AIBU to ask why French high streets seem to thrive?

[Hoppity80]

I realise this is probably a very naive question but I have just come back from a hol in France. We visited a mix of touristy and some very non touristy towns - in all of them the high street was thriving.

Lots of independent shops, alongside chains and cafes busy streets. There were also big out of town hypermarches too but they didn’t seem obviously to impact the town centres. Hardly any of the vape shop, nail bars and boarded up charity shops in our town centres.

My question is what are the French doing to achieve this that we are not? Are there tax incentives of some kind, if so, how does
the French gov afford it and why couldn’t we adopt at least some of this model for the UK?

They close much later in the week and on Saturdays though so it's swings and roundabouts.

no Tesco Extra open to 11pm I bet

What time do they open on Sunday in general. Is it early?
I don't think the 6 hour rule in England is too bad but I dislike that's it's in the middle of the day (ie 10.30 - 4.30). For retail workers (I used to be one) Sundays were annoying because it felt like you lost the whole day just for 6 hours.
If the shops were open say 6am -12 noon then those who need to shop can get up and go do it and retail workers get the whole afternoon not having to work.

Honestly sounds like a Reform policy. Whose family? Not mine!

I was also wondering this recently. I suppose the conditions must be more favourable - lower business rates etc. There are still many independent shops and boutiques - and cafes and restaurants - its not all chains.

They have taxes on imports on cheap shitty clothing from Shein/Temu and the likes. Tax incentives for repairing.

Also don’t forget how very, very quickly England adapted to online shopping!

Were you able to park easily and drive through or have handy under ground car paks near by ? Also there is always a need for fresh bread so people will always come out for bread.

I'm not too sure this is France. Some European countries' business rates are a % of their takings.

So if they were forced to close due to the covid restrictions in 2020/21, such as our non essential retail, these shops paid nothing.

Then come November, December with their busiest time of the year, more rates to the local authority/whatever they call it

They do have vending machines for Baguettes and Pizzas now though.

I often think this - if butchers, bakers, fishmongers etc did a couple of 12-8 days a week they’d probably have more custom.

I’ve recently switched to a 4 day week on compressed hours and now get all my fresh food from the local market on a Friday - meat, fish, fruit, veg and cheese. I get eggs from a local farm and bread from an independent bakery - not even a posey sourdough one, just a normal northern bakery. I can’t get there on a Saturday as I train for a sport, so I’d otherwise get it from the supermarket. But the market is cheaper and fresher and has changed my entire diet for the better.

I lived there as a student and was a fluent speaker. Had a French boyfriend and often stayed at his sister’s apartment. She wasn’t well off at all but had all this expensive beauty stuff from a pharmacy. They were always going to the pharmacy for one thing or another. They loved all the personal attention but I hated it. They were obsessed with their health.

And everyone talked about their digestion all the time! This would be good for the digestion and that would be good for the digestion. Had to eat some sort of natural yogurt with every meal - good for the digestion.

Cadeaukatze - Timpsons is my go to for watch straps and batteries. And key cutting and shoe mending and dry cleaning. Oh, got my passport 'photo there a couple of weeks ago too!

We drove through many French towns and villages a few weeks ago where there was barely life to be seen at all. Nobody out and about on foot. If people left home at all then it must have been to drive to an out of town supermarket.

France is sparsely populated relative to the UK. For every historic tourist-friendly town or city with a thriving high street, there is a large hinterland of small towns and even smaller villages with few shops other than the local boulangerie.

There aren't any "out of town" shopping centres. The hyper markets have a few shops in them, but they don't have the BnM, Asda Living, next and Marks and Spencers out of town

the French towns are where the shops are located, so the people in villages and hamlets - of which there are many go to the town

I think the kind of towns we visit as tourists to France may not be typical, and tourist business helps to sustain them partly.

I mean supposing you were French, visiting London, and someone told you Dulwich Village was nice (it is). You might think it was typical!

There are! At least in Brittany and Normandy.

Im sure that’s true hut it’s not just grocers and bakers doing well - there are loads of nice shops quite often. British people love independent shops, so I think behaviour only goes someway to explain the difference. There
must be tax incentives too.

Lower business rates?

Needmorelego

supermarkets open on a Sunday - if they open from 9-12.30
cococo which is a bit like a Tesco express size supermarket also open on Sunday mornings - everything else closed. If I travel in France I plan for Sunday closing and also many restaurants being closed, so get food on a Sunday morning to last me until monday

I was in alencon and staying at an ibis and the receptionist told us which restaurant was open on the Sunday night. We go there bang on opening time and an hour later every seat was taken, it was the only place open in a small city

where? am I missing them?

Course we have out of town shopping centres 🤣 and we even have B&M!
I’ve never read so much ignorance about France in one thread! For the most part, shopping in France for the day to day essentials is an endurance test. Obviously not in the cities, but most shops shut for two hours at lunchtime, the supermarkets open 9 - 7, and customer service is none existent.

You are so spoiled here in the UK!

Plenty of large supermarkets in France

Yes - I definitely appreciated UK opening hours in France! My point was that out of town centres etc are all blamed for death of high street in UK but France also has these in abundance - so why are things so different.

they have trouble getting doctors to work in rural areas aswell.

I have a friend who returned from living France and he didn't have a doctor as there weren't any local, the hospital was about 90 minutes away by car. He did love it there and returned as his marriage split.