Trois-Rivières merchants face a major challenge this year as they desperately try to meet customer demand with few employees.
With Christmas just 10 days away, store traffic is growing. Unlike in recent years, many businesses are not yet open until 9 p.m., even in mid-December.
“We decided to open until 9 p.m. only from next week in order to lighten our employees,” explained the manager of the L’entre-Jeux branch in Trois-Rivières, Karine Germain.
For the Luxédor Jewelery, it will be necessary to lengthen the schedule of the employees in post a little from next week, mentioned the owner, Alexandre Alarie.
At Sports Expert, the opening hours for the holiday season began on December 12 this year, rather than the 1st.
“The first few weeks are never really busy in the evening. So, with the lack of staff, or the tighter staff if you will, we were very happy to start a little later, ”assured the director of operations of the Brunelle Group, Georges Brunelle.
The same decision was taken by the owners of the Les Rivières shopping center in Trois-Rivières. “We follow what our merchants ask us,” replied Daniel Durand, vice-president of marketing and communications for Groupe Mach, which owns the mall.
For others, it’s simply impossible to consider closing later for the holidays. This is the case of the Boutique de la Balayeuse in Trois-Rivières, which will have to close its doors at 6 p.m. every day due to a lack of employees.
If traffic is sometimes slow for merchants, online shopping is increasingly popular.
“At this time of year, a lot of people are going to shop online, but are going to show up in-store to look at their choices, see if there are discounts or not, look at the colors, touch the product, see if it’s really the same thing,” added Mr. Brunelle.
Once once more this year, the mall is a destination of choice for consumers. “It’s a completely different experience than shopping online. You can see the products, touch the products, compare them,” argued Mr. Durand.
Note that the Les Rivières center is recording up to 15% more visitors than in 2021.
