McArthurGlen announces opening date for Designer Outlet Normandie

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Nov 26, 2018

London-based outlet malls giant McArthurGlen is to open its first luxury designer outlet to the west of Paris in 2021. The Designer Outlet Normandie will become the group’s fourth centre in France after an investment of more than €150 million.

Near Giverny, the company said the site will have 100 stores and seven restaurants and will target the 5.2 million people who live in the west Parisian catchment area. Located less than an hour from the centre of Paris, the firm also wants it “to become a key attraction for this dynamic, international tourist market.”

Europe’s biggest owner, developer and manager of designer outlets said it has wanted to open in the area for over 20 years and announced that it had received the go-ahead from France’s national planning body for retail, the CNAC, as far back as 2015. But it has now obtained final approval for the “first and only luxury designer outlet” in the area.

It will cover 20,000 sq m and, as well as its line-up of stores, will include an ‘Artisan’s Village’, to be developed in collaboration with the French National Institute of Crafts (INMA) and the Chambers of Commerce and of Crafts and Artisanship of the Eure Region in the western Paris area.

There should be a strong line-up of brands at the outlet centre with the company promising that it “will be home to sought-after international and French luxury, premium and lifestyle brands.” It has no names confirmed at present but given that it has existing relationships with labels including Armani, Burberry, Calvin Klein, Dolce and Gabbana, Gucci, Hugo Boss, Levi’s, Nike, Prada, Polo Ralph Lauren, Puma, Tod's, Tommy Hilfiger, Valentino and Versace, at least some of them should be in the eventual line-up.

Mike Natas, Joint MD of Development at McArthurGlen said: “There is strong appetite for a designer outlet in the western Paris area, and our brand partners are particularly excited about the tourism potential of this location. The centre’s proximity to a leading fashion capital, coupled with an affluent, fashion-conscious local catchment, offers huge potential.”

He added that McArthurGlen’s dedicated tourism team, which has bases in over 15 long-haul tourist markets such as China, Russia and Korea, “will work on a local, regional and international level to promote Normandie as a day-out and weekend destination to visitor groups.”

The most recent French opening for McArthurGlen was its Designer Outlet Provence, which opened in April 2017, and has stores for Polo Ralph Lauren, Coach, Michael Kors Tommy Hilfiger, L’Oréal, Maje, Sandro, The Kooples, Zadig & Voltaire and Le Printemps. The latter was the department store’s first-ever outlet location.