Almost instantly, St Honore faced a run on, well, cakes.

ECONOMIST: Run, run, run

On November 24th, a few days after the Japanese-owned Yaohan department store chain in Hong Kong went bust, word hit the streets that the St Honore Cake Shop chain was about to follow suit.

ECONOMIST: Run, run, run

Despite the convenient Hotel de Ville metro station just near my flat, I have become one of the growing number of militant Paris cyclists, cycling to work and back every day up the Rue de Rivoli and then back home on the Rue de Faubourg-St Honore.

BBC: Caroline Wyatt cycling through Paris