Marseille inaugurates lavish shopping mall at the port

On five levels set around a huge atrium, this bold structure conceived by architect Michel Pétuaud-Létang and built by the British firm Hammerson for €466m hosts some 190 brands, 28 of them new to the city.

Among the shops—which include ready-to-wear, jewelry, restaurants, hairdressers and more—Le Printemps spreads over two floors and 6,000 square meters. The roof offers a 3,000-square-meter panoramic terrace with great sea views.

Les Terrasses du Port, which targets some 15m visitors per year, hopes to attract 50% of the cruise passengers calling at Marseille.

The city welcomed over a million of them in 2013, according to the Grand Port Maritime de Marseille, which stressed this new commercial offering reinforces the port's attractiveness and complements its assets for the development of cruise activities.