This is an interesting CNN article about the impact of inflation--especially the astronomical increase in energy costs--on French bakeries. It makes the interesting point that if bakeries are forced to close, in some areas that will probably lead to loss of other small businesses nearby, with significant effects on the community.
French bakeries struggling for survival
Warning: Scrumptious photos will make you hungry.
Wow, that’s not just an increase for an electrical bill, it’s more than a mortgage payment. I hope the powers that be can find a better solution. In the meantime, we will be in Paris in April and I will make sure we get something from a bakery everyday, if not twice.
What a sacrifice that will be, Barbara!
tough times for small businesses this side of the Channel too. As of yesterday almost all government energy support for small and medium businesses ended (they are continuing to support big business and the biggest energy users like heavy industry) so we have been told to expect business closures.
I feel bad for them, and we're doing our part by eschewing supermarket bread (as always) and buying more and more from boulangeries, especially the local one run by Stephane and Elise, but this:
France’s bakeries are the lifeblood of many of its towns and villages,
serving as rare public spaces where neighbors regularly cross paths.
The incidental chit-chat that often comes with it keeps people
connected, Chavret said. "If the bakeries closed, we would lose that
human side, that side of communication, of mutual aid,” she said.
“It’s not in department stores that people take the time to talk.”
...is a bit of an exaggeration, in my view. As anyone who has tried to do their shopping quickly in a supermarché or hypermarché would attest, the aisles often are clogged with neighbors and friends catching up. On some days I've done a good deal of shopping, only to pass the same group of people still chatting in the aisles multiple times. Moreover, street markets are another place where people catch up. By contrast, in the boulangeries, especially those in larger cities, it's all business: get in, do your transaction, and get out so the next person can be served.
