Around 4,400 Parisians descended on the French capital’s Champs-Élysées on Sunday for a giant picnic on a 216 meter red-and-white checkered blanket, in the shadow of the Arc de Triomphe.
Needless to say, it wasn’t spontaneous. Le Grand Pique-Nique de Champs was organized by a committee of businesses aiming to get locals back to the area, which has become primarily a destination for tourists over the past few decades.
Guests, drawn at random from over 240,000 applicants, were treated to free culinary delights—both on the picnic blanket and on long benches that were especially set up—that were provided by nearby restaurants, including the renowned Fouquet’s.
While Champs-Élysées gets no shortage of visitors, its composition has changed significantly as real estate values have increased, pricing out shops and cinemas that catered to locals. LVMH for example reportedly paid over €1 billion ($1.08 billion) for the Louis Vuitton flagship store, on the corner of Champs-Élysées and the prestigious Avenue George V.
Alongside luxury boutiques, lower-price but still tourist-friendly chains like McDonald’s and Disney store have also set up shop.
Locals have additionally complained about rising crime and antisocial behavior on the avenue, which is on the intersection of several Paris Metro lines. As an iconic, central location, Champs-Élysées was also the site of large scale gilets jaunes protests, which began in 2018.
The Grand Pique-Nique was not the first attempt by the organizing committee, Comité Champs-Élysées, to get locals back to the area: in previous years, it has hosted a giant spelling contest and open-air cinema. It also comes as rival European capital London has been trying to expunge its famous Oxford Street of its seemingly ubiquitous American candy and Harry Potter merchandise stores.
The challenge is that there’s only so much that can be done in the face of high property costs, which are squeezing out retailers and food and drink businesses that aren’t highly profitable, or at least large enough to justify a location like Champs Élysées as a loss-leading shop window for their online offering.
Tourists have money, so it shouldn’t be surprising that the most expensive areas adapt to cater to them. Indeed, the only way authorities and businesses may be able to get local customers back is by hosting more picnics. It’s unlikely Parisians would complain.
