Urban Entertainment Centres.
In the last ten years a new concept has been developed in the United States: centres where leisure activities are the very raison d'être.
This new generation of shopping centres has been developed in response to consumer demand. Such centres are characterised by their radically different setting, in which one finds shops of more human dimensions, which are reassuring in their concept and the products they offer. The result is a shopping area where the products themselves, and thus their purchase, appear to have more meaning. They are also places where concepts, products and visitors alike are on show, places where people come to see and be seen.
Bercy Village is the first Urban Entertainment Centre à la française.
- The site is in Paris proper, on the main route from east to west, at the centre of an area undergoing major development: with the POPB, Bercy Expo, Parc de Bercy, Bibliothèque Nationale de France and line 14 of the RATP, it constitutes the new eastern gateway to the capital.
- It has a rich and evocative past, with well-preserved and restored architecture; the Chai de Bercy, the Musée des Arts Forains, the park, a UGC cinema complex with 18 screens, and the new film library, are all there. All these ingredients make Bercy Village an attractive place to visit both for Parisians and tourists. The concept is a new one which has become an original destination within the Paris cityscape, an authentic living area providing a festive range of products and activities, where leisure, eating out, culture, relaxation and shops are the main engines of its success.
Brest and its suburbs (the Urban Community of Brest) have 220,000 inhabitants in all. The city has rail (TGV) and motorway links. It also has an international airport. There are 3,000 students at Brest University.
Brest town centre is surrounded at its periphery by hypermarkets which are a threat to the development of retail shops in the town: the result is that the main French and international brands are absent from the town centre.
Espace Jaurès:
The Espace Jaurès has given a new impetus to Brest's town centre. It was created in a unique position in rue Jean-Jaurès, Brest's main thoroughfare, in order to revitalise retail shopping there. The Espace Jaurès is a vertical shopping centre built on a number of pillars. Shops have been established on 3 levels and there is a 400-space car park on the roof, linked to the neighbouring department store "Le Printemps".
