Fears Paris shops rents hit €10,000

RENTS reaching as much as €10,000 per square metre a year have made the Champs- Elysées the most expensive commercial space in Europe.

It beats London’s New Bond Street, where rents average €7,000, but worldwide it trails New York’s Fifth Avenue, Causeway Bay in Hong Kong and Ginza in Tokyo.

The survey, by real estate brokers Cushman & Wakefield, revived fears the unique retail and entertainment mix of the Champs-Elysées will be lost, with only firms like Gap, Banana Republic and Mc- Donald’s able to pay the rent.