By Valentina Pop 

PARIS -- The French economy is feeling the pinch of monthlong antigovernment protests that have left scars of rioting on the capital's glitzy Champs Élysées boulevard.

The famous shopping mile, comparable to New York's Fifth Avenue, is struggling to rebound after four consecutive weekends of protests, during which some troublemakers set vehicles and restaurants on fire, hurled stones at shop windows and looted some outlets of famous brands.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire on Monday highlighted the negative impact of the protests on the economy, estimating they will trim 0.1 percentage point from the country's economic growth this year. The Bank of France also cut its growth projection for the year's final quarter by 0.2 point on Monday, citing the impact of protests on retailers. Shop closures and disruptions in the countrywide logistics have so far cost more than EUR1 billion ($1.13 billion), the French Federation of Commerce and Distribution said.

Tuesday night's terrorist attack in the eastern French city of Strasbourg, in which three people were killed and several others wounded, could further add to a bleak pre-Christmas mood among shoppers. The shootings took place in the popular Christmas market in Strasbourg's picturesque historic center. The market remained closed on Wednesday. It was too early to say whether other Christmas markets and shopping areas would feel a further fallout from the attack, but security has been beefed up throughout the country and at borders.

On the Champs Élysées, lighted up in all-red Christmas decorations, workers replaced broken windows and charred benches this week while tourists photographed the damage. Shopkeepers, meanwhile, sounded skeptical that despite efforts to quickly repair the damages, this Christmas shopping season will be anywhere near the previous ones in terms of sales.

Claims for refunds of the value-added tax "in our store are down 20% this month, which is a clear indication that are fewer tourists," said Toolsy Mooroogan, manager at the Lacoste flagship store, a French apparel brand.

The store incurs losses of around EUR40,000 every Saturday it has to stay closed, he said. It also suffered some EUR3,000 of damages to two of its windows, which were still boarded up this week. A double-door system behind the store's windows made sure looters didn't enter the premises and steal merchandise, as it happened elsewhere on the boulevard, Mr. Mooroogan said.

The shopping mile generates between EUR1.5 billion and EUR2 billion of revenue a year. Nearly a quarter of those sales are made in the month of December, and Saturday is the most lucrative day of the week, said Edouard Lefebvre, managing director with Champs Élysées Committee, an association representing retailers, hotels and restaurants there.

"Champs Élysées shops work on weekends and late. They will do everything to stay open. But it's on these Saturdays that they can really make a difference in terms of revenue, and for the past two Saturdays we had zero sales," Mr. Lefebvre said.

Looters caused EUR1 million in damages to French luxury brand Dior's small perfume store on the Champs Élysées in late November, French media reported. A security guard checked everyone entering and leaving the shop on Monday. The store manager refused to comment on the attack, which was captured on video and posted on social media.

Nearby, windows were shattered at U.S. apparel label Foot Locker and the Apple store, which covered them with white plastic film. An Apple store employee said the shop got lucky, unlike the U.S. technology company's store in the city of Bordeaux in southwest France, which was broken into and looted by dozens of young men, some of whom were arrested. A spokeswoman for Apple France declined to comment, as judicial proceedings are under way.

While physical damage is easy to fix, tourists' confidence is much harder to win back, said Mr. Lefebvre of the Champs Élysées Committee.

"Paris will always be Paris. But that also means there is no urgency to go. If there are protests, tourists will go somewhere else and leave Paris for another time," he said.

Julie Maguire, a 70-year-old retired teacher from Delaware, snapped photographs with her husband on Monday in front of the Arc de Triomphe, at the top of Champs Élysées. She said she would have considered traveling elsewhere in Europe had she not booked the couple's return flights out of Paris long in advance. On Saturday, when she arrived, "it was like a war zone" -- with armored vehicles on the street and riot police deployed.

The mood calmed down on Sunday and Mrs. Maguire and her family did some sightseeing, but overall it was a "bittersweet experience," she said. On the subway, overcrowded and skipping stations along the way, Mrs. Maguire had her iPad stolen -- and her husband had his wallet picked from his pocket.

"We didn't go to the police. We figured they had enough going on," she said.

Write to Valentina Pop at valentina.pop@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 13, 2018 05:44 ET (10:44 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.