More than 50 million visitors each year, 62.5 million in 2024… this labyrinth of boutiques, restaurants and trends remains the beating heart of Parisian shopping.
As some iconic shopping centers face their final hours, the contrast is stark. At Bercy 2 or the Quais d’Ivry, the curtains are falling and demolition projects are moving forward.
A few kilometers away, however, another giant is doing just the opposite. Hidden underground, this sprawling labyrinth is never empty. It attracts more than 50 million visitors each year and, in 2024, it will even reach 62.5 million, making it the busiest shopping center in Europe. A dizzying figure at a time when physical commerce is faltering.
It’s difficult to explain its success without having set foot there. Here, everything speeds up. The escalators turn non-stop, the flows never stop, and a background noise is reminiscent of a beehive in full activity. On Saturday afternoons, teenagers gather there as if in a giant playground, while busy travelers make their way between two connections. “Even when I’m just connecting, I always end up taking a walk around the center. It’s impossible to cross without taking a look at the windows“, smiles Amel, 41 years old.
This place is the Westfield Forum des Halles. A name that doesn’t tell the whole story. Before becoming this modern temple, it was first that of the legendary Halles de Baltard, then an underground shopping center often considered dark in the 1980s. The radical transformation arrived in 2016 with the inauguration of the spectacular Canopée des Halles. This undulating structure, bathed in light, opens up the space, modernizes the image and makes you want to linger there again.
But the real secret of its success lies elsewhere. The Forum is attached to Châtelet – Les Halles station, the largest underground station in Europe. Every day, hundreds of thousands of travelers pass through it, generating a continuous, almost mechanical flow. Added to this is a hybrid offer: one of the largest cinemas in Europe, restaurants, a swimming pool, a media library or a conservatory.
The commercial offer mixes sure values and new products. Historical ready-to-wear brands like Zara, H&M or Uniqlo are still as attractive as ever, while others are reinventing themselves. This is the case of Celio, which launched its women’s line there for the first time, Celio Women.
It’s impossible not to think of Florent Pagny and his title Châtelet Les Halles, which already described this incessant ballet of intersecting lives. Decades later, the place has lost none of its energy.
In this era of triumphant e-commerce, the Forum des Halles seems to have found the formula that others are still looking for. More than just a shopping center, it has become an extension of the city itself. Perhaps proof that to survive, these temples of consumption must now reinvent themselves… or disappear.
