The French luxury department stores Galeries Lafayette today inaugurate a new store on the Champs Élysées in Paris, with the aim of attracting high-end tourists and fashionistas from all over the world, to restore the tree-lined avenue as it was at its origins.
This choice comes above all from the need to oppose the competition of online rivals such as Amazon and Net-a-Porter.com and the propose department stores as destinations for day trips.
“The store is a retail laboratory where we will test new techniques and technologies and be the symbol of our ongoing transformation, into an omni-channel retail leader,” said Nicolas Houze, head of the group owned by the Galeries Lafayette family, which also owns the BHV Marais dealer.
In fact, the real peculiarity of this store lies in maintaining the shopping tradition, without neglecting innovation.
However, the opening comes at a difficult time for the Champs Élysées repeatedly targeted by the protest movement “yellow vests” which in recent months has been shaking Paris with destroyed windows, sacked shops and burned buildings.
The historic avenue has also fought for years to fit into the heart of the Parisian fashion map: many locals in fact avoid the Champs Élysées, considering it a tourist trap with its 300,000 visitors a day.
Galeries Lafayette: tradition and innovation
Galeries Lafayette is not just a department store, but it is a true French institution dating back to 1893 and no other department store is so iconic or intertwined with the history of fashion in Paris like it is, and the opening of this flagship store definitively closes a circle.
The current address, at number 60 of the Champs Élysées, in fact belonged to Théophile Bader, great-great-grandfather of the current owners, who already at the time imagined a location “halfway between retail sales, services and entertainment “, so nothing so different from what was expected for the new store.
But at the time of the Great Depression the shop was almost totally destroyed, forcing him to move and let the building become a bank, then a Virgin megastore in the following years.
But the genius of architecture Bjarke Ingels, with his splendid work, managed to keep the historic heart of the building from the 1930s, adding modern elements to create a sales area facing the future. The main objectives were in fact to facilitate the flow between indoor and outdoor spaces, and offer visitors an experience that combines shopping, walking, dining and events. All developed on an area of 6,500 square meters on four floors connected to each other.
Among the salient elements is the immersive entrance tunnel, the monumental staircase in Art Deco style and the gigantic glass boxes hung under the Dome that will welcome the invited brands every three or four weeks, the only concession to the concept of shop-in shop, which in this avant-garde department store fades to almost disappear.
In addition to the shopping possibilities between the high-end brands and the new streetwear luxury, the new Galeries Lafayette will offer an exclusive food court, a coffee lounge, a restaurant, but above all the “smart hanger” technology, offering to buyers of dressing rooms with light natural and information on product availability.
Shopping 2.0
A key feature is the Personal Stylist 2.0 app, which offers the store’s 300 personal stylists all the tools to advise customers on the various trends.
Each client will have a profile on a central database, which means they can have a continuous relationship with the stylists.
In addition, a virtual assistant will provide the team with ongoing training and instant messaging for customers, complemented by a mobile and RFID payment system.
Galeries Lafayette has also developed a new tailor-made “smart hook” that is able to tell customers what sizes are available. Everything is activated by movement and automatically recharges. Customers can use it to order special sizes and see them arrive directly in the dressing room.
Finally, the store will be fully supported by the company’s website, which will help site visitors discover all in-store services and book appointments with stylists.
To find out about all the stores of Galeries Lafayette visit the dedicated page on the website SHOPenauer.com
