Do not come to the Vill’Up shopping center at Porte de La Villette, in the 19e arrondissement of Paris, for window-shopping. You won’t find any shops, even though a large purple and black display on its front still promises “restaurants, cinema, attractions and shopping”. Renowned for its free fall simulator, this place which opened in 2016 in the fourth span of the Cité des sciences will soon no longer be called Vill’Up, but Boom Boom Villette.
Maurice Bansay, founder and CEO of the family property Apsys, the operator behind the shopping center, but also Beaugrenelle in Paris and Muse in Metz, admits to having “completely deceived, for the first time in twenty-six years”. He therefore changed the concept by removing all the shops, to devote it solely to leisure and catering.
The surrounding ecosystem based on leisure with the Cité des sciences, the too small size of the center – “10,000 square meters of shops, but it would have taken twice that” – et “the relocation of drug addict camps from Stalingrad to La Villette” got the better of attendance, which fell to 2.5 million visitors per year. “Insufficient to operate this 25,000 square meter shopping center”explained M. Bansay.
Mini golf indoor, bowling, trampoline…
So there will be zero trade. “We have to be radical in our positioning”, continues the entrepreneur. Instead, the operator promises, from the summer of 2023, 21,000 square meters of leisure with indoor minigolf, bowling, trampoline, laser game, arcade games, and the largest escape game in France, which will dive players in the heart of Gotham City, the city of Batman’s adventures. Cinema and skydiving tube will be the only survivors of the old center.
The new complex will accommodate 4,000 square meters of restaurant space, and an event program provided by Live Nation, the American festival giant. Enough to attract 4 million visitors per year in the long term, according to the designers, and thus achieve balance. “We had invested more than 100 million euros in the first operation, with our partner Sogecap, the life insurance subsidiary of Société Générale. There, we give around forty million euros, half of which is done by the tenants, who do the work.details Mr. Bansay.
With the increase in online shopping and the fall in clothing sales, the number of shops has decreased over the years in malls, in favor of dining and entertainment spaces. “Fitness clubs, laser games, escape games, immersive concepts, climbing walls and other karting tracks are playing an increasing role in the projects inaugurated since the health crisis”, notes Antoine Salmon, director of the rental business department at Knight Frank France, in a market study published on September 19.
You have 37.08% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.