To the delight of visitors. A rich exhibition tells the story of the birth of department stores

“Babylonian palaces”, “temples of commerce”, “modern temples”. This is how Emile Zola described them in his famous novel. To the happiness of the ladies (1883.) Le Bon Marché, Grands Magasins du Louvre, Galeries Lafayette, Bazar de l’Hôtel de Ville, le Printemps, Grands Magasins Dufayel, la Samaritaine. all opened in the second half of the 19th century.^e century, the industrial revolution, these new types of domains greatly changed commerce. Better yet, they invented modern shopping. These days, a rich exhibition took place at the Museum of Decorative Arts, combining advertising posters, toys and fashion and design articles, reflecting this crazy commercial and social epic.

“Department stores are a defining link in the history of mass commerce,” explains exhibition curator Amelie Gasto. They ushered in a new era in France, the era of consumer society, which would reach its peak during the Trente Glorieuses.” With their monumental architecture, almost theatrical decor, and shelves full of merchandise, department stores quickly became the hot spots of Parisian life during the Second Empire. Primarily designed to appeal to the bourgeoisie, an emerging social category with strong purchasing power, they particularly appealed to women. They become targets of small business geniuses who multiply marketing ideas to orchestrate the desirability of products. A tour in the form of an alphabet book.

Like Aristide Boucicaut

He is the one who will invent everything (or almost). Nicknamed “the envy of America” ​​in his day, this Norman, the son of a hatter and market vendor, founded Au Bon Marché in 1852. He will revolutionize the trade due to. to its innovative ideas, namely free access, return of unsuitable items or acceptance of a fixed price. Before him, shopkeepers had only one goal: to sell as much as possible, which required endless bargaining. Boucicaut is the first to reduce margins by having a wide stock rotation (and for greater profit). He also offers products at “sacrificial” prices and advertises them in the press and on public roads. The progenitor of promotion. A business genius, he made Le Bon Marché a very profitable house; turnover rose from 500,000 francs in 1852 to… 72 million by the time he died in 1877.

B for luxury bazaar

Clothes, dishes, but also furniture. department stores have everything and every counter is specialized. The novelty is also in the presentation of products. special attention is paid to the “demonstration” of new techniques. The decor is meant to dazzle (as in the now-defunct Grands Magasins Dufayel), with monumental staircases, fantastic domes and grand balconies that borrow from the architectural vocabulary of the theater and then boil over. Even the facades are designed to attract customers, with Art Nouveau mosaic murals and gilding.

C for the client

Shopping is no longer a necessity, but a pleasure. At Le Bon Marché, a saleswoman follows a customer with a chair while another carries their packages. The department store is also the first to offer free buffets for customers (and cozy reading rooms for gentlemen who are bored with shopping). And even the toilets, incredible luxury for the time. Will it be delivered? It is possible! A special service is created using horse-drawn carriages.

D for Mrs. Boss

Aristide Boucicaut’s wife, Marguerite, is a philanthropic leader. news at a time when working conditions are extremely harsh for the working class. Thus, the Boucicaut couple were the first to establish a provident fund and a kindergarten, establish Sunday rest (the law did not require this until 1906), and offer free medical care to their 1,788 employees.

Like a child

At the end of the 19th century^e century, society is developing, even if bourgeois education is still very strict. The child, if not considered as an individual, nevertheless becomes the new target of department store marketing. In 1870, Le Bon Marchet created the first toy department. Amelie Gasto says: “To increase customer loyalty, department stores published pictures, also called ‘chromos’, widely displayed at the exhibition. After the purchase or on Thursday, a day off, the child received an advertising image. There were several of them, all of them collectable.” Panini stickers ahead of their time.

K for kleptomania

In these new temples of frenzied consumption, customers can touch the products; a small revolution that has a flaw. shoplifting is on the rise. A social phenomenon that even, according to historian Lisa Bogani in the catalog of the exhibition, became “the fifth reason for arrest in the capital in 1885.” Kleptomania, perceived as a form of typical female mental illness, deeply homosexual in society, fascinated the medical community.

L for window shopping

According to Commissioner Amelie Gasto, “department stores would not exist without Hausman”. Appointed prefect of Seine by Napoleon III in 1853, the baron profoundly transformed the capital and built 300 km of boulevards and rectilinear avenues that would be ideal locations for, for example, Galeries Lafayette or Printemps. Pedestrian circulation is easier on large openings, especially since sidewalks have just been invented. A godsend for bargain hunters. “Window Shopping” has just been born.

M for marketing

Sales in December, whites in January, gloves and laces in February, new products in March… “Sales meetings” multiply. Like promotional materials: trinkets, banners, posters, cards, recipe books, diaries. In the 1870s, Grands Magasins du Louvre handed out red or blue advertising balloons to attract customers, while others offered bouquets of violets or small toys. Because the competition is tough. while Bon Marché claims to have “the lowest prices”, the Louvre claims to sell “everything more elegant and cheaper than anywhere else”, while Galeries Lafayette wants to be “the house that sells the cheapest. all of Paris.”

P for Paris

At the turn of the century, the department store is the new social theater where you need to be seen. Then crystallized the image of the “Parisian”, a bourgeois symbol of elegance, which was exported to the provinces and then spread around the world, especially thanks to mail-order catalogs (invented in 1867… Boucicaut.) Universal Exhibition 1900. , there is even a huge statue in his likeness that will welcome visitors.

“The birth of department stores. Fashion, design, toys, advertising. 1852-1925”, from April 10 to October 13 at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris. madparis.fr: