This is a typical weekend crowd along the Seine checking out the famous green bookstalls. These days about half the stalls sell mostly the same mass-produced bits of tourist stuff, but the other half still have interesting specialties (music, art, Romanian poetry, whatever) and are fun to browse around in.
This is what I visualize whenever somebody sings the praises for "the French way" where everybody stops off for fresh bread, fresh vegetables, fresh meats, etc on the way home from work for their supper. And contrasting it with the uncouth and pathetic way Americans do it: getting a lot of stuff every week or so. Packaged food! Frozen! Canned! Sacre bleu!!
I can well imagine 20 million people hitting the "cute little artisanal shops" all at once, every day.