In the early afternoon, Avenue Jean Médecin is teeming with people. The usual crowd – the poor, the rich, “fashion victims”, young people straight out of a hip-hop video, mothers with their tribe of children, Black people, White people, Asian people – only in greater numbers than usual.
It’s sale time!
The annual price drop brings together all socio-professional categories of the population. And so even the less fortunate rejoice.
Let’s follow, for example, this family receiving minimum social benefits, who has agreed to let me join them, if only for an hour, in their frantic search for a bargain. There’s father Gérard, who follows his wife “because she’s the one who decides”, there’s Sandrine, the decision-making mom, who knows where to go as she’s been preparing for this outing for a “month”, and there are the four children. The youngest, Jérôme, 6 years old, “wants nothing” but follows his mother because she decides, then the 9-year-old twins, Géraldine and Sébastien, who want the same things as their schoolmates – the same clothes, the same backpack, and finally the oldest, Xavier, who is 12 years old and dreams of having “Nike Air” shoes.
Are the parents willing to spend so much money on children’s whims? “Well, yes, we try to please them at least once a year!”, the mom answers. And precisely during the sales. This period somewhat levels the social differences, at least for the children. In this clothing store, each child chooses an item with the help and advice of Mom, and Dad, standing back with a small pocket calculator, adds up the totals with a grimace. At the checkout, the family places their purchases and the father has to pay 129 euros, “that’s a lot”, he sighs.
The children, tired from crying because they had to make choices, the mom tired from having to stop them from taking too much, the dad tired from trailing behind; they all leave the large store. I warmly thank them, and head in the opposite direction. I turn around and see them entering the Foot Locker decorated with the words HUGE SALES!!, packed with consumers wanting the same Nike Air.
Nicolas Derrstroff