Protecting market incumbents from competition isn't exactly great for an environment either.
Also considering the simultaneous threat coming from the ebook that is also not such a bad idea to give physical shop some breathing space to adjust their business model. From France perspective again, it is choosing between having to pay social security to those failing business owners with tax money, or let Amazon clients foot the bill instead.
So depending at what level you look at: Book Market, Global Economy, US Economy or France Economy, there are many readings you can have.
As a human, I can not get behind a policy that makes food and books more expensive and harder (or at least less easy) to get at.
Just curious.
But that's not what this is about. France has a regulated market for book. When stuff happen, like a player that manage to dodge the regulation thanks to specific circumstances, regulation need changing.
If you want to wonder about something, wonder why does France regulate book market ?
What cities are you thinking about? I don't know if you're right or wrong, but my data point is a noticeable increase in malls/big chain shops in the three cities I mostly lived in (rome, milan, budapest) in the last ten years.
That being said I don't know what France is doing here. I just suggest that at country level there are more concern than just the physical book market.