After almost ten years spent in his tobacco shop on Place des Martyrs-de-la-Résistance, in the center of Bordeaux, Alfonso Camarero has just moved his establishment to the new Amédée-Saint-Germain district, near the station. To attract new customers, in…
After almost ten years spent in his tobacco shop on Place des Martyrs-de-la-Résistance, in the center of Bordeaux, Alfonso Camarero has just moved his establishment to the new Amédée-Saint-Germain district, near the station. To attract new customers, in a context of falling tobacco and newspaper sales, the tobacconist is banking on the diversification of its offering.
In addition to the traditional sections of newspapers, magazines, crosswords and packets of cigarettes, it offers a space where leather goods, wine, cigars, wicker baskets for the beach, but also a Post Office stand, Nickel accounts and soon a machine to reproduce keys… “The basis is to have space,” he observes. Otherwise, we cannot evolve. »
A. W.
The Le Saint Germain tobacco shop was inaugurated on Friday June 21, rue de la Compagnie-du-Midi.
“Bringing life”
As in Saint-Germain, there are 514 establishments in Gironde having to face changes in the profession. “Tobacco shops rely on three pillars: games, the press and the sale of cigarettes. But the last two have been called into question in recent years. So either we curl up on ourselves and suffer, or we look to the future,” analyzes Philippe Coy, president of the Confederation of Tobacconists of France, who came to attend the inauguration of the place on Friday June 21. “The objective is to work on our image, to evolve, but without denying ourselves. The DNA of the tobacconist is certainly the distribution of tobacco, but we must not lose sight of the fact that tobacconists are traders. »
For the assistant in charge of shops, Sandrine Jacotot, the installation of this tobacco shop in Amédée-Saint-Germain also makes it possible to “decongest the hypercenter to bring life to a new area”. “It’s true that in a neighborhood or a town, there is necessarily a tobacconist and a pharmacist,” continues Philippe Coy. I think that the tobacco shop is a bit of an essential part of community life,” he smiles.
