Champs-Elysées shops

Champs-Elysées shops facts

The most beautiful avenue in the world has regained its visitors and its commercial dynamism. In anticipation of the Paris 2024 Olympic, it is getting a makeover with new terraces. Brands are also rushing to open their flagships before summer.

The Champs-Élysées have erased the Covid period. Tourists returned in numbers in 2023, contributing to the increase in attendance on the avenue. Commercial dynamism is driven by luxury brands and sports players. The Paris 2024 Olympics boosts the attractiveness of the avenue. Commercial vacancy has fallen sharply.

The Champs-Élysées Committee, an association under the law of 1901 responsible for promoting the famous avenue and its district, has launched the renovation of the 19 terraces which are installed along the avenue. The project was entrusted to designer Ramy Fischler, head of RF Studio. The terraces were realigned and recalibrated to reinforce the perspective of the Arc de Triomphe and create spaces for walks. RF Studio has also designed street furniture, chairs and tables, for these terraces. Café L’Occitane en Provence and Pierre Hermé were the first to adopt this new standard, others followed, such as the Flora Danica restaurant and Monoprix. All other terraces should be ready soon.

As for the brands themselves, there is also excitement. After last year's renovations of the flagships of Sephora, Saint-Laurent, Ladurée or the opening of a new generation Zara, there are still numerous projects this year.

Sports players are particularly active: Urban Outfitters has opened its flagship store and JD Sports has just inaugurated its own; Adidas is preparing to move, There was the opening of the Nike House of Innovation in 2020, the Lacoste and Lululemon flagships in 2022, or even Foot Locker which migrated from number 36 to 66 to install its new concept, still in 2022. According to Knight Frank, 17% of stores opened in 2022-2023 were sports stores. This corresponds to changes in consumer trends. Sportswear is growing in a sluggish clothing market.

The symbol of the transformation is Salomon, preparing to take over the iconic C42 building, the former Citroën showroom located at number 42. The automobile brand opened a dealership there in 1927. In 2007, the building was modified by adopting an all-glass facade featuring the characteristic chevrons of the Citroën logo, a creation by architect Manuelle Gautrand. The showroom closed its doors permanently in 2017 and had remained empty for seven years.

Overall, car manufacturers have deserted the Champs-Élysées since the 2010s. Fiat, Toyota or Peugeot are gone. Only Renault persists, which was the first manufacturer to have opened a store in 1910. Having renewed its rental contract for twelve years, the brand has launched a vast project to transform its flagship. The objective is to highlight the mobility of tomorrow while remaining a “place to live” with a restaurant welcoming up to 154 guests and an agora for exhibitions, conferences,

Of the openings recorded in 2022-2023, 46% were creations, the rest renovations/extensions or transfers. Luxury and sport players are behind many openings. Despite all these developments, it is the luxury players which remain omnipresent on the Champs. Around fifteen openings, including IWC, Panerai and Saint-Laurent, and others announced, such as Bulgari. LVMH has increased its acquisitions on the avenue. Thus, at number 103, under a tarpaulin in the shape of a huge Vuitton trunk, the luxury group will set up a hotel. It also acquired number 150, the former headquarters of HSBC, and is planning some 6,000 m² of sales space there. In 2022-2023, 24% of openings were luxury boutiques. It must be said that these players have the financial capacity to settle and stay on the Champs.

With an average rent of 11,414 euros/m²/year in 2023, the Champs-Élysées is the fifth most expensive avenue in the world, according to Cushman & Wakefield. For comparison, Fifth Avenue in New York remains the most expensive with a rent of €20,384/m²/year. The Parisian artery has become very attractive again. The vacancy rate, which was 9.7% in the fourth quarter of 2022, fell to 3.7% in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to Knight Frank. “Ten days after the announcement of the closure of the Disney Store in June, two companies had already made an offer to take over the lease,” confides Christian Dubois, head of retail services France at Cushman & Wakefield. It was Levi’s who won and moved their flagship there. Let's also mention the luggage specialist Delsey, whose flagship opened recently.

It must be said that tourists have returned in numbers. According to a study by Mytraffic and Cushman & Wakefield, pedestrian traffic on the avenue increased by 15% between May 2022 and June 2023. On average, a store on the street sees more than 1 million people pass its door each month. . And for this year, the forecasts are pretty good. Hotel reservations in Paris are up compared to last year.

The Olympics should boost use of the avenue provided that restrictive traffic plans and the risk of saturation of public transport networks do not penalize it. No one knows what the real impact will be on the Olympics trade. “However, they will not last much more than a month. The question is therefore above all whether Paris will benefit, in the long term, from the market momentum observed since the end of the health crisis,” asks Antoine Salmon.

In any case, the Champs-Élysées will continue to transform after the Olympic Games. After the car manufacturers, it is the turn of cultural players to desert the Champs: the historic Gaumont cinema closed its doors in December, UGC is considering the closure of its UGC Normandie cinema and Fnac has announced the closure of its point of sale by the end of the year. New opportunities for other forms of commerce.