Friday - October 03, 2014

company boss (brit) declares France a place where nothing works, as in kaput.

I don’t know if John Lewis Stores operate in the USA under another name.  John Lewis may not be at all familiar to folks outside Europe, or here in the UK. But they are large.  I guess you could say think Wal-Mart except upscale. They have a very interesting family history and like many ventures in business, it started with the family and I believe it remains there to a large degree. 
The company continuously scores high in customer satisfaction in surveys that matter.  So what I’m saying is that they are not at all minor league.
The family are also landowners on a major scale. So naturally, when I saw a headline first thing this morning quoting their managing director who declares that, France is KAPUT.  Well ..........

Take a look.

France is finished says John Lewis boss: Astonishing attack on nation where ‘nothing works’

Managing director of John Lewis, Andy Street, said France is ‘finished’
He described Paris as the ‘squalor pit of Europe’ where ‘nothing works’
Mr Street made the remarks after visiting Paris earlier this week
John Lewis insisted that Mr Street’s remarks were ‘tongue in cheek’

By Emily Kent Smith for Daily Mail

The boss of John Lewis has launched an astonishing attack on France – describing it as ‘finished’ and advising investors to take their money out of a country where ‘nothing works’.

Managing director Andy Street made the controversial remarks after visiting Paris earlier this week to pick up an international retail award.

Speaking to entrepreneurs yesterday, Mr Street labelled the country ‘sclerotic, hopeless and downbeat’.

Paris is often referred to as the most beautiful city in the world, but Mr Street described one of its main stations as the ‘squalor pit of Europe’.

‘You get on the Eurostar from something I can only describe as the squalor pit of Europe, Gare Du Nord, and you get off at a modern, forward-looking station [St Pancras],’ Mr Street told a conference in London.

He added: ‘I have never been to a country more ill at ease… nothing works and worse, nobody cares about it.’

Last night John Lewis insisted that Mr Street’s remarks were ‘tongue in cheek’.

The comments, reported in The Times newspaper, also included an unflattering reference to the ‘plastic’ retail award given to the company in the French capital as ‘frankly revolting’.

He said that the award would be a permanent reminder of the decline of the country, adding: ‘Every time I [see it] I shall think, ‘God help France’.’

Mr Street’s Eurostar train back to London from the World Retail Congress was delayed. He also blasted French hospitality, saying that the wine and food were better at a London event.

He did, however did give the French credit for their service which he described as ‘incomparable’.

The comments are nonetheless highly embarrassing for Mr Street.

They come less than a year after the retail giant launched a French-language website.

Last night the French embassy told The Times: ‘France is the fifth biggest economy in the world, the second of Europe, and is the country with the fifth largest stock of foreign direct investment in the world, so obviously many foreign businesses do not seem to share Mr Street’s view.

‘Also, saying that nothing works in France shows how wide of the mark those comments are.’

JOHN LEWIS, READ MORE

Simon, Farnham_UK,

So the Paris branch of Jean Louis won’t be opening up any time soon! Pha...sacre Bleu!

Posted by peiper     on 10/03/2014 at 02:16 AM   
Filed Under: • Big Business • FRANCE •  
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