The major supermarket chains are asking for the right to open all day Sunday, in certain towns and for certain stores. The distributers say that new forms of retailing are threatening their market share, such as chilled food distributers Inpost (from Poland), Uber Corner Store (San Francisco) and Amazon Fresh which will launch soon in Europe. The on-line stores are available 24/7 and will develop local networks to ensure swift delivery. "Depannage" - ie emergency supplies - is often the aim of such retailers, but it can soon become a habit. Here in France the growth of Drive (click and collect) centres shows how the big retailers are using on-line methods to grow business, but there is little of the home delivery service we see in the UK.
Leclerc say that the shopping basket on Sunday morning where they are open is 25% more than on a weekday and that opening all day would level the playing field with the on-line sellers.
Many of us know how useful British Corner Shop is to "depanne" those essential British goodies so perhaps they have a point.
By the way, Chris Robinson will be happy to take orders for a group buy from BCS at the November book swap (Monday 3rd November 10.30 at the Gazpacho).
A comment from Doreen
hi Val
Intermarche will deliver to your home. We've used them a few times and they've been very good - timed delivery slots, helpful driver and you pay on delivery. A really good service if you can't get to the shops yourself for any reason.
There's also a company called Graines de Terroir, which is a cooperative of local produces, that delivers to pick-up points around the region - fresh fruit and vegetables in season, a large range of flour, plus jams, yoghurts, cream etc, and you're supporting local farmers: www.grainesdeterroir.com
Doreen
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