As our market season in Lezignan Corbieres new market place draws to a slow end I thought I would try and put down my thoughts on how it is all panning out. For the back story have a look at what I wrote last year, Lezignan Corbieres’s new market place.
To re-cap the Mairie has built a new market area in the old pat of Lezignan Corbieres, based it looks to me on the design of the market square of Olenzac. The vegetable sellers, local producers, cheese sellers, and some of the charcuterie franchises owners have been relocated into this new space. The traditional part of the market on the high street has kept the prepared hot food sellers, clothes and assorted knickknacks sellers. The two are linked by a little alley, in which have been placed some cheese, eggs, biscuit and dried fruit sellers. All told the Mairie estimate that their are around 150 stand holders registered with them, though I doubt any one week apart from the three monthly foires there are 150 most Wednesdays, but with such a number it does makes Lezignan Corbieres one of the biggest weekly markets in the Aude.
The new market place, is a wide open square with covered structure at it’s heart. The structure is very well done, and as I have said based on the covered structure of the Olenzac market. There has been a clear attempt on the part of the Municipal police, who allocate stand holders their places, collect the fees and generally try and keep some sort of order, to put local producers under and around the centre. The famous goats cheese and eggs of Carrus, three local fruit and vegetable producers, Chloe and her bread and flour, Yann and his bread, a certain aromatic herb grower, and the real organic producers and re sellers can be found around the centre.
At the back of the new market place their is now a new cafe, built by the Mairie and backing onto the church can be found the cheap fruit and vegetable sellers. My friend, and competitor, Ahmed with his impressive collection of flowering plants can be found just in front of the cafe terrace.
Linking the central structure to the little alley is a hodgepodge of olive sellers, vegetable sellers, Yann and his bread, a knife seller, a spice stand, and Marie’s cut flower stand.
What is certainly true is that the character of the market has changed, there is a logic now to the market that was missing in the eclectic mix before. There is certainly more space, the walk ways apart from the little alley that join the two parts is much freer any easier to navigate. That grave menace in markets, a little old lady with a wheely cart, has been reduced and you can now do the market in flip flops without the danger of being run over and losing a toe. Equally the annoying habit that old friends meeting in front of your stand and spend half an hour comparing aliments thus blocking the whole space has reduced.
Financially I have to say the change has taken it’s toll. my old place in front of the Carrefour market in the centre of town ensured that just about everyone that visited the market passed in front of my stand. There is something to be said for sheer footfall. My new place puts me a little out the way so clients have to search me out. My loyal organically motivated clients do but the spontaneous unplanned buyers are missing. As that represents about 30% of my sales it has been a noticeable hit. A quite unscientific poll of my friends, that is primarily local producers, indicate between a 30% and 50% fall in revenue. Most put it down to the change in the market, and most of us had “prime” places in the old market, that is spots with the highest foot fall. The other issue for me is that people buy plants last, my old place was right next to one of the main ways in and out of market, so folks often waited to they were on their way home to buy a basil. Where I am now is a long way from that, and while previously I was surrounded by food sellers, who stayed till the bitter end, I am now surrounded by vegetable sellers who start packing up at 11.30 and start bringing their vans in thus giving people the idea that the market is closing.
There is also no indication that there are two parts to the market, a sign at each end of the alley might not be a bad idea, one at our end saying Food and clothes that way, and one at the other end saying Fruit, Vegetables and local producers this way might be a good idea, especial for visitors who do not know their way around.
The second problem is the parking, the main parking places for clients visiting the market are on the other side of the high street, that makes it quite a hike for clients visiting our part of market to haul their goods back to their cars.
I don’t get to talk to the clothes and other re sellers anymore but would be interested to see how they are doing- people usually come to a market with their shopping list of meat, fish, fruit and veg, rarely does that list include sandals and balloons for the kids. They are more impulse buys but how much impulse is their if you have a full caddy and a half click walk back to your car?
On the upside I like being surrounded by the local producers, Susanne and her daughters, Jean Baptiste, Chloe, Yann, Sylvan, even the miserable Pierre, and I have my traditional olive seller next to me to cheer me up with his terrible English and even worse singing.
But I have to say I liked the ambiance of the old market better, there was a conviviality to being around jewelry,spice, meat and prepared food sellers, and I even miss Jerome the demented cheese seller who is now in the alley pestering every beautiful woman that passes.
Of course it could just be teething problems, it usually takes about a year for a market to create a rhythm, where the clients know where their favourite stand holders are, and what order they will do their circuit in, where is the best place to park, and what time they will find their friends in the cafe.
On that note I can usually be found in the Conti between 1 and 2 pm having a post market Rose with my friend Val.
We will see how it all works out when we return next year.
Lesignan Corbieres Market
Wednesday 8 am to 12.00
