2023-12-11 13:31:58
The government unveiled this Monday the list of 43 additional municipalities which will benefit from the rural trade recovery program. In total, 224 projects were selected, some of which have already materialized.
The figures speak for themselves. According to the Ministry of the Economy, 21,000 French municipalities today have no shops, or 62% of the total compared to 25% in 1981. A lack of local provision which forces the inhabitants of these villages to carry out on average a ten minute drive to the nearest store. This is five times more than in the densest municipalities.
To stop this commercial desertification, the government announced last March the launch of the program to reconquer rural commerce. With an annual budget of 12 million euros over three years, this system aims to support projects to set up businesses in villages that are deprived of them.
This Monday, the Minister Delegate in charge of SMEs and Trade, Olivia Grégoire, revealed the 43 new winners selected as part of this program. At this stage, 224 projects have been chosen to benefit from subsidies for a total of 6.5 million euros which will benefit 151,000 French people in 72 departments.
Mazangé was the first municipality to be selected. This Loir-et-Cher village of 850 inhabitants recently inaugurated in the presence of Olivia Grégoire a solidarity and participatory grocery store installed in a former La Poste building and partly financed thanks to the rural commerce recovery program to the tune of 12,000 euros . Here, the two grocery stores, then the butcher, have closed down in recent years.
An associative grocery store in Hérault
The commune of Bosc (Hérault) made up of eleven hamlets suffered the same fate. Even the itinerant baker who came to distribute bread there has ceased his activity, victim of the Covid pandemic. And although traders have tried to open a grocery store since then, it has not held up. It is for this reason that “with a group of village residents, we decided to set up an associative grocery store,” its manager Mario Proust told BFM Business.
Launched a year ago, the project was included in the program to reconquer rural commerce. Ultimately, the town hall will receive 5,000 euros and the managers 6,100 euros in subsidies. Although this aid has not yet been fully paid, the grocery store opened its doors last August.
“We were very supported by the town hall, which provided us with premises. It’s something that could hardly have been done without their support,” recognizes Mario Proust.
Four days a week, around thirty volunteers take turns running the store from 9 a.m. to noon and from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. On the stalls: classic grocery products, drinks and fruits and vegetables from local producers sold at very attractive prices “since we don’t need to make a significant margin”, underlines Mario Proust. But running this business requires a certain investment and a well-established organization: “It’s a real job, we have to find new products, adapt to the season… We have to find suppliers. There are some who deliver to us , but there are certain goods that we have to pick up. We also have a person who takes care of the accounting…”, continues the manager.
Four months after opening, the result “is very positive,” says Mario Proust. “The residents are very happy to have a local business where they do real shopping, not just repairs.” The grocery store, which also has a “bar area”, is also a living space that allows social connections to be maintained, particularly for the elderly. “It’s a very appreciated aspect,” says Mario Proust.
“Not just a business”
Several hundred kilometers away, the village of Jort (Calvados) and its 300 inhabitants saw its multi-service grocery store project selected to benefit from state subsidies. “We were left with a bakery which closed about a year and a half ago. We found ourselves without business, without services for the population,” says mayor Jean-François Guillemot.
Determined to maintain a local offering in its territory, the municipality decided to buy the walls of the bakery to transform it into a multi-service grocery store whose management was entrusted to a baker from a neighboring municipality. Opened a month ago, the store now offers grocery products as well as bakery and pastry products. It also has a post office and a parcel relay point.
To date, the municipality has received 11,000 euros out of the 22,000 promised to it to revive this business. A sum which allowed it to finance the work necessary for the opening when it opened. For his part, the trader who took over the business must receive a subsidy of 10,000 euros.
“It’s working properly” even if “some people who had gotten into the habit of going shopping further away need to come back,” explains Jean-François Guillemot. Beyond the commercial aspect, the elected official is delighted to have a place to live in his town again: “It’s a meeting place, it’s not just a business. It’s also very ecological since it saves residents from having to drive 5 to 10 km to buy bread.”
Other municipalities should benefit from the rural trade recovery program in the coming months. Investment aid can reach a total of 80,000 euros for sedentary projects and 25,000 euros for itinerant businesses serving several villages.
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