Sale and announcement the day before by Jean Castex, of closing shopping malls of more than 20,000 m² this Sunday, it was enough for customers to flock to the shops in the Ratarieux area. Georges Da Rocha, general manager of the Arche shopping center (website dedicated to furniture and home decoration) gets angry.
“He should be careful about their communication with the government. Customers do not know what 20,000 m² is. The last two weekends in January are important when it comes to attendance due to sales. But there, from 9:30 this morning, at the depot, it was packed ”.
“Traders respect the rules”
Christophe Sadler, commander of the Saint-Etienne Gendarmerie Company, set up a system of fifteen soldiers in this area to check that all health rules were respected.
“We work with traders every day to help them put the rules in place or help them when they come across some fireproof customers. It is true that in our area of expertise, everything is going quite well. Traders play the game and respect the instructions. “He warns, however,” today we are no longer in prevention, we want to be very firm in controls. “
The director of L’Arche is in the nails, hydroalcohol gel at the entrance, direction of movement, “we are entitled to 1100 people in the store which is 9,900 m². I have a meter connected to my phone ”. He shows the gendarme live, “At. 16.43 258 were present. Since 09.00, 2,281 people have entered and 2,623 have left ”.
At Stockomani, Deputy CEO Anna Brother is quite pleased to see the gendarmes, “it’s reassuring for us”. In front of the store, a large queue, two security guards block the doors to avoid the “overflow”. “We give announcements over the speaker to enforce the rules. But this Saturday it’s crazy “