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As highlighted by numerous surveys, baby-boom generations maintain a strong attachment to the automobile, particularly for shopping-related mobility. Yet retirees appear, in principle, less constrained by time than those still in employment, which could facilitate the use of slower (active) and/or intermittent (public transport) modes of travel. Their reliance on the car must be understood within the broader context of a lifestyle they themselves helped to shape. This situation has socio-spatial consequences. One such effect, examined here, is the retreat from city centres—specifically in the context of shopping—by individuals born between 1945 and 1960, in large urban areas with populations of 700,000 or more. Our analysis adopts a dual approach, both quantitative and qualitative, based on a cross-analysis of the national Mobility Survey (SDES & Insee, 2019) and a longitudinal, comprehensive study conducted in the Lille metropolitan area between 2020 and 2023. One of the hypotheses developed here to explain the preference for zones with easier car access is that of a dual process: a voluntary avoidance of city centres by individuals themselves, alongside an involuntary exclusion from the urban cores of metropolitan areas.