and small businesses. Do you think we can return to a pre-pandemic dynamic, or is there still a long way to go to return to this period?
Pierre Creuzet: I think this pandemic has been a total revolution. It’s a revolution because people have consumed more on the Internet. But at the same time, they realized that their city centers were dead, and that’s not what they want. They want proximity and short circuits. And we see today, with the results that we have that the inhabitants are very attached to their city center. We are at almost 90% attachment in the last barometer of the French in their city centre. But I mean city center in the global sense, that is to say cinemas in the city center, entertainment, it’s also retail… So there are certain businesses that have evolved a little, of course. The catering sector suffers a lot, for example, from the lack of staff and would like to have cut-off times. Yet we see that the French favor the terraces. 92% of French people, two years in a row, are very attached to their terraces. Why ? They realized that without a terrace, there is no life in the city center. They also favor the markets, which are the locomotive of the city center.
In my opinion, city centers have a future. Now the heart of the discussion is proximity. In 2008, it was security and since 2014 it has been proximity. We see that the place in the city center is the emblematic place of the city. Why ? Downtown in motion, we are fighting precisely on this: we must not lose this enthusiasm, at the end of confinement. 73% of people who tell us that they use the Internet a lot, say that they are now leaving the outskirts to come to the city centre.
Is participation in this dynamic shared by all strata of the population?
PC: There is a category of people who suffer a lot with purchasing power. But this category which is suffering realizes that consuming fruit and vegetables on the market is more interesting financially than in supermarkets. When comparing the two, I can assure you that fruits and vegetables are cheaper in a market. People are much more observant, they will consume less meat, for example, but they will consume the best meat from butchers.
As you mentioned, there is renewed interest in urban markets, particularly in Ile-de-France. In your opinion, are we on a dynamic of opening up new markets?
PC: It’s a certainty, the mayors are looking for markets, especially the towns that didn’t have a market.
There was a time when many people retired without being replaced. Now, there is really on the part of the Federation of French markets, a desire to train in the professions of butcher, delicatessen, baker, market gardener. We also feel a rebound on how to consume in short circuit. We want to consume in Ile-de-France, better and cheaper. There is no middleman driving up the prices dramatically. In certain towns, there are late afternoon markets which are being created, for executives, for people who have a little purchasing power and who are at work in the morning but who can buy 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. One only has to see the Issy-les-Moulineaux market which is one of the first evening markets and which is a hit. We see the interest and the adaptation of the markets. It is the lung of the city.