1978 : lackluster year for wholesale and retail trade - According to the preliminary statistics available from various studies, French commercial activity in 1978 showed a moderate growth of roughly 2 to 2.5 per cent, which is an improvement over the preceeding year (1.6%), due to a recovery of household consumption in the first two quarters. At the same time, the number of firms has increased by 2 per cent, in provincial France primarily, in spite of the fact that the closing of firms progressed at a rate of 14.6 per cent. The creation of small and medium-sized stores appears to have been more prevalent than that of giant-sized stores. The estimates of the number of salaried employees as of October 1, 1978, also suggests an increase in emp...