Come back here, you’ll find things you won’t find elsewhere.” Johan urges his daughter who has every intention of bringing the original object back to her childhood friend living in the Loire. He’s not the only one who spotted slightly different items.
The trade is always full and it remains difficult to make your way between the customers who scrutinize the so-called “souvenirs” and the queue to buy a pack of cigarettes or chewing-gum. Welcome to the Corner Store, the tobacconist on the corner of Rue Basse.
It’s Monday and, like every followingnoon since the start of the season, tourists are flocking to the Rock. Postcards, sometimes surprising trinkets or even magnets in their hands, almost everyone wants to win a souvenir of the Principality.
Average basket up or down depending on
“The fan also works very well or even the thimble and the golden playing cards, they love it!”, explains Carole, saleswoman at the Corner Store. Like her boss, she observes that, if during the spring, business went well, and resumed cruising speed before Covid, those of August might not be more delicate.
“Tourists have been spending much less since the beginning of August than in previous years. Their average budget is six euros, whereas it was more like eight since the resumption of Covid.”
A little further, at the Cross-Road, the souvenir shop par excellence, the average ticket has fallen, according to the boss, by 50%. “All the Europeans who come spend less. Lower purchasing power obliges. If in April, May and June, we worked very well
July was more complicated and August, catastrophic.” Stéphane has been at the head of this shop for a few years. He found himself obliged to sell certain products that he had taken in stock for the summer. “We are several in this case.” A first in the history of commerce in the historic district of the Principality.
“With the riots in France, there have been many trip cancellations. We haven’t sold what we should have sold at the start of the summer. This winter, there is a risk of breakage.”
Lots of tourists However, the volume of tourists is indeed there, with less purchasing power it seems. The manager of the Chocolaterie de Monaco is not going in the opposite direction. Ines Pezzella has never experienced such a year.
“I put aside the Covid and post-Covid years and refocus on more ‘classic’ years. I note that the tea room was deserted for the first time this summer. We had hardly anyone in our shop. This is very disturbing for us.” She sold far fewer chocolates. “Heat is not a concern since we have insulated bags. This year, people come home and buy little or nothing.” The boxes remained on the shelves, the boxes at 15 euros also. “What we have sold best this year and, for the first time, are sachets at 8 euros and a little less.”
For Ines Pezzella, the declining purchasing power is in question. The absence of the Japanese too. However, not all shops are created equal. At some located near the Palace, the average customer basket has increased.“The small tickets have been fewer and the big ones more important. We have moved upmarket explains one of the managers.
I no longer have small budgets but clients who spend more. On average, two euros more per basket, sometimes even more.
Satisfied restaurants Restaurants have also, for the most part, been full this summer. Many professionals insist that the season has been good.“The terraces were always full and the customers enjoyed themselves”
they note, specifying, for a large majority, to have made a figure as good as in… 2019. Alexandre Pasta, president of the Union of traders and craftsmen of Monaco (Ucam) confirms the pulse.
“The commercial life of the Rock has indeed resumed and is finally sticking its head out of the water since the health crisis. The diversity of the offer, the return of tourists contribute to this. And if the month of August is difficult, it It is just as much in Saint-Tropez, Cannes, Corsica or even Italy, where the figure is less than 20% compared to August 2022. Today, caution in buying is a reality. But we still have the late season and its events, which is lucky for Monaco.”
A good number of Rocher merchants are now expecting tourists in September, reputed to be more moneyed than those in August and thus end their season with a positive turnover.
The top 3 best-selling items
In the top three of the best-selling so-called souvenir items on the Rock, the sacrosanct magnets appear in the foreground. They hold the number one spot and have been for a year. Tourists prefer them vintage type with old views of Monaco.
The key rings maintain their place and better take it back because they come in second position. Most of them bear the effigy of the Grand Prix. Finally, this year, the fan arrives on the podium, also bearing the effigy of the Principality. Note that the placemat is in total loss.
