Are the Champs-Élysées transforming into showcases for tourists?
After the UGC Normandie cinema, Fnac will close, because the rent is much too high.
This morning, the brand organized a major clearance sale, but because of too many people.
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The 1 p.m.
There was a three-hour wait this Friday morning on the Champs-Élysées. Not to see a celebrity or for a film preview, but to enter Fnac, which sells off its products before closing. The store opened its doors for 15 minutes around 10 a.m. before bringing out the customers and closing its gate, several people told an AFP journalist on site. At midday, in front of a queue that continued to lengthen under a cold winter sun, the store's managers finally announced that it would remain closed all day and would not reopen until Monday, January 6.
Parisians desert the Champs-Élysées
Despite everything, there were good deals to be had for the few customers who were able to enter, but also a little nostalgia for those waiting in front of the store. “It’s really sad that brands like these cannot stand on the Champs Élysées. I suppose there are logical reasons”deplores a customer. Indeed, the brand is heavily in deficit, with high rent and falling turnover. The group justifies the closure by “declining use of the neighborhood by the brand’s natural customer base”. Understanding more and more foreign tourists and fewer and fewer Parisians.
“I have always known the Champs. It was a friendly place, even for young people. There, now, we pass on the Champs, but that's it, we don't stop anymore”confides a passerby. To find Parisians, you have to leave the avenue and take a few steps towards one of the last cinemas in the area, in a small perpendicular street. “It’s not an attractive area of Paris”confides a cinema customer. “It’s overloaded with people, it’s overloaded with luxury. The smallest coffee costs 6 euros”denounces another.
The number of luxury boutiques has in fact multiplied by 30 since the beginning of the 2000s. They occupy 25% of the locations on the avenue. On the other hand, 10 cinemas have lowered the curtain, including the legendary UGC Normandie in June 2024, to the great dismay of José, the kiosk attendant. “There is a lack of culture. There is no more Virgin. Fnac is going to die. Where is the culture? The cinemas are gone. That was what gave a bit of the magic to this avenue. There is no more Nothing”he regrets.
Everything is explained by the increase in rents, which have doubled in 20 years, reaching 20,000 euros per square meter. A price that has scared off some mainstream brands. There are only a few left to manage to maintain a window on the most beautiful avenue.
