According to the National Council of Shopping Centres (CNCC), the recovery is definitely underway in France’s shopping centres.

Slowly but surely. Over the first seven months of 2020, the index calculated by the CNCC – based on the turnover generated – shows a performance amounting to 70% of known activity over the same period in 2019. The first half of the year was heavily impacted by the health crisis, which led to the closure of these centres for two months, from mid-March to mid-May.

This activity index is increasing month by month following the end of the lockdown: May showed 40% activity, June 85%, and July 93% (compared with the same period last year). Will August follow the same trend? The CNCC, which represents over 800 commercial properties in France, does not yet provide a projection in figures, but is confident that a similar performance to last year can be expected at the end of the year.

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Gontran Thüring, General Delegate of the CNCC, says that “the precautionary savings built up during the crisis (75 billion euros according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance) should generate a revival in consumption during the last quarter until the Christmas and New Year holidays, giving hope of a level of activity similar to that of 2019.”

Regarding the health considerations that might discourage some consumers from going shopping, he said that “the wearing of masks, which has become widespread and to which consumers have become used, is no longer a problem in enclosed shopping areas.” He added that “the shops previously in liquidation have all found buyers, proof that entrepreneurs and investors still have confidence in the future of physical retailing.” Except that some of these takeovers are carried out with a much more limited scope than before.