Text l With polished stone floors and a plate-glass roof,a s
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Text l With polished stone floors and a plate-glass roof,a shining multi-storey shopping mall has just opened beside a motorway north of Paris.Named Qwartz,and costing 300m,it houses 165 shops and what developers call"eating concepts".Two other American-style shopping malls opened in the greater Paris region last year,and a third,So Ouest,in 2012.A country that prides iiself on fashion designer boutiques and aflisanal shops seernq to be turning into one of mall rats.Partly ihis is just catching up.Until recently,strict planning rules stopped big out of-town shopping centres around the French capilal.Most malls that existed,such as V61izy 2 or Rosny 2,dated from the 1970s,when rive new towns were built in the Paris suburbs.But a new relaxed attitude has now let more modem projects go ahead.It also points to two features of French society that escape the gaze of historic Paris.One is most shoppers'suburban way of life.Only 2.2m people live in the capital itself.Yet the greater Paris region,excluding the city,counts over four times more inhabitanLs,many in small towns and car dependent suburbs.The new malls,ringed by car parks,are handy,even aUuring.Fully 62%of the French told one poll that malls were cheir favourite places to shop,ahead of the high street or traditiOPal department stores.The other trend is the global taste of consumers.Besides a huge French hypermarket,Qwartz's big puU is Primark,an Irish cheap-fashion retailer,and Marks&Spencer,a British chain.Jusc down the road,So Ouest boasts Hollister,an American surfwear brand,Starbucks,an American coffee house,and foreign fashion chains such as H&M ancl Zara.In today's temples of consumption,global is a La mode.This is not quite the France favoured by Amaud Montebourg,the industry minister and architect of a"Made in France"campaign.He is now trying to keep Amencan hands off Alstom,the French maker of TCV fast trains.He once posed cheerfully for a magazine,dressed in a striped Breton top and holding a Moulinex food-blender.Yet even French brands are not always home-made,as Benjamin Carle,a reporter,discovered filming a television documeniary about his efforts to live for a year using only products made in France.The result was comic-and sobering.Not only was it impossible to find some items,including a fridge and coffee.Mr Carle initially had to empty his flat of anyLhing that did not meet the test of 50%of its value being made in France.Out went the bicycle,computer,guitar,most of the furnilure,beer.clothes,toothbrush and more.The share of his stuff that qualified as French-made?Just 4.5%.
The word"la mode"（Line 5,Para.4）most probably means_____
