Politique Internationale — To begin with, could you explain to our readers exactly what the Confederation of French Retailers (CDF) is?      

Pierre Bosche — It is a venerable institution, as the CDF was founded in 1906. Over the years, it has brought together no fewer than 24 federations of independent retailers. By ‘independent’, we mean small businesses with under ten employees. The network is extensive, as the CDF now represents 700,000 businesses accounting for 1.2 million jobs. This network is also diverse, as all types of retail are represented – food and non-food, goods and services – across a wide range of sectors. We are the very embodiment of local shops, those located in town centres or village centres.

 Our sector is struggling. We hear this often, but it is a reality. The rise of digital commerce is a recurring threat: the phenomenon is well established – digital sales now account for 10% of total sales in France. We are suffering above all from stagnant consumption, even as the amount of retail space has increased by 30% over the last 30 years. But this space is concentrated in retail parks and shopping centres located in suburban areas. Not to mention the Chinese platforms that operate without complying with European standards or paying any taxes whatsoever… All these factors combined explain why local shops are facing severe difficulties.  

P. I. — How did you come to take on this role? Are you a shopkeeper yourself?  

P. B. — I’m a shopkeeper as part of a second career. I spent my first career as an antique dealer in an art gallery that I set up 13 years ago. As soon as I embarked on this venture, I joined the National Union of Trade, Antiques, Second-hand Goods and Art Galleries (SNCAO-GO), which is itself part of the CDF. Circumstances led me to take on responsibilities within this sector. Prior to that, I spent thirty years pursuing an international career in consultancy.  Today, I also serve as a judge at the Paris Commercial Court. What better vantage point from which to observe that the situation for local shops is steadily deteriorating? We hear numerous cases in which the parties involved are subject to liquidation proceedings. One figure speaks for itself: fifty years ago in France, 25% of local authorities already had no local shops at all. By 2026, this figure has now risen to 61% of local authorities. Let us not shy away from saying that this is a deeply worrying state of affairs: a town deprived of even a single local shop is a town left to its own devices, slowly dying out because it is unable to rely on places for social interaction and community life.

 The recent local elections gave us at the CDF the opportunity to appeal to local authorities to place local shops at the heart of the issues in the local elections. In the run-up to the vote, we therefore published a White Paper (1), which is by no means a list of grievances but first and foremost a toolkit, so that elected representatives have a number of options at their disposal to protect, consolidate and revitalise local shops. This initiative, launched on the fringes of the Salon des Maires, has proved a real success: our White Paper has already been downloaded more than 20,000 times.

P. I. — Do you think local shops will be one of the key issues in the upcoming presidential campaign?

P. B. — When a major industrial site closes its doors, it makes headlines, and rightly so. When it comes to local shops, the groundswell is just as devastating but, as it is widespread, this wave causes damage quietly.

 However, if we go back to the 1950s, we recall that the Union for the Defence of Traders and Artisans (UDCA) – founded in 1953 by Pierre Poujade – sent around fifty MPs to the National Assembly in 1956, which shows that small businesses had already made their way into the heart of the political debate, with a real impact. This movement, which began as a protest and bears similarities to the Yellow Vests, was subsequently swept aside in the 1958 elections. I would, however, like to make it clear that neither the CDF nor its members identify with this movement, which was rooted in an outdated vision of trade and craftsmanship and refused to embrace the inevitable changes in French society during the Trente Glorieuses post-WWII boom.

 Our aim will be, as we did for the local elections, to take action and contribute to placing trade at the heart of the presidential debate by producing a White Paper for the candidates. Indeed, we are convinced that the decline of local retail in town centres and the depopulation of rural areas generate a sense of abandonment, creating fertile ground for extremist voting. Only an ambitious policy to revitalise our town centres and a legislative and fiscal framework that ensures a level playing field can breathe new life into local shops, which are essential to community life and the vibrancy of our town and village centres.

 The need to raise awareness among elected representatives does not, however, exempt shopkeepers from having to reinvent themselves. Consumer demands, new consumption patterns and the rise of digital technology are forcing local shops to innovate and adapt in order to find new sources of growth. But we will definitely not get anything off the ground if the public authorities do not provide us with at least some support. Two examples: taxation on the one hand, and overheads and rents on the other.

 On the subject of taxation, is it really fair that the tax system continues to penalise high-street retail compared to online retail? Look at Shein, which takes the situation to an extreme: its products enter France without any tax or social security contributions, and also benefit from postal charges set in a bygone era when China was considered a developing country in need of assistance…

 Furthermore, these products are overwhelmingly noncompliant with EU standards and, for the most part, considered dangerous, a fact recently confirmed once again by the DirectorateGeneral for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF).

