Alençon. The sales start this June 26, while waiting for the Grand Unboxing

THE summer sales officially start today, Wednesday June 26, 2024but on this morning, in the heart from Alençon (Orne), it’s a day like any other ahead. No more people in the streets than on another sunny Wednesday. No problem parking.

Few customers?

Two reasons for this calm on this first day of saleswhich contrasts after the streets full of life during the last music festival.

The first: the Private salescommercial operations that have become democratized on the Internet. Thus, retailers no longer wait for the official opening of sales to offer their loyal customers, via invitation-only sales, discounts of up to -40%. Which means that on the big day, it is no longer the crowd of old, far from it.

The second reason: waiting for the big clearance sale, the Big unboxing from July 5th and 6ths, where, in a market atmosphere, good deals will be on the menu of the day with sales, always, but also additional promotions among many merchants in pedestrian streets.

Make people want to come

However, time and overabundant stocks are good deals. The director of Transferred, rue aux Sieurs, is delighted with the beautiful sun which illuminates his brand new storefront, even if “after the private sales, we lose a little of the sales effect,” he admits. “Our job is to make people want to come to our store, and we are ready to welcome them with already very interesting sales. »

Waiting for the big sale

Not far, Vincent Epiphanethe boss of Running conseil, rue aux Sieurs also think that private sales, at -25% at his place, fade the first day of sales. But he doesn’t complain: “It’s better when it spreads out. But customers mainly come to me for advicefind the right pair of shoes, which will not hurt them.” Then, he calmly prepares his discounts -50 %, to “rotate his stock”, which he places in a window and on an outdoor stall. Above all, he counts on the big clearance sale, at the end of the first week of July: “Every year, during the big clearance sale, I triple my turnover! » he asserts before reminding us of a great law of commerce:

“It’s simple: the more passages there are, the more trade there is. »

A customer in her forties, in an elegant summer dress, enters the store: “I have just had back surgery, I am looking for comfortable but aesthetic shoes, which I did not find in the stores. large specialized stores, and if they are on sale, it’s even better,” she tells us.

Be more positive

A young shopkeeper from the city centre refuses to answer our questions, at least not with his face uncovered. However, he has things to say. He believes that the people of Alençon are “too difficult to please”. He judges the press, ” too critical, there are too many articles on problems in the city center, desertification, marginalized people… One article is fine; ten sucks. It gives too many cartridges to haters on the web. It’s especially the comments that upset me. As soon as we do something, we are criticized, and that no longer makes people want to come downtown. That doesn’t help things move forward! »

No doubt because we have a smile

Is it because she hasn’t made any private sales? Still, the store lingerie, at the bottom of the Grande rue, seems to attract customers from 10:30 a.m. Elisabeth Riou, its manager, is happy about it. “It’s good to see people. It is undoubtedly because we have the smile,” she jokes. “Customers come for products that we are the only ones to offer, with brands that we only find in Caen, and for our expertise, because we have a very technical job. We do not sell the same bra from one customer to another. »

Great discounts against the gloom

“Currently, according to the exchanges I have with my friends, who also sell lingerie, on a WhatsApp group, the trade is always more morose during election periods,” says Elisabeth Riou. “The purchasing power is down, people currently put more money into leisure than into textiles. With the return of soleilwe are delighted to see them take advantage ofnice discountsup to 50% for N-1 products, -30% for spring products. »

Between June 21 and June 26, while waiting for July 5

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