Future Fontvieille mall: what do we know? what don’t we know?

Major building work is scheduled to take place in the existing Fontvieille shopping centre, between now and 2024. Plans, changes for Carrefour and the other shopkeepers… Monaco Tribune gives you an overview of this major new project in the Principality.

“There are due to be 70 shops in the future mall, compared to 38 today.” It is in these terms that Philippe Clerissi, President of the Fontvieille shopping centre, described the project, indicating the scale of the building works to come. The timetable is not set in stone as yet, but if it is adhered to, it should all start with “300 new parking spaces in 2023”, with an “extension towards the port”.

Time for a makeover inside, with the different levels of the shopping centre being knocked down to make way for “three new floors”.

It is also an opportunity to completely change the look of the building: “We will no doubt have a skylight in the centre, along with a large glazed section,” the centre’s President states.

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“The service providers should remain on the ground floor and the rest of the brands will be redeployed in the new centre,” continues Philippe Clerissi. The dry cleaner, tobacconist, telephone repairer, restaurants and pharmacy should all avoid having to change premises.  As for the rest of the traders, their fate is still mostly a mystery.

Upstairs? Downstairs? Change premises?

While the information regarding the scope of the works seems clear, what the future holds for the various shopkeepers is less so. “We are being drip-fed information.  I know that we’re all going up a floor in theory,” reckons the manager of a baby store on the ground floor. Was she expecting this? “Yes and no, it’s going to be quite a mess, building work always makes people nervous”.

For another brand, on the first floor, doubts are already setting in: “We were told the opposite, that people would go down a floor”, they say, surprised. Ten or so shops later, it becomes apparent that the different shopkeepers are all well aware of the forthcoming works, but that very few know what fate awaits them, or precise dates.

Big changes for Carrefour

The most impacted by the future building work is the Carrefour supermarket. “Carrefour Monaco will expand and modernise over the next 2 to 3 years. We will have an additional 1000 m2 in the future Fontvieille Shopping Centre, which will allow us to increase the sales area on the 1st floor and provide customers with a single checkout as there will be direct access to the ground floor via an internal escalator,” explained Rémi Feipeler, the supermarket’s director, in an interview given to Monaco Business News at the beginning of the year.

A big change that will enable the store to develop “certain very promising niche markets, such as seasonal products […] pet supplies, which have high potential in Monaco, or even speciality products from around the world” claims the young director, who has held the position since 2019.

With 300 employees covering the store’s current 5,500m2 surface area, he welcomes the future changes with enthusiasm.