In front of the premises, which are almost finished, a panel from Nantes Métropole announces a delivery in “summer 2021”. However, the reuse supermarket in the Bottière-Pin Sec district has still not opened its doors. Will he ever be able to? This local business, whose objective was to offer second-hand objects for sale, is today blocked by a problem of financing. The association Service stations, which carries the project, has just been placed in receivership. The structure of 24 employees would lack 150,000 euros to start off on the right foot and thus complete the development of the 500 m2 of the supermarket.
“We have to find this money somewhere and we are asking the metropolis to support us,” says Philippe Comtesse, the founder. We have invested heavily in this project and have recruited five people. If we want to be able to carry out our mission in the service of social ties and responsible consumption, we need the means. »
An ongoing audit and discussions
Stations Services, which already manages a materials resource center in Rezé and a general resource center in the city center, explains that it collected and recycled 300 tonnes of waste in the Nantes conurbation in 2021. “Next year, there will even be 600 tonnes of planned. It’s a lot of work, a lot of travel. It is not only with volunteers and sales of objects at 50 cents that we can hold on. »
Nantes Métropole ensures that the Re-employment Supermarket is a project in which it “believes”. But, after having already paid a grant of 218,000 euros in 2021, she was awaiting the conclusions of a financial audit to “put things straight”. The audit has just been completed. “There are some things that need to be clarified for our collaboration. Discussions are continuing. I hope that we will come out of it positively, with as little damage as possible”, comments Philippe Comtesse.
Several solidarity sales
In the meantime, a solidarity sale of furniture is organized this Saturday on the Bottière site, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. A second is scheduled for Wednesday. “This will allow us to empty our stock and, above all, to finance a legal representative to avoid liquidation”, justifies Stations Services. Other sales of second-hand items are planned for the following weeks.
The association, which says it is “touched” by the testimonies of support, thinks that the inhabitants will be there. It must be said that the Re-employment Supermarket already existed in the neighborhood, in a building slated for demolition, for twenty months between 2018 and 2020. “We received up to 200 people a day, recalls Philippe Comtesse. This project makes sense. We have a role to play in this area. »