2015年经济学人 法国制造在法国消费者中不占主流（在线收听）

French consumers

Made in France, not

What a new love of shopping malls says about French society

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 suburbs.

The new malls, ringed by car parks, are handy, even alluring.

Fully 62% of the French told one poll that malls were their favourite places to shop,

ahead of the high street or traditional department stores.

The other trend is the global taste of consumers. Besides a huge French hypermarket,

Qwartz's big pull is Primark, an Irish cheap-fashion retailer, and Marks & Spencer, a British chain.

Just down the road, So Ouest boasts Hollister, an American surfwear brand, Starbucks, an American coffee house,

and ubiquitous foreign fashion chains such as H&M (Swedish) and Zara (Spanish). In today's temples of consumption, global is a la mode.

This is not quite the France favoured by Arnaud Montebourg, the industry minister and architect of a “Made in France” campaign.

He is now trying to keep American hands off Alstom, the French maker of TGV fast trains.

He once posed cheerfully for a magazine, dressed in a striped Breton top and holding a Moulinex food-blender.

Yet even French brands are not always home-made, as Benjamin Carle,

a reporter, discovered filming a television documentary about his efforts to live for a year using only products made in France.

The result was comic—and sobering. Not only was it impossible to find some items, including a fridge and coffee.

Mr Carle initially had to empty his flat of anything that did not meet the test of 50% of its value being made in France.

Out went the bicycle, computer, guitar, most of the furniture, beer, clothes, toothbrush and more.

The share of his stuff that qualified as French-made? Just 4.5%.