aixcentric

Returning to Aix last week, it was good to see the textile market stalls back together in the Cours Mirabeau after being scattered around during the Christmas period; but further changes are afoot from June onwards and the stall holders are not happy.

All three markets – textile, foods and artinisal – used to be grouped together in the place du Verdun, the place des Precheurs and all around the palais de Justice, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday alike.

Then, it all changed on 15th April 2010 when the Tuesday and Thursday textile markets, previously sited around the palais de Justice, were moved to the cours Mirabeau for security reasons.  Some of France’s most dangerous criminals are brought to the court of appeal and it was thought the presence of so many people and vans parked around the building was a security risk.

So the Aix market was divided during the week; and according to a La Provence article, the stall-holders in the food market have seen their takings fall considerably.  Alain, who has been working there since 1968 when he helped his parents on their veg stall, takes in a week what he used to take in a day; and when he has paid his suppliers, staff and travel costs, he often makes a loss.  Other stall-holders have similar stories and all feel that they are missing the people going to buy, say, a pair of shoes and find themselves tempted by the glistening heaps of olives, bunches of mimosa or the pottery stall.

So what’s next?

The whole area around the Palais de Justice is going to be pedestrianized and repaved, with no more parking in the places du Verdun and Precheurs.  And this work is scheduled to take 3 years.  The first step was supposed to be a new parking centre at Arts et Metiers, but there’s no news of that yet.

The food market is going to be moved to the cours Sextius while the artisanal part will be over in the ave Victor-Hugo.  The stall-holders had been expecting to be relocated, together, to place Jeanne d’Arc, as a continuation of the textile market, but that has changed ‘for reasons of security’.  Incidentally the Apple store has an agreement with the mairie that there shouldn’t be any stalls outside its premises.

A head-ache for the town authorities and tough times ahead for the stall-holders of the Aix market.