The Lillenium shopping centre in southern Lille, France, is treating second-hand clothing as a new growth driver. For the autumn 2026 back-to-school season, it welcomed two new second-hand clothing stores at once—Maboul and Five Vintage—adding to the already established C.TA Frip and childrenswear store C.TA Frip Kids, giving the centre's second-hand clothing offering real scale.

According to Hélène Villa, the centre's communications manager, second-hand clothing first entered Lillenium in the form of pop-up events, including clothing flea markets and temporary vintage shops. In August 2024, C.TA Frip officially moved in. Founder William Matthys initially planned to operate for only a few months, but chose to stay because of the strong customer response, and a year later opened C.TA Frip Kids, focused on children's clothing and goods. This paved the way for a long-term second-hand clothing presence in the centre.

The two stores joining this season have very different styles. On 9 September, Maboul, from the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, opened on the centre's first floor. The brand has 12 stores and specialises in limited-time sales. In January this year it ran a three-week trial in Lillenium that drew attention, and this time it returns and will stay until 26 December 2026. Its model is the most traditional vintage wholesale and retail: operators buy clothing by the tonne and resell it, and this time as much as three tonnes of goods arrived in Lille. Many individual items are priced at just €1, €2 or €3, with men's and women's clothing hung together; T-shirts, tops, shirts, sweaters, vests and trousers can all be hunted through, while larger items such as coats are slightly more expensive, at around €10. The centre admits that finding good pieces requires a willingness to dig. Young customers who value distinctive styling and budget-conscious shoppers can both benefit Michaël, and regulars who come back to hunt for treasures have already appeared in the store. Maboul is located at the corner of the entrance, giving it high visibility.

The other new store, Five Vintage, comes from Paris and opened on 18 September on the centre's second floor, next to New Yorker. Negotiations moved extremely quickly, taking only ten days from first contact this summer to finalisation, and a one-year contract has been signed. Its display is closer to that of a traditional vintage shop, bringing together many well-known brands such as Pepe Jeans, Lee, Levi's and Tommy Hilfiger. Its biggest selling point is that all clothing—including branded items—is uniformly priced at €5, with certain categories such as coats and leather jackets priced higher. During the opening period there are also gift-with-purchase promotions: spend €30 and get €10 of clothing, spend €60 and get €30, and spend €100 and get €100.

Lillenium's management attributes this setup to demand. General manager Sabine Gavin-Plagne said the centre wants to identify effective retail formats and respond to customer demands, including both the need for affordable goods and the need to express individuality through differentiated fashion, and second-hand clothing happens to satisfy both at once. She also noted that this is what operators want too, especially in the clothing retail sector. Five Vintage has currently signed a one-year contract, but the two sides are already discussing introducing a more vertical vintage concept that does not yet exist in Lille. The centre says it has always tried to create buzz and test new concepts at Lillenium. For the industry, this shows that second-hand clothing is moving from pop-ups and temporary stalls towards a permanent format in mature shopping centres, and is following two parallel paths to market: low uniform pricing and branded vintage.

Source: La seconde main cartonne à Lille : deux nouvelles boutiques viennent d'ouvrir au centre commercial Lillenium · Originally published 2026-09-25