When Vieux-Lille Makes Paris Look Like a Bargain
“My rent in Lille is higher than my shop rent in Paris.” You might think this sounds like a stand-up comedy line, but it’s the reality for Juliette, a shop owner in Vieux-Lille (Coco Friendly), who has seen her rent jump by 2,000 euros in just 6 years. At this point, she's barely bringing home a paycheck. And she's not alone: some shopkeepers say their rent takes up… 85% of their expenses. At this rate, selling waffles or dresses feels like working just to pay the landlord.
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A Call for Help (and to the City Hall)
The petition launched in mid-August on Change.org has already surpassed 1,000 signatures. The authors are directly reaching out to the city hall, asking for regulations on commercial rents, just like there are for residential ones. Goal: to save the diversity of the city center, where independents are closing up shop one after another, making way for big chains that casually pocket the rent.
And what does the city hall say?
On the city hall side, they aren’t turning a deaf ear. The commerce assistant reminds us that Martine Aubry had already alerted Élisabeth Borne in 2022 to test a framework in Lille, but it didn’t succeed. Today, the municipality says they want to revive the request with the new government and meet with merchants at the start of the school year. But the problem remains national: without a law, it’s hard to impose regulations on property owners.
A Matter of Survival for the City Center
Behind this battle of numbers lies the very soul of Lille. The small restaurants, bookstores, and concept stores that add charm to the city can't keep up with this soaring real estate inflation. “Should we wait for the last independent retailers to leave downtown before we take action?”, asks Juliette. A sentence that echoes like a warning.
The petition is available here
