Named after the Elysian fields of Greek mythology, the street was commissioned in the 1600s for the French royal family. Napoleon III added fountains and pathways in the 1800s. Later in the 19th century, a regionwide urban design overhaul led by Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann erected the uniform stone buildings that still populate many Parisian streets.

Parisians celebrated their city’s liberation from the Nazis in 1944 and their nation’s World Cup victories there. A restoration in the 1990s widened sidewalks, added trees and moved parking underground. But the glamorous charm that made the Champs-Élysées a quintessentially Parisian street has waned.

The theaters that dot the avenue have shed millions of moviegoers. Shopping arcades set farther back from the street are often deserted. The Arc de Triomphe, a testament to military might that has become a monumental symbol of the extreme affluence and global consumerism in its shadow, was recently vandalized by so-called yellow vest protesters objecting to high taxes and income disparity.

In 2007, the city government, wanting to resist the “banalization” of the strip, tried to block H & M from opening an outlet on the avenue. The fast-fashion chain arrived anyway, along with two Zara stores and an Abercrombie & Fitch housed in a sumptuous mansion behind a gilded gate.

“Having always the same brands, it’s not good for the place, because people don’t know where they are,” Mr. Missika said. “They could be in London or Tokyo.”