Good-bye Marais

This is very bad, both for the neighborhood and Paris as a whole. When the downturn comes -- and it is coming -- people will stop buying $500 sneakers and other ultra high end luxury goods, leaving those areas totally blighted with empty stores where no one will be able to afford the rent.

The best thing about Marais is it's walking distance to the center. That doesn't change even though the rent is higher.

where does the link go and what does it say?

Nigel,

It's a New York Times link. It's safe.

It's a New York Times link. It's safe.

But it's only viewable if you have a subscription.

I was going to post this article in the NYT about gentrification in the Marais district. The mini mart store run by 2 brothers for 35 years is being replaced by chain lingerie store owned by a giant Japanese retailer as the brothers retire. The end of a era of small businesses in neighborhoods where the brothers knew everyone.
Sad Story. An indirect result of the huge tourist crowds pushing out the small back door local places because more money can be made catering to their desires.

The Marais changed thirty to forty years ago. Where's the writer been?

The NYT offers 10 free articles a month to persons without a subscription. If you’ve already read 10 articles this month, go back and read the piece February 1!

The "old" Marais has been gone for decades. In any event things change. Cities and neighborhoods cannot stay the same. There are lots of people who are better off because of the changes in Le Marais over the years. All the people who owned apartments and sold them for a profit, for one. One of the first expats that I ever met in Paris sold her apartment last year for a huge profit, moved to over near Place de la Nation, bought a vacation home and gave her children some money that they are using to buy their own place. Maybe it's because I am a real estate investor (among other things) but I am used to places losing their charm and I do not mourn it. Just this week, there was an article in the Wall Street Journal about people moving to Star, Idaho (the fastest growing city in Idaho which is one of the fastest growing states) and then complaining because people are moving to Star and worrying that it will turn into what they left in California. Remember that just by going to the unchanged (and suggesting it all the time to visitors), we change it. It is ever thus. Don't mourn too much for the brothers who ran this business -- they got a very nice payout from this change.

The NYT offers 10 free articles a month to persons without a subscription. If you’ve already read 10 articles this month, go back and read the piece February 1!

News to me. I've not read any NYT articles yet this month, as far as I know. This is the first one I've looked at. I'll try again Feb 1st and see what happens.

For those who aren’t New York Times subscribers, just Google “New York Times Marais” and you’ll get free access to that article (unless, of course, you’ve already used up your ten free articles per month). I just did that and pasted the link from that search below.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2020/01/22/world/europe/france-paris-marais-gentrification.amp.html

Anyone who claims to remember the Marais before it was gentrified must also be claiming to be over 400years old. Has no-one ever noticed that the Place des Vosges isn't exactly working class?

When I bought my Paris apartment, the Marais was a slum, toilets in the courtyards, cut up teeny apartments, buildings well out of code for electricity and plumbing. Those who invested in that area then sunk lots of private money into changing the Marais into what it is today and what tourists seem to think it always was. Yes, people have been pushed out of the area. Yes, the area is now too expensive for young folks to purchase there. Yes, gentrification takes a toll. However, the changes in the Marais and other parts of central Paris, by pushing people out of the center have changed my neighborhood greatly. Tourists probably won't visit as long as my neighborhood can keep its gritty designation. Tourists probably won't visit as their short trips keep them close to the Seine. My neighborhood is now full of young Parisians, families, artists, technos, entrepreneurs and has the "vibe" these displaced youngsters brought with them. All cities through time change and do not remain the movie sets people seem to have in mind. Paris is no different.

The same thing has happened in Manhattan over the decades . A notable example is the Madison Avenue ( Upper East Side Historic District ) area from about 61 st to 96 st . Many of the small coffee shops , bookstores , art galleries , etc . are gone , replaced by the type of businesses noted in the Times article . Walking the street recently , it is notable that a vast number of ground level shops , as well as second floor businesses are gone , and for rent signs abound . With rents having gone through the roof in the last forty years , fewer tenants are able to occupy these places and a change is becoming palpable . Going back ten years , this New Yorker cover is prescient - https://condenaststore.com/featured/new-yorker-june-9th-2008-adrian-tomine.html

Remember that just by going to the unchanged (and suggesting it all the time to visitors), we change it. It is ever thus.

JHK, you captured it elegantly.