What if the occupation of vacant businesses in large shopping malls by pop-up shops dedicated to responsible consumption was a proposal for the future?

While waiting for an answer, Anika, in her twenties, has fun.

She takes advantage of “low prices” while being in agreement with “her way of consuming” in the Creative Vintage Place boutique.

A place, open for a period of four months at Les Halles, a large shopping mall in downtown Strasbourg.

"I don't really like shopping, but I had two or three things to buy, so I took the opportunity to stop by and find small gifts", explains the young woman, seduced by the second-hand products unearthed in this way. in the shop that defends responsible consumption.

Clothing, toys, products from small local designers, cosmetics, organic food products from short circuits, jewellery, decoration, school desks... Hundreds of unsold, ethical, salvage, second-hand, recycled products, farm products by back-to-work projects such as Les Jardins de la Montagne Verte or Ferme Saint-André are wisely presented on the shelves of this 200 m2 shop.

Much more than a store

The Strasbourg association Creative Vintage has indeed had the opportunity to open and hold this store since the end of October and until February 14, in a place where you don't necessarily expect it, a temple of mass consumption.

It collaborates with more than 16 supplier partners: charities, small local creators, farms in the sector.

A positioning already successfully tested by the association last year in a shopping center in the south of Strasbourg.

"More than a shop, it's really a place for responsible consumption, it allows you to meet a new audience, to raise awareness of more responsible consumption", underlines Laura Slendzak, project manager of association.

Aware of “the chance of being able to occupy such empty premises in the city center”, she is comforted in her feeling of “going to the end of the end of recovery”.



Concretely, this is a deposit-sale.

Charitable associations and local creators deposit their products in exchange for a small adapted rent and recover part of the fruits of the sale, "which allows everyone to come", explains Laura Slendzak.

The shop also hosts a small collection space before being given back to its charitable partners such as Carijoux, Vetis, the Banque de l'objet, Libre objet... Finally, a "third pole" includes creative workshops for children and adults "on the theme of responsible consumption, zero waste, food, short circuits”.

If the association finds its interest there, it is also that of the shopping mall.

The latter, which "was immediately seduced by the project", announces the management of Les Halles, sees there the opportunity to animate its unoccupied premises, to create the event, and "to meet the expectations of consumers".

Buyers “who are increasingly going to players offering sustainable, second-hand, more responsible consumption,” she notes.

This ephemeral occupation could become essential to meet expectations but also allow the discovery of "new concepts and to measure the appetite for such and such new brands, before studying a "more classic" location in the center".

The opportunity also concludes the management of Les Halles, "to accompany young creators,

actors of the social and solidarity economy, artisanal, local products.

So if we can shed light on vacant stores while waiting to remarket them… It's something we want to do”.

Company

Strasbourg: “We are being looted every day”… Traders denounce the insecurity of the city center

Economy

Nice: The "best shopping center" in the world is on the Côte d'Azur

  • Strasbourg

  • Trade

  • Tradespeople

  • Mall

  • circular economy

  • Economy

  • Collaborative consumption

  • Ecology

  • Recycling

  • Great East