Gentrification, climate of tension: in Sète, the Joyeux Chichois craft shop closes its doors

Gentrification, climate of tension: in Sète, the Joyeux Chichois craft shop closes its doors

Anaïs Arnelle Guiraud, creator and volunteer of the Joyeux Chichois association. Midi Libre – Thomas Ancona-Léger

Le Joyeux Chichois, the local Sète tea shop, has announced its permanent closure. The reasons are the decline of the associative model, but also the evolution of consumption patterns and political tensions between the City and the opposition. 

"Permanent closure on October 19 ". Written in white chalk on the front of Joyeux Chichois, the sentence is final. The local craft shop that opened in 2018 on rue du 11 Novembre will in fact close its doors after six years of tumultuous existence. Because what was initially just a “pop-up store”, a temporary store, had become over the years an essential showcase for artisans from Sète and the Thau basin, around 200 of whom have exhibited their creations there. “A cooperative of artisans”, as Isabelle Dejean, co-founder of the association Joyeux Chichois, defines it, which had managed to create for itself “a loyal local clientele”.

Gentrification

In reality, the history of the store matches the recent evolution of the city, both in terms of urban planning and demographics. In 2022, the building in the Quartier Haut where it is located is put up for sale by the owner. “He wanted to do Airbnbs and doubled our rent so we left: we are not pigeons” , replaces Isabelle Dejean. So back to rue du 11 novembre, where it all began in 2018. Although the loyal clientele follows, it is nevertheless becoming fewer and fewer. “With gentrification, the city is losing its population as well as its essence and risks becoming like Palavas. Local customers are rarer and tourists don't come", adds the co-founder. As its activity has grown, Joyeux Chichois has lost "30 % of its local clientele", she estimates.

On the other hand, the fashion for crafts has spread to the city and shopkeepers no longer hesitate to welcome the creations of artisans in their sales space for a commission. This is competition for the small associative shop whose model, based on volunteering, requires direct involvement of the creators in the management of the place. “It's getting harder and harder to find artisans who want to commit to running the shop”, summarizes Isabelle Dejean, herself a designer, who specifies that she has never received a cent of subsidy from the City.

Climate of anxiety

Recently, this already unfavourable situation has been made worse by the start of construction work on Place Aristide-Briand. “It is not so much the work itself that impacts us as the climate of anxiety that reigns around it”, notes the designer. “On the one hand, we all have people every Saturday who come and shout about this parking project, which is damaging the business, and on the other, the town hall, which has not supported us at all.” Tensions between the town and the opposition, which some shopkeepers are paying the price for, sometimes ordered, according to Isabelle Dejean, to take a stand or risk having their establishment boycotted”. “We have to adapt to these developments and continue to plan ahead, we loves our city too much", she concludes, optimistically. Next December, the Joyeux Chichois should thus reconnect with its first loves and be reborn in the form of a pop-up store.

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