Across France, café owners scrubbed down tables and polished glasses on Tuesday while store managers spruced up their windows as the lockdown-weary country prepared for a new easing of coronavirus constraints on retail businesses, reports the National Post.
From Wednesday, non-essential retail outlets will be able to reopen to customers for the first time in six weeks as France gradually winds down its third national lockdown in little more than a year.
“People are fed up, everyone has only one desire – to go out, go to restaurants, go out with friends or family,” said René Colomban, who manages the Blue Beach bar and restaurant in the Riviera city of Nice.
With infection numbers beginning to improve and a vaccination campaign gaining momentum, retail businesses and their customers are desperate to regain a semblance of normality.
In the western city of Nantes, Alain-Loïc Douchin, who manages the Taverne Royale restaurant, said his phone had been ringing off the hook with regulars making reservations.
“People are impatient, like us, to come back,” he said as he prepared for the reopening.
Economists estimate the latest lockdown had caused much less disruption than the previous two, as people adapted to working from home and businesses forced to close got by on government handouts and furlough schemes.