In Calvados, this supermaché establishes calm hours without music or sound ads to appease its customers

At the beginning of the afternoon, no trace of Louane’s refrains, Johnny Hallyday or Maître Gims in the speakers. In this supermarket Leclerc d’Ifs (Calvados), a stone’s throw from Caen, the stars of French song remain silent. Three times a week on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, the hypermarket establishes, between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., calm hours. No sound background: neither radio nor micro announcement to disturb the tranquility of customers. The lighting is sifted and the rounds of cleaning and replenishment machines largely spaced. The goal? “Allow customers sensitive to noise to do their shopping in suitable and serene conditions,” explains Morgane Lemoine, quality assistant director, at the origin of the project.

In the aisles, only the creaking of the caddies resonate and the clashing of the glass doors of the fresh shelves. Couples of retirees, young parents and pressed employees benefit from silence. “Frankly, it’s great this device,” smiles Danièle, 71 years old and “a hellfish fishing” despite her long morning of home help. She usually frequents another large area of ​​the region, but here, the atmosphere offers her a real respite. “It’s soothing, pleasant. And then we are not annoyed by music that we don’t like, ”she laughs looking at her basket.

Enthusiasm crosses the ages. Anthony, a young father, came with his baby under his arm. The child, eyes wide open, observes with curiosity the products that parade on the shelves. “I did not know the initiative, but it is ideal for my son. No strong music, no aggressive lights … it allows you to keep it serene, and me too, ”smiles Anthony, delighted with this unexpected discovery.

Complete reorganization

If these calm hours seduce Danièle and Anthony, their implementation required a real backstage reorganization. “It took several weeks,” said Morgane Lemoine, a cardboard pocket under his arm. It was necessary to prevent the provider responsible for sound broadcasting in all 7,000 m2 of the store, adjust the schedules of several services and review the cadence of certain tasks. “For cleaning for example, the teams only intervene for emergencies, such as a bottle of wine explodes on the ground or that a pot of sauce bursts on the shelves,” explains the manager. Result: a respite for customers … but also for staff.

Because these silent hours also benefit the teams. Mélanie, in charge of the baby department, appreciates this parenthesis, in a day when she “starts at 9 am” and “ends at 7 pm”. “These two hours are precious. They facilitate concentration, especially for stock management or the preparation of gondola heads. A little further, Dorian conscientiously aligns bottles of milk. Recently recruited, he already notices “a beneficial effect” with his colleagues. Customers are also more relaxed and more pleasant exchanges. As for the crowds, it does not suffer from this silent moment: that day, nearly 750 customers wandered between the shelves, a figure in the standards of the store.

A law in preparation

Building on this success, the initiative extends far beyond IFS. At the national level, almost all of the large distribution brands have adopted it, some even applying it daily. An action welcomed by autism awareness associations. For many autistic people, shopping remains a real obstacle course, the pale lights and the hubbub of the speakers causing anxiety and embarrassment. This reduction in noise and bright nuisance is also beneficial for hypersensitive people or suffering from hearing disorders.

In this dynamic, Nadia Essayan, then deputy (Modem) of the Cher, brought a bill in 2020 to expand these calm hours to most shops: ready-to-wear, DIY, destocking … The text, adopted in the National Assembly, remains suspended in the corridors of the Senate. But in Normandy, some traders did not wait to follow the trend. A few kilometers from IFS supermarket, a famous Swedish furnishings store has already followed suit. Every Tuesday and Thursday morning, silence is invited, this time, between the sofas and the lampshades.