The gloom gave way to enthusiasm on the rue Nationale in Le Mans. This historic shopping street in downtown Manceau had been in decline for twenty years. But a dynamic finally seems to be taking shape. Shopkeepers and craftsmen have been settling there for several months, despite poor roads and aging buildings, some of which are even in ruins. Its image has continued to deteriorate with the closing of stores, such as the emblematic Toto store in 2017, the premises of which are still unoccupied. This distressed William Laurent, manager of the Atol computer shop that has been on the street since 1994.”We did everything to try to restart the machine“going so far as to display a call for support from Manceaux on the windows of empty shops.
Eight new businesses
But today, he smiles again walking down his street: “Here it is repeated. Here it is under construction and it will soon reopen. Here it will be a restaurant. There, we have an optician who has just opened. Look there, a florist, it’s magnificent. We will even soon have a 150-seat comedy club theater. In fact, everything is taken over”. A total of eight businesses have reopened or will soon reopen. This is the case of Erwann Mounier’s cycle repair shop, inaugurated in December 2020: “I don’t regret it at all, quite the contrary. There are many passages and we have a neighborhood clientele. It works well and it’s very nice“. These examples of successful installations have allowed the street to offer itself a new commercial youth, “inevitably this gives others the desire to join us“rejoices William Laurent. Especially since the rents are much more affordable than those practiced in the shopping centers of the agglomeration or the streets of the hypercentre.
– Julian John
Laura Patard, a young florist, has also taken the plunge. On January 8, she opened her business Les Œillets d’amour with the desire to revive the rue Nationale. “It’s a street I knew 15 years ago. I know what it was, I know what it is and I know what it can become. There really is enormous potential . We see pedestrians passing from morning to evening and I get a lot of support from local residents. Christiane has lived in the neighborhood for 38 years. She is “happy to see shops reopen. But we are afraid that it will start again, that it will close. And then it’s damaged. Needs a facelift“.
The city is slow to renovate and secure the roads
For William Laurent, this is the black point. If many facades and shop windows have been renovated and “traders play the game“, he is bitter against the municipality.”Look at the roads, the sidewalks, the pavement: it’s nonsense. There are potholes, dangerous buildings. The city has been asked to renovate it for years. We were made promises but it’s factual, they did nothing and they do nothingEveryone is therefore now waiting for the city to undertake renovation work to give another face to Rue Nationale and consolidate the current commercial upturn.
– Julian John