Moving Lezignan Corbieres market
The Lezignan Corbieres Wednesday market is a bit of an institution round these parts. It is quite a large market stretching from Credit Agricole up to Lidls, with a spur heading up to the church. The core is the food market which pans local producers, premium product resellers to lads that pick up the close to sell by date produce from Saint Charles, the large fruit and vegetable market in Perpignan. that is to say there is a wide range of produce at a series of prices that span most of the populations income range.
At the edges of the market are the clothes, bric a brac, shoes and jewelry.
There ares stalls run by the full breath of the local community, there are French Arabic run stalls, Roma run stalls, French local producers, even a odd English fellow selling organic plants.
The market is not just a place to buy and sell, it is a place to catch up on local news and gossip, see old friends as I have already written about here Lezignan Corbieres Market Musing.
Now the Mayor of Lezignan Corbieres is proposing that we move the market, well at least the food part to a new renovated Place about 200 metres from where we are and out of the heart of the town, for more details see Lezignan Corbieres New Market Place.
Yesterday in the market I was interviewed by a journalist from our local paper L’Independent on what I thought of the move.
I tried not to be too negative but did make the following points.
Parking. There is no parking near the market so clients would have to park in the usual spots and walk the extra distance. This may put off some people, it may also mean that people who make two visits to the markets, the first to buy quick to sell seasonal products and the second to see people and buy the luxuries, olives, pre cooked food, plants may not return a second time.
Access. The present market has for points of access for stand holders when we arrive in the morning, markets are a bit like sausages, best not to see them being put together. here is a certain amount of chaos as stand holders arrive and set up; equally at the end of the market when everyone is eager to leave. That is why you will find me in the bar with a glass of Rose staying out of the way. the new market has one point of access. It will be pandemonium until it all settles down.
Impact on the central Lezignan Corbieres economy. Wednesday is Lezignan Corbieres busiest day, the bars are full, and the restaurants. People combine coming to the market with going to he bank, the pharmacists, seeing the insurance company and doing the weekly shopping. . The centre of town has already been hard hot by the growth of out of town shopping, it does not need another hit, it may not recover. There is not one bar, or shop in the new square.
Changes takes time to work. One lesson I have learnt after 9 years of markets is that clients are blind. If you move places you disappear from their vision. When you first start doing a market you get shoved into any free place. Clients on the other hand have their shopping list and know their preferred suppliers, so they tend to go round the market in a certain order. If a stand holder moves then people cannot easily find them, even if it is only 5 yards down from their usual place.Move an entire market, and presumably change the order of the stand holders will be doubling confusing. yes it will settle down as people find a new rhythm to their shopping habits. But how log long will that take. People talk about a market taking three years to find it’s culture.
The article was apparently published today, so when I get a copy I will add it to this post.
