Why such an outbreak of bankruptcies among small businesses in Toulouse?

Shop fronts with low iron curtains in the city center of Toulouse. The Commercial Court, during its assessment for the year 2023, conducted 1,216 collective proceedings. Almost one in five concern trading (18.9%).

“The closure of certain stores can be explained by a combination of factors. First, the traffic in the city center is reduced. In businesses specializing in textiles, competition from websites is also an explanation for closure. Inflation also reduces the turnover of some people…,” explains Philippe Dadieu, President of the Toulouse Commercial Court.

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The number of judicial liquidations in the retail sector is not sufficient to measure the extent of the phenomenon. The former business manager adds that not all businesses that close “go through the courts, some choose an amicable liquidation.” “There are also stores that belong to chains. Their judicial liquidation is not carried out in Toulouse but in Paris,” he explains.

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Yellow waste, Kovid-19…

For many Toulouse companies, the situation has already been complicated for years. For Philippe Leon, first vice-president of the Haut-Garonne Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI), in charge of trade, we have to go back to the Yellow Waste crisis at the end of 2018.

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For 56 weeks, demonstrators marched through the city center. “Especially the Toulouse incident,” he assures. The former manager of Toulouse Stylos, which closed at the end of 2023, confirmed that the episode had “permanently weakened the business”. This day represents 30% of traders’ turnover. They were deprived of it,” clarifies Philip Lyon.

According to the first vice-president of the CCI of Haute-Garonne, Covid-19 is the “distorting effect” of the years. State-guaranteed loans (PGE) provided during the health crisis offered relief to many companies in dire straits. situation. “They should have stopped but the aid helped keep them afloat,” he analysed. Then, for two years, the number of collective actions in the commercial court fell by 35%. The start of the PGE return was a brutal return to reality for some traders. Turnover that has not returned to pre-crisis levels and between inflation reference, continues to be closed.

“In addition to the “normal” flow of collective processes, there is the process of businesses’ files that should have been closed in 2019,” summarizes Philip Leon. Olivier Arsac, Toulouse’s deputy mayor in charge of commerce, shares this observation. “2023 is the year of reform. But we should closely monitor the commercial fabric which has weakened compared to last year,” warns the elected official. Towards a return to normality?