Unbowed by Covid-19, Paris store lights up Christmas display

Shoppers usually are not allowed inside, and the pavement exterior is almost empty, however the French capital’s Printemps division retailer lit up its Christmas window show on Tuesday as a result of – international epidemic or not – it’s an annual custom.

“During this special context, this difficult moment, it’s even more essential to continue this tradition,” mentioned Printemps Artistic Director David Moliere.

The show this yr at Printemps group’s flagship retailer on Boulevard Haussmann options fashionably dressed puppets on strings who jig alongside to music in a wide range of winter settings together with a ski resort cable automobile and a ship at sea.

In one tableau, a band performs in an Alpine clearing. In one other, puppets on trapezes rotate round a Christmas tree on a Parisian rooftop.

In most years, the pavement exterior the window is jammed with a crowd of customers and vacationers craning to get an image of the show on their smartphones.

But Paris is in lockdown due to Covid-19. Tourists are staying away, non-essential shops are shut, and persons are ordered to remain at residence until they’re on necessary enterprise.

On Tuesday, solely a handful of individuals stopped to take a photograph, then hurried on their means.

“It’s a bit sad,” mentioned dance scholar Rafaelle Gabon.

“I’m glad they’ve lit it up. It makes it look like there’s people, but it’s true that compared to previous years, there’s really no one around. It’s empty.”

Printemps sells make-up and garments for high-end manufacturers like Burberry and Gucci, and is owned by Qatari buyers. It has been hit arduous by the pandemic.

Four of the group’s 19 shops can be shut down and a few 450 jobs are in danger, the union which represents among the workers mentioned this month.

Shoppers can nonetheless purchase items from the Haussmann retailer, however solely by connecting with a gross sales advisor through cellphone or e mail, with their buy then dispatched within the mail.

(This story has been revealed from a wire company feed with out modifications to the textual content.)

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