Aéroville shopping mall next to CDG airport

[Deleted]

CDG is considered to be one of the most boring big airports in the world, which can be a problem for people with 4 or 5 or 6 hours of transit. It's not really long enough to go into the city for a few hours, but it is plenty long enough to get totally bored in the airport terminals. At last there is an intermediate solution to the problem with the opening of the big new Aéroville shopping mall in the cargo zone of the airport. There are reputedly shuttle buses from the terminals to the mall. I did not see any myself, but I at least saw the bus stop for them at the mall. Otherwise, it would be an extremely short taxi ride to get there.

Since it has only been open for a month, it still looks "brand spanking new."





These first photos were taken about 10 minutes before the shops opened at 10 a.m.

They use the theme of being at an airport to the max, because there is a mixture of "music of the spheres" with silly background announcements in English, Japanese, German, Italian etc. along the lines of "Welcome aboard Aéroville for a first class experience. Please remember to fasten your seatbelt." If that were not enough, there is sporadic cockpit/air traffic control babble laid on top of the other sound effects. While it isn't very loud, it starts grating on you very fast, and I expect that it will be mostly discontinued before long. Then again, since the mall was nearly completely empty when I was there, it made it much easier to hear all of this. Perhaps when it is full of customers, the sound system recedes into the background.

Presumably to help people to orient (yuk yuk) themselves, the mall is divided into four zones -- Terminal Cook, which is the food and cinema centre, Bali Market, where the Auchan hypermarket is, and Africa Lodge, Nordic Chic and Tokyo Mix.

I popped into Auchan, which I found extremely small compared to most hypermarkets. Of course it's plenty big for any casual airport visitor, but I can only imagine that it was downsized due to the proximity of the Carrefour hypermarket at the O'Parinor mall in nearby Aulnay-sous-Bois.

People always rave about the huge choice of butter in France so here it is.



The restrooms had too many mirrors -- I had trouble finding the exit!



Furet du Nord is a store like FNAC, but it is based in Lille.























Here is what the exterior looks like.



People finishing or starting a trip in a rental car can easily stock up on stuff. Parking is easy.

Anyway, I have no reason to return there, but it is definitely better than nothing for people who want to kill some time in the CDG area. Here is the link to the website: www.aeroville.com/W/do/centre/accueil

[tod2]

Kerouac, thanks so much for giving us the tour! Do you think the stores in there ever make the rent?
Even if bored people are languishing through it, I don't think they would buy much that could not be taken on board....like lquids, or something heavy to add to their weight issue. I know I would look but not buy much - maybe a magazine but not more than that. I'm past the grandson TShirt buying stage too ;D

[Breeze]

This kind of photo report convinces me we don't need to improve our mediocre French. By the time we get back to France, English and French will have met in the middle.

[bixaorellana]

At first I had the same thought as Tod, but then I realized that of course the place is like any mall, in that it will have customers from all over the surrounding area.

I imagine shopaholics visiting from the airport would be very frustrated -- all that stuff to buy & no way to schlep it without jettisoning something from ones already bulging carry ons.

Ha, Breeze! But do people working in the shops actually speak English beyond the name of the stores?

Kerouac, I'm permanently impressed by your ability to find & make interesting all kinds of topics. But as a confirmed non-mallite, as I assume you are as well, I'm awed & humbled by the suffering you underwent to make this report

[htmb]

I'm feeling a bit nauseous. Malls do that to me. Thanks for going above and beyond the call if duty, Kerouac.

[Deleted]

I'd be heading for the Haagen-Dazs Ice cream shop. They must have cleaners working there day and night. Really is sparkling.

[joy]

I am almost embarrassed to say that I need a mall this trip. I live in Taiwan, where everything is size tiny. So when I travel to any western country I have to buy clothes for a whole season. Running around Paris trying to find basics would be a waste of time that could be enjoyed in better ways. So this mall does serve a purpose for me. I get the boring part out of the way so I can enjoy the rest of my vacation.

[lagatta]

Hi Joy, and welcome to Anyport!

A friend who was teaching in Japan a couple of decades ago found the same thing. Especially for shoes. She isn't especially tall, and certainly wasn't heavy, but she was of Polish and Ukranian origin and just not the same build as East Asians - though there are more tall Japanese and other East Asians with larger feet a generation later.

Where will you be travelling? I'd tend to think that the Netherlands and Germany would be better for larger clothing than Paris...

Kerouac, are the prices here the same as at any normal mall? I can't imagine that Auchan would have inflated airport prices. There is a small mall inside Schiphol airport in Amsterdam. I find the little HEMA there very useful, as one can always pick up toiletries instead of having to pack them before arrival.

htmb, I know exactly how you feel about malls. They are utterly alienating. I was in one a couple of weeks ago because a chain shop near me (which is on a shopping street, not in a mall) didn't have a skirt I wanted that was on sale, so I found one by internet at a mall in a suburb north of Montréal. There is a métro station nearby, and it is on the same line as where I live, but what a strange environment. After walking a lot, I was a bit hungry (I had forgotten to eat lunch) and I refused to eat mall food. Took the métro back quickly to Jean-Talon market!