VIRGIN Stores, engaged in a war of nerves over Sunday trading, cocked

a snook at the French authorities by opening the doors of its flagship

Champs-Elysees store.

Personnel manager Alain Lyonnet said shortly before opening the doors:

''We believe stores such as ours, which deal in leisure and culture,

should be allowed to trade on Sundays.''

The crowd of several hundred appeared to be in full agreement.

0 Virgin may have won backing from the public but its woes are far

from over. On Friday, a Paris appeals court turned down a plea to annul

a #673,000 fine for flouting the ban, although it did reduce the fine to

#168,000.