Today’s Guardian reports on a success story in France:
Today, Mulhouse is known for the staggering transformation of its thriving centre, bucking the national trend for high street closures.
In the past eight years, more than 470 shops and businesses have opened here. Mulhouse is unique in that 75% of new openings are independents, from comic book stores to microbreweries and organic grocers. It is one of the only places in France with as many independents as franchises. And it is one of very few places in France where more shops are opening than closing.
From bleak to bustling: how one French town solved its high street crisis