Posted on 09/27/2008 7:29:17 PM PDT by WesternCulture
Swedish clothing retailer Hennes & Mauritz has been given the all clear to open an outlet on the swish shopping street Champs-Élysées. H & M beat off the vociferous objections of Paris city council.
France's top administrative court, the State Council, rejected an appeal by Paris city council which moved in January to block a store licence granted to the retailer, according to deputy Paris mayor Lyne Cohen-Solal.
"We are completely powerless" to stop the spread of big chain stores on what is touted as the most beautiful avenue in the world, she said. The city has now exhausted all chances to appeal.
With the majestic Arc de Triomphe at one end and the Tuileries Gardens at the other, the Champs-Élysées has been at the centre of a fierce debate on the spread of big chain stores since a Virgin Music super-store opened in 1988.
Over the past two decades, cinemas, small shops, cafés and restaurants have been replaced by a string of mega-shops like the US clothing retailer Gap and luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton.
Cohen-Solal says fashion retailers already take up 40 percent of the avenue.
The Champs-Élysées committee, the oldest standing committee in Paris, has raised the alarm over skyrocketing commercial rents that are driving out small businesses on the world-famous avenue.
Its head Jean-Noel Reinhardt said the State Council decision was a "risk" for the Champs-Élysées, which it said was "essential for Paris' tourism development."
Francois Lebel, the mayor of Paris' 8th district which encompasses the avenue, said he would write to the trade ministry to ask for a change in the law to "safeguard business diversity and the spirit of the Champs-Élysées."
On finding out that I’m Swedish, foreigners I encounter immediately start to whine;
- Why cant I invest in IKEA stock???
My answer:
Because Mr. Kamprad (founder and sole owner of IKEA) is about 945 000 times as gifted an investor as you (and I) are.
My best and only advice to you:
Check out Swedish H&M.
Swedes do not master fashion like the French and the Italians,
but we master mainstream.
I was there before the mega-stores first appeared. And I have been there since they started appearing. It was much nicer before. It is like Vegas at night now.
“It was much nicer before.”
My two best advices to you:
a) Cherish the past
b) Invest heavily in an odd Swedish company by the of H&M
Poor Paris... maybe the good folk of that city should worry about the influx of terrorist sympathizing thugs that are pouring in from all parts Middle East and Africa... instead of worrying that a non-high tone shop opening on one of their prized boulevards.
“Poor Paris... maybe the good folk of that city should worry about the influx of terrorist sympathizing thugs that are pouring in from all parts Middle East and Africa... instead of worrying that a non-high tone shop opening on one of their prized boulevards.”
- To me, you don’t sound like an Obama voter.
“I was there before the mega-stores first appeared. And I have been there since they started appearing. It was much nicer before. It is like Vegas at night now.”
- Look.
I am poor by Swedish standards. But smart.
I’m easily bored by money. My family is well off.
However, sometimes it irritates me my parents don’t make the most of it, because they have really inherited a lot of money.
H&M is a Swedish success story just like IKEA. It’ll sell.
No one likes Sweden, but we run companies fairly well.
My realatives are rich. But seldom act.
Forgot to say;
Buy H&M stock.
Tell me two-three years from now whether you believe in H&M or not.
I'm a Libertarian, but I agree, the results of freedom aren't always pretty. But tyranny always ends in disaster.
Guilty as charged ;-)
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