‘Quelle horreur’: This is not just a shortage, this is an M&S Paris Brexit shortage

Shoppers in the chain’s stores in the French capital are feeling the bite of the UK quitting the EU, reports Anthony Cuthbertson

A few strings of onions are all that fills a chilled food section at Marks and Spencer on Boulevard Saint-Michel in Paris, 14 January, 2021 (The Independent)

It’s 10am on Boulevard Saint-Michel in central Paris, and Marks & Spencer is unsettlingly empty. It’s not just the shelves that are bare, but also the shop itself, with not a single customer in any of the aisles.

Two workers chat idly by the crisps section – one of the only corners of the shop that is stocked.  “Some days there are small deliveries but it’s always a surprise,” one tells me when I ask whether there will be any new stock soon. “It’s been like this for the whole of January, and the worst thing is we don’t know when it’s going to get better. People are very unhappy about the situation.”

It has been more than two weeks since the Brexit transition period ended, and the stark reality of the UK’s withdrawal from the European single market is just as pronounced across the rest of France as in the M&S stores scattered throughout the capital.