The Sunday openings of retail stores before Christmas and New Year between "symbol" and reality

After having constantly rejected the idea of a commercial activity in Angers on Sundays during Christmas and New Year, town hall has changed its mind. The news, a few days ago, announced by the president of the retail stores owners (Angers Daily News, September 11th), is confirmed by six local trade unions which, in a common press release, denounce a "U-turn" of Angers town hall and a calling into question of its historical opposition to Sundays opening. According to the trade-unions, the Sundays must remain "a symbol of rest, leisures and time dedicated to personal and family life".


The problem is the "symbol" looks to rise up against reality. It is visible that Angers is much more enlived on Sundays when people have something to do there. The recent Heritage Days attracted, once again, a lot of inhabitants and visitors around the monuments (where employees were working). When the down town streets host the mobile wooden huts for Christmas, they are all crowded on Sundays. So, the retail stores owners ask the right to open during those no working days considering it is unfair that wooden huts owners are allowed to do business. And in a few days, the yearly real-estate exhibition will receive thousands of visitors in a place made avaiblable by Angers authorities.

While the figures of unemployment rose again above 11% of the Angers active population, the Maine-et-

Credit pictures : Angers city

Loire Chamber of commerce and industry has submitted to town hall an authorization for city shops to open those two Sundays. In case of a positive answer, trade-unions warned that they would mobilize employees. The affluence in the streets these days would be a indication of their audience. Those didn't detailed if they would call to demonstrate on Sundays.