Precarious times can induce pleasurable measures. This spring in Paris, the Yellow Vest movement once again made headlines after damaging shops along the Champs Elysées, yet only days later the magnificent avenue saw the opening of the Galeries Lafayette department store. While it may seem like just another retail expansion in a world overly maxed-out by mega-stores, the move was something of a novelty for the French capital, which had seen nothing of this scale open for decades.

Indeed, Paris has always presented limitations in terms of its size, given its few available venues to host large stores. And since most of the city center is an inventory of heritage sites, it's challenging to nurture contemporary retail emporia while respecting the city's architectural code. There's also the significant factor of economics; Paris, along with Hong Kong, London and New York, is one of the most expensive cities for commercial real estate in the world.

Traditionally, the city has relied on three iconic department stores: Le Bon Marché, Le Printemps and the Galeries Lafayette Haussmann. This equilibrium just shifted with the Champs Elysées opening, and will change again next year when La Samaritaine will reopen on the bank of the River Seine after more than a decade's worth of renovations. Within a 12-month timespan, the retail scene will have changed more than it has in the past decade.

Spot the trend? These openings echo the growing volume of sales to international travellers in Paris, which is not only one of the most visited cities in the world (with more than 17 million visitors per annum), but France also enjoys the highest average spend on duty-free goods by all travellers in Europe. That appetite for shopping, one continuing to grow from Asia, is putting a new spring in Paris's retail step.

Located at 60 Avenue des Champs Elysées, the new Galeries Lafayette store is a luxury temple housing more than 800 brands over four floors, comprising 6,500 square metres in a sumptuous 1930s art deco building. This pleasure palace blends fashion, beauty, accessories and gourmet food to create a smooth retail experience that includes private shoppers, connected hangers that inform you if the product you are trying exists in different sizes (yes, really!) and a selection of niche brands.

The on-site dramatisation is worth a visit to the French capital alone. Some products are displayed on a baggage carousel, lest we had any doubts of its dedication to visitors. Coincidentally, this new Parisian space opened just a few days after a new Galeries Lafayette store in Shanghai, which demonstrates the strength of the Shanghai-Paris connection in terms of retail and luxury.

Cognisant of that axis, and across the Seine in the upscale 7th arrondissement, is the next-gen retail venue Beaupassage, which is also worth a visit. The recently opened space evokes comparable locations in Shanghai in terms of its concept and approach – Columbia Circle and some lanes in the Xingfu Lu neighbourhood, for example. In both cases, it is a closed lane or site renovated around a single identity, mixing works commissioned from contemporary artists, high-end cafes, restaurants and gourmet food boutiques, and a selection of trendy stores. Such an integrated approach is something of a new direction for Paris.

But it's a recipe that works: exclusive patisseries and cafés mixed with striking contemporary outdoor artworks that are used to blend an engaging retail concept into a heritage site. Stunning artworks ensure that the site is ubiquitous on Instagram, and the exclusive patisseries ensure constant visitors (especially those with kids) who stop for a sugary treat. Last but not least, the heritage site ensures the uniqueness of the architecture and lends a certain provenance to the site as a whole.

Beaupassage plays host to the first Pierre Hermé cafe in Paris (until then, the brand only had stores); the second bakery by Thierry Marx, the former chef of the Paris Mandarin Oriental; an outlet of the popular % Arabica cafe, imported from Japan; and two new bistro concepts created by famed chefs Yannick Alléno and Anne-Sophie Pic. This ornate shrine to gourmandism lives side by side with a high-end sports studio and design stores – thus, a 360-degree immersive experience in the heart of the city.

This retail dialogue between Paris and Shanghai highlights how luxury and travel are reshaping consumption, as well as city architecture, given the vast influence of contemporary Chinese tourism. It's the new face of retail-tainment – and you can anticipate demand for it to increase.