Their names are Flink, Cajoo, Getir, or even Yango Deli… “They” are the newborns of commerce and who are spreading, in the major French cities, “dark stores”, or ghost stores. A phenomenon that communities observe with a worried eye, fearing that the fierce struggle between these cowboys, born of digital technology, will leave dark traces in the urban space.
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A dark store is a store… that does not welcome customers. It is the basic link of the “quick trade”, or fast trade, in force for many years in North America and appeared two years ago in France. The consumer, via an application, places his order delivered a quarter of an hour later. This, to be honored in such a short time, was prepared in a dark store, a room necessarily near the customer’s home or office.
Paris at the head of the challenge
At the end of 2021, there were around 150 dark stores in France, spread over eight cities. Paris is a showcase: 42% of French dark stores are located there, and 27% are located in other municipalities in Île-de-France, mainly in the inner suburbs.
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In Lyon, an elected municipal official has already blocked the opening of one of these stores. But it is especially in Paris that the problem arises: “Overnight, ten actors landed and come what may”, we regret at the town hall of Paris. The first of the grievances concerns nuisance: swarms of bicycles and electric scooters used for deliveries gravitate around these premises, without adequate parking spaces. To keep the promise of fast delivery, brands are obliged to mesh the territory very finely. By occupying areas between 200 and 800 m2dark stores require the daily passage of delivery trucks in awkward lanes.
Occupy space, in a rush
Far from being profitable, fast trade businesses are investing heavily to occupy space. This haste, however, offers local authorities a little leeway to fight back: the town planning code provides, for each construction, five major destinations, the second of which covers shops and service activities and the fifth, activities in the secondary sectors. and tertiary.
However, the latter houses, as a sub-destination, warehouses: a type of construction to which the City of Paris has assimilated dark stores that do not receive the public. “Several players have not asked themselves the question of the destination of the premisesconfirms Laurent Schittenhelm, partner at the law firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP). They had to establish themselves and advertise as quickly as possible”.
Need to “talk to each other”
In Paris, a dozen reports were drawn up once morest the managers of premises having freed themselves from the obligation to declare this change of destination. If the change is not made within the time limit, an administrative penalty of up to €500 per day (an amount that depends on the surface area) and capped at €25,000 per room may be set. “It’s a short-term response”we estimate in the city of Paris, where we concede the need to ” to talk to “ : Paris will organize trade meetings on March 7.
If communities are afraid of dark stores, it is, in addition to the nuisances, because of the detrimental void for neighboring businesses that they might create. They are nevertheless cautious in their response, fearing that decrees issued hastily by a prefect will be rejected just as quickly in summary proceedings, in the name of the defense of freedom of enterprise. “We need legal clarityargues Jean-Pierre Delvigne, partner at BCLP, we are currently in a gray area that does not satisfy anyone. »
Towards a new legal definition?
While the revision of the local urban plan is a long and complex procedure – Paris should receive a new one in 2024 – some actors believe that in the short term a compromise might be found if the dark stores agree to develop spaces for come and pick up their order on site, or even to welcome customers in part of the premises.
Several observers point to the similarities between the deployment of self-service scooters (significant investments by companies that have come to “cannibalize” each other) and the rise of dark stores. Just as these scooters have been reclassified as motorized vehicles, these stores may be subject to a new legal definition. In the meantime, the few towns that have the financial means can acquire, like Rouen, a commercial right of first refusal to preserve their town centre.
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In 2021, fewer signs in recovery
Businesses have resisted the health crisis better than expected. In 2021, fifteen brands from the fashion, catering or even furniture sectors were placed in recovery, compared to around thirty in 2020. Although the majority of them have been taken over, the procedures have everything even had an impact on the number of points of sale: all the brands that experienced a turnaround represented a fleet of 4,100 stores before the crisis. Of this set, only 2,600 points of sale still exist today.
