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With 28 shops per 1000 inhabitants, Paris has one of the highest commercial densities in the world," says the Paris City Council, which has just published a study on the evolution of Parisian shops between 2020 and 2023. Carried out by the City of Paris, the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) and the Atelier parisien d'urbanisme (Apur), it identified no less than 60,846 shops, bars and restaurants or commercial services out of the 83,154 premises on the ground floor present in the streets of the capital. This represents "a limited decline of -1.4%" over the last three years, "despite the health crisis", notes the City. This relative stability hides some key changes in the typology of Parisian shops.
Among them, the study points to the appearance of 863 so-called "emerging" businesses, set up in Paris between 2020 and 2023. "Reflecting the new aspirations and changes in society, this category refers to activities that were initially not present or new," the report states. In particular, there has been a sharp increase in the food trade. An increase of 4% (i.e. 310 new shops opened), which reflects "the desire of Parisians to have access to local shops" while "on the other hand, the rise of online commerce has had consequences on personal equipment stores (ready-to-wear, shoes, jewellery, etc.) with a drop of 8%". This means the disappearance of 621 businesses of this type out of the 7300 existing ones.
And the least we can say is that the figures are glaring: between 2020 and 2023, the number of pastry shops, hypermarkets and specialized supermarkets increased by 22%, 33% and 44% respectively, while the number of tailors, childcare and women's ready-to-wear stores fell by 22%, 20% and 15% at the same time. Other notable facts: the number of CBD outlets has literally exploded (+405%), from 22 shops in 2020 to 89 in 2023, as well as the number of nail salons and other smile bars, up 20% and 100%. The second-hand market is also doing well, with 39% more bike repairers and 28% more second-hand shops.
Drifts to be taken into account
Does this mean that the face of Paris, the capital of fashion, will change profoundly? "No," says Nicolas Bonnet-Ouladj, the deputy mayor of Paris in charge of commerce and crafts, who assures, on the eve of the opening of Paris Fashion Week, that "the commercial vitality of the major ready-to-wear houses is doing very well." "The problem is rather the large chains such as C&A, Verbaudet or Celio, which have themselves imposed online commerce, and are now victims of private sales," says the Communist MEP, who deplores the explosion of deliveries "often made with vehicles running on diesel that deliver and pollute".
The same concerns are being raised about fast food restaurants, which increased by 10% between 2020 and 2023, which "generate a lot of waste". The same goes for CBD points of sale, which "are not regulated by law in the same way as tobacco bars", deplores the elected official, and "can, for example, be set up very close to a school". "We're calling for a little bit of legislation on CBD, to ensure controls on sales and prevent them from becoming coffee-shops," he continues, referring to the "legal uncertainty" surrounding the emergence of these new businesses. The same goes for nail salons, these small shops that offer hand and foot nail polish applications on an assembly line, which have increased from 470 in 2020 to 565 in 2023.
This notable increase has not escaped Nicolas Bonnet-Ouladj, who is more inclined to defend small craftsmen and "Made in Paris" than manicures. The Communist politician even evokes "a new trend" that will have to be "followed closely", in order to avoid that certain streets are condemned to "mono-activity" and the exclusive presence of these shops. All the more so since, as he points out, they are far from being particularly virtuous in terms of the environment, because of the "harmful solvents" they use in the context of their main activity. While the City of Paris is "in the midst of revising its local urban plan (PLU)", the deputy specifies that he is ready to "protect the commercial shelf of certain districts" and to "pre-empt" when necessary, precisely to prevent them from being exclusively home to these "emerging" businesses.
Read alsoParisian retail is doing well despite Covid-19
The good dynamism of food shops
However, he is delighted with a "rather positive trend" around food shops: "The number of pastry shops, caterers, wine merchants, cheesemongers... continues to increase and we are seeing more and more streets that offer real customer journeys." "All the studies show that diversity reinforces commercial dynamism," says the elected official, who assures that the City intends to fight, "as it did on dark kitchens and dark stores", to defend these businesses. A total of 310 new food shops were opened in the capital between 2020 and 2023, reflecting according to the study "the desire of Parisians to have access to local shops to carry out their daily purchases".
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New commercial locations with 863 "emerging" businesses and an overall increase in the number of fishmongers, bakeries, greengrocers, wine merchants, etc. show the vitality, audacity and energy of Parisian shopkeepers", says the president of the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Soumia Malinbaum, who calls for "encouraging and supporting" the dynamism of shopkeepers. How? By supporting them on issues of "energetic efficiency, accessibility and digital transition" but also "the integration of design, in shops and windows as well as in products". In addition, Nicolas Bonnet-Ouladj invites Parisians to change their consumption patterns. To help them, he wants to launch "a communication campaign aimed at customers" as well as "an application with the Paris je t'aime tourist office", on which the shops labelled "Made in Paris" will be listed.