Factory shops
Troyes,
the backbone of commerce
Troyes has
maintained its character as a market town, a town of fairs. In
the Middle Ages it was the prosperous capital of La Champagne.
At that time, with it being half-way between Flanders and Italy,
merchants used to come from all over Europe to unpack and sell
their materials and silks. This commercial backbone has never left
the lovely town, which remains ideally situated at the crossroads
of East and West, North and South. But simply the places for bargains
have moved a bit. The markets have left the squares in the centre
of town that were lined with lopsided houses to settle at the town
gates, not far from the motorways.
In what are called factory shops. One has to move with the times.
Marques Avenue, at Saint-Julien-les-Villas, in the southern part of town, showed the way in 1993. To the first premises opened (which were superbly-converted former warehouses), new buildings, all with huge car parks, came to be added all around, so that in time more and more shops, brands and visitors could be brought in. This complex now has 27,000 square metres of shop floor entirely devoted to bargains..
Mc
Arthur Glen 
Mc Arthur Glen
In 1995, MacArthurGlen staked out a place to the north of Troyes, at Pont-Sainte-Marie,
building a village of manufacturers' shops in an original architectural style,
as an extension to a commercial area that had long been known for the diversity
of its factory shops. Here too there's something for everyone in the family,
with prestige labels to be found in some 80 shops.
Marque City
Marques city 
Capital of fashion in jersey
This phenomenon of factory shops
is deeply rooted in the Troyes conurbation. It's line with the
glorious textile past of this town. Lacoste, Petit-Bateau, Absorba-Poron,
to mention only these universally-known jewels of Troyes industry,
started life in Troyes. Don't forget that the administrative centre
of the Aube, in the 18th century, was the cradle of millinery until
it became the capital of jersey. In the 1960s, rudimentary shops
began to appear in the many red brick factories of the town, just
a short distance from the looms, shops which at first were designed
to sell ends of lines just to the staff, who could buy them at
interesting prices.
In the face of strong demand, these shop doors were then thrown open to individuals,
to which the immediate response was a mad rush. This led to the era of factory
shop villages that we know today, where the rules of modern distribution are
applied.