End of the Nîmes flea markets at the Marché gare: “The status quo today threatens dozens of jobs! »

Aux côtés de son avocat Maître Audouin, Guy Leduc (à d.) se bat pour la survie du marché nîmois. Midi Libre – Camille Salvador

Depuis le 1er janvier, cette institution locale et populaire est en sursis. Explications.

In the office of his Montpellier lawyer Maître Philippe Audouin this Thursday, January 4, Guy Leduc does not hide his concern. On December 31, 2023, the rental contract linking his company (Animation field fair) to the Gadéa company expired.

Since this date, the one who rented  "without any problem until now", he indicates, the locations of some 150 exhibitors (on 10,000 square meters of surface) has still not found a fallback solution for the Nîmes flea market.

This local and popular institution now on reprieve where exhibits are held every Thursday, Saturday and Sunday morning, for 6 years now, on the outskirts of the RN 113, greengrocers, bazaars, as well as ;rsquo;a covered flea market, all at very attractive prices.

Future contract

"Barely three months ago, the owner of the land (the Gadéa company, Editor's note) announced to us that he would not renew our rental contract. An expiring contract… to December 31!", laments Guy Leduc who has since hoped to obtain a reprieve from SPL Agate (delegate of Nîmes Métropole for the renovation of the market station sector), time to find a new place of residence ;installation of stalls.

At the market, since the announcement of the bad news, exhibitors have been worried, particularly for the future of their employees, dozens of them. For his part, Guy Leduc is also struggling to avoid the dismissal of his team: eleven people on permanent contracts in total, including ushers, security guards and other refreshment staff.

Intensive prospecting

"For 2 months, my salespeople have been prospecting tirelessly, looking for suitable land to accommodate us. Ideally, within a maximum radius of 15 kilometers around Nîmes, hopes the professional convinced that in addition to the stalls, customers – at least those conveyed – will follow suit, since, "with the crisis, it is no longer only the most precarious, but everyone who is looking for the lowest prices!& ;quot;, he analyzes.

In parallel with his research, and while the market could well head in the direction of Vestric (read opposite), Guy Leduc today has a bitter taste. Particularly in the face of the "politics of burying our heads in the sand" (sic) of the institutions.

"We contacted the town hall, the metropolis and even the prefecture in vain to try to find, together, a solution to perpetuate the Nîmes flea market. Unfortunately, everyone passes the buck, regrets the one whose letters would have remained desperately without answers or concrete solutions.

Risk of expulsion

While today all the stallholders theoretically risk expulsion, Guy Leduc believes he has been had. 

" For 6 years, each year, Gadéa always submitted for my signature a rental contract of only 12 months. After three years, my landlord even asked me to change the name of my company, to continue in this direction and thus circumvent the maximum number of (3) consecutive precarious contracts. The stated objective was, supposedly, to keep the flea market on site… Today, I clearly see the other side of the coin.

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