 As for rents and service charges, we have reached the point where landlords prefer to keep premises vacant rather than bring rental prices into line with market rates, which are falling significantly. We are particularly calling for changes to the tax on commercial wasteland to make it genuinely enforceable, in order to encourage those concerned to put their properties back on the market and, in so doing, reduce the vacancy rate – which currently stands at 14% and is rising steadily – that is slowly destroying our town centres.      

P. I. — Where do tobacconists fit into this context?          

P. B. — Their presence plays a key role in local retail. For some years now, we have seen a move towards a ‘bar/tobacconist/PMUFDJ betting shop’ combination, which is the hallmark of these traders, as tobacconists need to combine several activities – light refreshments, tobacco products, groceries, betting and gaming in general – to secure a minimum income. Needless to say, a business of this kind is often a hub of activity in a village. Indeed, in many places, a bar-tobacconist is now the only last remaining business.

 Here too, a look back is instructive. For most of the 20th century, even the smallest village had two or three pubs (we have gone from 500,000 pubs in the 1900s to… 40,000 today). It is certainly a positive development for public health that this number has fallen, but we have swung to the opposite extreme. We are reaching a point where certain areas will soon resemble a succession of housing estates, with no lively spots at all.

 In this regard, I welcome and support the magnificent initiative by Alain Fontaine, Maître Restaurateur and president of the Association for the Recognition of the Art of Living in the Bistros and Cafés of France, to have our bistros and cafés listed as part of UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Our bistros and cafés are not merely places of service but venues for meeting, exchanging conversation and conviviality that are essential to community life.

P. I. — As things stand, it is hard to see how the situation could be reversed. At what point will the situation become truly critical?        

P. B. — The situation for local shops is indeed critical. A very bad sign is the rise in street vending, and thus in illegal sales channels affecting multiple sectors — tobacco, fruit, vegetables, clothing, medicines, etc. This is no longer a matter of small-scale street vending but of a takeover by mafia networks. Between the decline in the number of retail outlets and, above all, the rise in taxes, everything is being done to encourage illicit trade. Consider a packet of cigarettes: its cost price is around one euro, yet it is sold for twelve due to the state’s excessive duty: inevitably, this fuels the desire to circumvent the law and leads to a massive rise in both smuggling and counterfeiting. This therefore encourages local retail decline in our towns!

 What is regrettable is that the majority of the population is unaware of the scale of this illegal trade, which affects almost the entire country, including towns with 10,000 inhabitants. At a push, when someone comes across a fruit stall outside a metro station, they find it rather charming and tell themselves they are helping someone. In reality, the street vendor, often living in the country illegally, is exploited by lawless mafia figures.

 Similarly, the younger generation is naive when they see this trafficking widely shared on social media, with individuals having almost free reign to promote illicit networks.

 Putting an end to this trafficking? Solutions exist, and some are effective, such as strengthening the powers of the municipal police, particularly regarding the right to seize and confiscate goods. Similarly, the widespread deployment of anti-street-vending units, modelled on the brigade deployed in Paris’s 18th arrondissement, would be extremely beneficial. A street, a square or a neighbourhood plagued by widespread street vending is a lost cause for legitimate trade. We must tackle the problem at its root, as these are often front businesses that quickly replace legitimate shops. The proliferation of kebab shops, barber shops, massage parlours, night-time grocery stores or nail salons is never a good sign… We must act before it is too late.  

P. I. — If we return for a moment to tobacconists, isn’t this deeprooted presence in a neighbourhood a reflection of a bygone era, much like those old-fashioned bistros you were talking about?

P. B. — Not at all. On the contrary, I believe that local shops are perfectly in tune with the times. At a time when screens are capturing everyone’s attention, we have never needed human interaction more to make daily life more harmonious. Moreover, many local authorities are aware of this: they are looking at how to revitalise an area with the essential local shops needed to feed, equip and foster a sense of community among neighbours and residents.

P. I. — Could succession be one of the keys to maintaining this network of local shops?

P. B. — Many young people are keen to start or take over a local shop. Similarly, there are many candidates looking for a career change. Business succession is a priority, provided certain obstacles are removed. In the past, a business’s goodwill and stock were assets of value. This is no longer the case today, which does little to inspire people to take up the trade. Furthermore, it is not enough to simply to want to start or take over a business: you need training, a minimum amount of capital, and a business plan… A project of this kind must be properly thought through beforehand to avoid failing from inadequate preparation. The Chambers of Commerce and Crafts play a key role in this regard, whether in terms of advice or training.