French shops hit by looting face losses as platforms remove 1,737 listings

How many shops were hit

The chambers of commerce network CCI France says 1,161 shops were looted, ransacked or burned during the protests, and more than 2,500 were damaged in total. Its count puts 2,488 shops affected on Saturday, 17 October, and 50 more on Saturday, 24 October. On the first Saturday, 1,061 shops were heavily damaged, and 643 were still closed at the latest update. Other totals do not match: 20 Minutes, reporting the CCI press conference, gives 4,000 shops touched across France, while the government says about 3,000 shops were hit on 17 and 18 October. The sources do not reconcile these figures. In Marseille, 527 shops were touched, 331 were damaged and 128 were looted entirely, according to Jean-Luc Chauvin of the CCI Aix Marseille Provence.

Marseille527

Paris480

Lyon315

Bordeaux158

Rennes143

Marseille

527 shops

Paris

480 shops

Lyon

315 shops

Bordeaux

158 shops

Rennes

143 shops

Data from the article text

What it costs shops

CCI France says city-centre shops saw turnover fall 80% on protest Saturdays, partly because shoppers avoid those areas. Its president, Alain Di Crescenzo, estimates 1.5 billion euros in lost turnover for local shops over the coming weekends. He said November and December account for 40% of annual turnover for local shops, and with eight weekends left in the year he put each one at 5%. The network is calling for demonstrations to be banned until the end of the year. The sector has faced successive crises since 2018, including the yellow vests movement, Covid-19, the war in Ukraine, the riots after the death of Nahel Merzouk in 2023 and weak purchasing power, Di Crescenzo said.

“We absolutely have to restart commerce.”

Government aid

Commerce minister Serge Papin told Le Parisien that the state will create a fund of several million euros offering aid of up to 10,000 euros to the hardest-hit shops. Eligible firms have fewer than 50 employees and turnover below 10 million euros, and both insured and uninsured retailers and restaurateurs qualify. The fund will take effect in the coming weeks, but Papin said the aid is guaranteed from now. Provence-Alpes-Cote-d'Azur will add 5 million euros, Papin said private players such as CMA-CGM are also contributing, and Bpifrance has opened a zero-interest loan of 5,000 to 50,000 euros for shops that were actually damaged. Marseille's emergency fund has raised 12 million euros from the city, its metropolitan area, the department, the region and large companies.

“Less than a hundred were hit on 24 October, about ten of them suffering heavy damage.”

Papin added that this was still too many, but a sign that order is being restored.

Online resale of stolen goods

The government summoned Vinted, eBay, Leboncoin, Meta and TikTok, which met on 19 October with Papin, digital minister delegate Anne Le Henanff and officials from the commerce, interior and justice ministries. Suspect listings included sealed new products, Sephora bags full of new items and discounted Chanel makeup. Le Henanff demanded that the listings be removed without delay. By Papin's account, the platforms removed 1,737 listings and banned 237 accounts, and sent 784 reports to judicial authorities (another version of the figure gives nearly 800). About 500 listings remain under investigation. Vinted said it applied zero tolerance and cooperated with police, eBay and Leboncoin cited dedicated moderation teams, and Jordan Bardella and Gabriel Attal publicly condemned the online sale of looted goods.