The vitality of the center of Paris and brick-and-mortar entrepreneurs are supported with, among other things, a new type of zoning, the redemption of empty business premises and traffic arrangements.
PARIS The streetscape of Paris is known for its colorful brick-and-mortar shops. There are bakeries, cheese shops, bookstores, pharmacies, cobblers and clothing boutiques next to each other. This is how Paris wants its center to remain.
Recently, new organic and local grocery stores have been established in the city’s cobbled streets.
– Stores like this do well because Parisians want to buy local food from a local store. I, too, want to know where my food comes from, exclaims the one who bought the lunch portion and vegetable basket Thomas Lenz.
He says that he works in a nearby office and does his shopping mostly on foot, like most of the city’s residents. Only one in five Parisians owns a car.
The city of Paris took drastic measures to support the merchants
Small grocery stores are doing well, but brick-and-mortar stores have had a hard time in Paris. In particular, bookstores and, for example, clothing and shoe stores have been in trouble, when online shopping, rising costs and car dealerships that have risen to the edges of the city have tested Parisian entrepreneurs.
The city of Paris has taken drastic measures to maintain the vitality of the city center. According to the deputy mayor responsible for trading, for example, zoning regulations have been tightened.
The city has protected the brick-and-mortar stores in the city center blocks and no apartments or offices can be established in their place. Some shops are under special protection: for example, a closed bakery can only be replaced by a new bakery and not even a hair salon.
In the video below, the deputy mayor of Paris talks about the protection of brick-and-mortar stores.
The city redeems empty business premises and rents them at a reasonable price
Today, the city of Paris also has the option of redeeming empty business premises. The purpose is to support a versatile urban structure and to prevent the conversion of premises into, for example, online store warehouses.
– We have bought more than a thousand business premises in the blocks of the city center and rented them at a reasonable price. The plan is to expand the practice to the whole of Paris, deputy mayor Nicolas Bonnet Oulaldj says.
In addition, the ground floor of all rental buildings built by the city is reserved for business premises only. Their share is significant: 13 percent of all shops in Paris.
Limiting driving has increased the appeal of the city center
In Paris, motorways have also been converted into light traffic lanes, which seems to have increased the appeal of the city center blocks.
According to Deputy Mayor Nicolas Bonnet Oulaldj, the city plans to continue favoring pedestrians and cyclists, even though motorists and some entrepreneurs have been irritated by the changes.
– Closing the streets to cars and trucks has calmed these downtown blocks. It has made it easier for pedestrians to move from one store to another, says Bonnet Oulaldj.
The deputy mayor reminds that it is not only about comfort but also about jobs. Brick-and-mortar stores employ no less than 20 percent of Parisians.
Bold measures seem to have helped, as the desolation of business premises has been stopped. There are currently around 60,000 brick-and-mortar stores in Paris, which is a lot compared to the rest of Europe.