Barely recovered from these cascading closures, another store is preparing to lower the curtain in turn, and not the least. Established there since the opening of the gallery extension in 2011, with eleven other brands (like Oliphil, in fact, but also Bonobo, Armand Thierry, Cache-Cache, Breal or even Arthur and Aston), Celio will close its doors at March 31, according to our information. The store manager, in place for 7 years, like the brand, does not yet wish to communicate on the subject.
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“When we see all these closures, it’s distressing. »
But in this small world that is the gallery, information is much discussed and commented on. With a lot of bitterness and often under cover of anonymity, preferring “not to make waves”. Because if Celio closes, it's not because the brand is doing badly. “It’s because the rent is too high,” her manager only whispers. The same cause which would have led other stores to lower the curtain, like Dress Code, whose manager asked, in vain, to renegotiate her rent.
“Overpriced” rents
If many merchants in the city center complain – rightly – about the prohibitive amount of their rents, it is even worse in the Auchan gallery. According to our information, the rent for Celio would amount to nearly €10,000, for a surface area of 250 m². When others are around €6,500 for 100 m². “It’s overpriced, even though attendance has dropped sharply,” observes a shopkeeper.
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In the crosshairs of traders, the manager of the gallery, the Nhood agency. “They make no effort on rents, which are linked to turnover. When it goes up, rents go up, but when they go down, rents don't go down,” complains the manager of a women's ready-to-wear store.
“The problem is that we have the impression that they don’t care,” continues another trader. Example with the opening last Sunday. “We had an obligation to open, the Auchan store being open. The problem is that that day, we worked at a loss. There were almost no customers and the employees were paid double. »
-Worried traders
During the holidays, the discontent went up a notch. “In terms of Christmas activities, it was a desert,” notes Ludmilla Devantec, shopkeeper. “No Christmas music, few decorations, only two chalets instead of the six announced, a disastrous Santa Claus…” adds a colleague. Not to mention the cold in the gallery which many complain about, or this entrance turnstile which was broken for several weeks.
The annoyance is such that several traders no longer go to the meetings organized by Nhood. “It’s a waste of time, they don’t want to hear anything. They are incapable of putting themselves in our place. »
Faced with this massacre, concern spread to the gallery, with the fear of being next. “When we see all these closures and a locomotive like Celio is going to close, it’s distressing. I experienced this in another shopping mall, with an Auchan that was doing badly. We talk about it to Nhood, we would like a gesture but we are told that we should not complain,” squeaks a trader.
Contacted by CL, the manager of the Auchan gallery at Nhood, Céline Roussel, did not respond to our interview requests.
In place of the former Coiff & Co hair salon, a Free store is being set up for an opening announced on February 19.
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Free and Armand Thierry as reinforcement
With five closed commercial cells, out of the thirty that make up the gallery, the overall vision can seem a little gloomy for traders, some of whose shops are next to empty windows. Employee of the Arthur & Aston leather goods boutique, Valérie Durey has one in front of her (the former Alive Store), and one to her right (the former Oliphil). “It’s sad to leave the vacant premises empty, it doesn’t make you want to come. I hope they fill up soon. »
This is also the wish of other traders. For the moment, only the telephone operator Free is announced, on the premises occupied by Coiff & Co. On the operator's website, the opening of the store is scheduled for February 19. As for Celio's premises, it should not remain empty for very long. The name of the Armand Thierry brand is circulating with insistence. A men's boutique, which would therefore be located next to the brand's women's boutique.
Openings that Stéphanie Twardowski, the director of Sephora, another gallery powerhouse, is waiting for. “We hope that it will be beneficial for everyone with a positive effect on traffic, because the latter has dropped significantly. »
