Anything from home? WITH polished stone floors and a plate-glass roof, a shimmering multi-storey shopping mall has just opened beside a motorway north of Paris. Named Qwartz, and costing €300m ($ 510m), it houses 165 shops and what developers call “eating concepts”. Two other American-style shopping malls opened in the greater Paris region last year, and a third, So Ouest, in 2012. A country that prides itself on chic designer boutiques and artisanal shops seems to be turning into one of mall rats.Partly this is just catching up. Until recently, strict planning rules stopped big out-of-town shopping centres around the French capital. Most malls that existed, such as Vélizy 2 or Rosny 2, dated from the 1970s, when five new towns were built in the Paris suburbs. But a new relaxed attitude has now let more modern projects go ahead.It also points to two features of French society that escape the gaze of historic Paris. One is most shoppers’ suburban way of life. Only 2.2m people live in the capital itself. Yet the greater Paris region, excluding the city, counts over four times more inhabitants, many in small towns and car-dependent…
The Economist: Europe
