• After a gestation of more than 15 years, the Lillénium shopping center opened a year ago.

  • Its first year of operation was nevertheless largely disrupted by the coronavirus health crisis.

  • The director of Lillénium estimates that the center will not reach its cruising speed before "two or three years".

Murphy's law, scoumoune and bad luck.

Lillénium is the latest of the shopping centers located in Lille intramural.

And if one has the impression of hearing this name for a thousand years, the structure of more than 50,000 m² has only been open for a year, to the day.

Even if this shopping liner was not built on an old Indian cemetery, it will have had the hardships until this first anniversary, celebrated in pain but also in hope.

It was in the early 2000s that the project to set up a shopping center in Lille-Sud, opposite the central police station, saw the light of day.

The idea gained ground and the outlines of what was to become Lillénium became more precise in mid-2011.

Work was even due to start a year later for an opening hoped for in 2014… Except that nothing went as planned.

Inaugurated in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic

The project that will be selected and built was not finalized until much later, and the first stone was laid in December 2017. But the mechanism again stalled, the project which was to last 27 months was delayed and the inauguration date, initially set for November 2019, has been postponed.

The date of August 25, 2020 will be the right one, except that in the meantime, the coronavirus has been there.

A year ago exactly, the epidemic gave France a little respite and the opening of Lillénium was done with great fanfare and in the presence of an impressive crowd. However, the health context did not necessarily allow us to be very optimistic for the future. This happened fairly quickly. “This first year of operation has never been carried out under normal conditions, between confinements, gauges, curfews,” admits Juliette Schollier, director of Lillénium.

In the aftermath of the opening, a heat wave hit France, including Lille, which revealed some sizable shortcomings in the mall's design. Under the huge glass roof, the temperatures were just unbearable. A few months later, in winter, the exact opposite happened, the cold freezing the consumerist inclinations of the boldest. Suddenly, work had to be undertaken to ensure that this did not happen again: “The periods of closures linked to confinements allowed us to make adjustments without hindering. Against the heat, we started to vegetate, to install fans and misters, ”continues the director. For the cold, only the critical points will be treated once they have been determined: “But there is no question of heating the entire center.In winter, we'll be a little cold, that won't change, ”admits Juliette Schollier.

Faith in the future and an astonishing diversification

On the activity during the opening periods, the shopping center remains discreet and ensures not to set itself "for the moment" of target of frequentation.

According to management, only three brands, including two catering, have closed their doors in a year.

“The surface area is marketed at 90% and new brands are expected by the end of the year,” says Arnaud Larzet, marketing manager of Lillénium.

To attract customers to the huge aisles of the center, sparse this Wednesday, a rather clever diversification policy is in place.

In terms of commercial offer, we find the basics: clothing, decoration, catering ... There is also more unexpected, such as an ophthalmology office which drains 200 patients every day or even, to come, a dental office in which eight practitioners.

Despite the context, we are not far from the original promise which dangled 900 jobs with "about 800 jobs, including dedicated service providers".

For the future, the director is optimistic: “in the end, we are not doing so badly.

In two or three years, I hope that we will have reached our cruising speed, ”she says.

A hope that Juliette Schollier however refused to quantify.

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