PARIS — Apple will close all three of its Paris stores on Saturday as retailers across the French capital prepare for another day of protests.
As retailers boarded up windows and emptied shelves, the tech company said its stores on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, at Opéra and Marché Saint-Germain will remain closed on Saturday, reopening on Sunday from noon to 6 p.m.
Four other Apple stores in France will also close for the day, while outlets in shopping centers across the Paris region are expected to remain open.
Art Basel Paris, which was scheduled to run through Sunday at the Grand Palais, announced that it will close its 2026 edition at 7 p.m. on Friday, citing security concerns. The Fondation Cartier will be closed all weekend, and the Fondation Louis Vuitton will also shutter on Saturday, as will several major museums, including the Louvre and Musée d’Orsay.
The Cirque d’Hiver Bouglione, a popular venue for fashion week shows, announced that performances scheduled for Saturday will be canceled for “security reasons.”
The closures follow last weekend’s widespread violence and looting, with further demonstrations planned in the capital on Saturday.
Not all major retailers are following Apple’s lead. LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton has confirmed that it does not plan to close stores this weekend across its brands, and Galeries Lafayette department store said both of its locations near Opéra and on the Champs-Élysées will remain open as well.
A proposed protest with a route from Place de la République toward Opéra, an area home to department stores and luxury boutiques, was rejected by the government, while any gatherings near the Champs-Élysées have also been banned.
Instead, officials have authorized a protest from Bastille to Nation, through more heavily residential neighborhoods with small businesses, steering the march away from the town center.
The disruption comes as small shopkeepers in affected neighborhoods continue to deal with the aftermath of the previous weekend’s damage near the Republique area.
“As another difficult Saturday approaches, the shock gives way to anxiety: should we relive this? Should the curtain be lowered, the windows barricaded, the teams sent home as a precaution,” Judith Jiguet, managing director of the Federation of Commerce and Retail said in a statement to WWD. “No one can work serenely under this threat. The priority of all is that this does not happen again.”
She added that authorities should provide real-time alerts apprising shopkeepers of the safety situation, particularly if violence erupts, as well as information on the demonstration’s movement as it happens.
“Shopkeepers are doing their part. They must be able to count on the public authorities to support them and guarantee their safety, this Saturday as well as the following ones,” she added.
Along the Quai de Valmy, boarded-up storefronts bear signs explaining that businesses remain closed with merchandise removed from some premises and notes taped to boarded-up doors in an effort to deter potential looters.
Independent fashion brand Make My Lemonade was among those looted last weekend. A notice taped across broken windows said the company does not yet know when it will reopen or what the financial consequences of the closure will be. The brand thanked customers for hundreds of messages of support and encouraged them to shop through its online store.
France will deploy around 70,000 police and gendarmes nationwide on Saturday, including elite counterterrorism units, as the government seeks to prevent a repeat of last weekend’s widespread rioting and looting that overtook peaceful protests.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said authorities would also use water cannon, armored vehicles, helicopters and drones, as needed.
“We will be uncompromising with rioters, looters and all who commit violence,” he said.
The police prefecture has urged shopkeepers to strengthen security, check surveillance systems and alarms, protect storefronts and consider adjusting opening hours or hiring private security.
Twenty-eight metro stations will be closed from 9 a.m. on Saturday, including Concorde, Châtelet and République, in an effort to reduce access to central shopping districts.