The holiday season will obviously not start at the same time in all shopping centers. While some have decided to extend weekday opening hours from November 22, others will wait until December 13, two weeks later than usual. One of the reasons given: the difficulty of traders in recruiting labor.
Typically, malls open Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays until 9 p.m. around the 1er December. However, COVID-19 appears to have changed the rules of the game. And most of the retailers surveyed are in no rush to extend their days for the holidays.
However, shopping centers owned by Cadillac Fairview (Promenades St-Bruno, Carrefour Laval and Fairview Pointe Claire) will allow their customers to do their holiday shopping every weekday evening from November 22, a somewhat hasty date according to merchants. . “CF is extending its hours of operation from November 22 to help buyers plan their purchases conveniently and efficiently,” a spokesperson for Cadillac Fairview said in an email to The Press.
For their part, Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) (Laurier Quebec, Center Eaton) and Groupe Mach (Carrefour de l’Estrie) have decided to wait until December 13. “There are 40% of our retailers who have difficulty staying open during shopping center hours,” said Johanne Marcotte, Executive Vice-President, National Operations and Quebec Leasing, at JLL Canada, at the meeting. ‘a real estate industry event that was held in Montreal last week. “It’s a real challenge. The holidays are coming. Usually around the 1er December, retailers want extended hours. This year, the malls will open later, on December 13th. This is exceptional. Truly. You have to adapt. ”
At the Quebec Retail Council, the Director General, Jean-Guy Côté, asks donors to show “flexibility”. “We can not think that it is like the previous years”, he recalled during an interview last Thursday, granted on the sidelines of the event TAG – Commerce in the digital age 2021.
“This is the message we sent. We ask for a certain flexibility on the part of the donors, to note that there are some traders who have difficulty in filling their schedules.
“There are traders who would like it to be a little later because there are labor issues. It’s an open conversation between donors to know when we can extend the hours [d’ouverture]. ”
Respect the schedules
” It is a bit early [le 22 novembre], but we will comply with it ”, assures Louis Dessureault, vice-president of operations of the Marie Claire Group (Claire France, Marie Claire, San Francisco, Grenier, Dans un jardin).
“We need our customers and we need our sales. I will not fight this battle with the malls. If everyone is open, I won’t be stubbornly closing. I will adjust.
“We can’t wait to see our customers again for the holiday season, because we didn’t really have a holiday season last year, no party,” he said. The little black dress, we didn’t sell it much. ”
Lili Fortin, president of Tristan, does not understand the need to open every night of the week in November. “It doesn’t make us more sales and it gives us more hours to pay. ”
Apart from the extension of reception hours in anticipation of Christmas, traders raised a deeper problem: the current observance of opening hours. “There is unease in the retail industry about opening hours,” says Paul-André Goulet, owner of a dozen Sports Experts stores.
According to him, some retailers do not respect the hours established by the shopping centers, which means that not all the shops are open at the same time. A phenomenon that affects crowds, according to Mr. Goulet. He compares a shopping center to a grocery store, where one would not see oneself closing the section of fruits and vegetables or that of the meat, for example, by giving access to all the rest of the store.
A point of view shared by the patron saint of Tristan. “Of course it has to be uniform,” she says. The traders do what they want. ”
“The merchants attract traffic, frequentation, adds Mr. Dessureault. We prefer that everyone is open according to the opening hours of the shopping center. ”
Daniel Durand, Senior Director, Marketing and Communications, Groupe Mach, confirms that “it happens from time to time that some merchants deviate from the usual schedule”. “We try to make sure that there are exceptions. On the other hand, given the shortage of manpower for some, it is difficult for them to remain open 100% of the schedule. ”
– With the collaboration of André Dubuc, Press