GALERIES LAFAYETTE: THE PARIS SHOPPING DESTINATION 

Galerie des Galeries
Created in October 2001, the permanent Galerie des Galeries exhibition space welcomes around 500 visitors on weekdays and more than 1,000 on Saturdays. Located across from the designers’ section on the first floor, the Galerie des Galeries presents established and upcoming talent to the department store’s cosmopolitan customer base. Six exhibitions are organized each year to showcase French and international creators, with a focus on the cross-currents between fashion, plastic arts and design disciplines that have always inspired Galeries Lafayette.

History...
The original Les Galeries was a 70-square meter haberdashery that sold ribbons, lace, hat veils and other small fashion accessories. Although the venture may have seemed a bit risky, the location was ideal, as the nearby Opera and Grands Boulevards, the recently completed Gare Saint-Lazare and the surrounding shops attracted crowds of Parisians and provincials to the neighborhood. Very quickly, the shop became a success thanks to its innovative methods, which included offering a broad and varied merchandise selection, posting set prices and letting customers touch, try on and compare items freely. Design and production workshops were opened to differentiate Les Galeries from the competition. Théophile Bader brought fashion to the streets by copying the elegant attire worn at the race tracks and selling it at affordable prices.

The store diversified constantly. Menswear, home furnishings, toys and tableware were added alongside the traditional departments. On December 21, 1895, the founders purchased the store they had been renting and expanded over five floors. Les Galeries changed its name to Galeries Lafayette in 1899. Soon thereafter, the two cousins bought other shops, offices and buildings in the neighborhood, including the ones on Boulevard Haussmann. Georges Chedanne and his student Ferdinand Chanut were commissioned to make over the new premises.

Inaugurated in style in October 1921, the department store turned many heads with its numerous sections and oriental-bazaar-style merchandise display. Galeries Lafayette stood out for its refined interior design and beautiful façade.

People came just to see its architecture, balconies, neo-Byzantine stain-glass dome on six metal pillars, curved balustrades and majestic staircase. Along with 96 sections presenting the latest items, the store had a tearoom, library and hairdressing salon. From the roof-top terrace, visitors had an unsurpassed view of Paris and its new Eiffel Tower. The display windows played a major role in this alluring atmosphere by attracting attention and creating desire.

In 1912, an ailing Alphonse Kahn sold his shares to his partner. He died in 1924, but the business remained in the family.

Between 1916 and 1926, Galeries Lafayette expanded outside Paris, with stores in Nice, Lyon, Nantes and Montpellier. Concerned for his employees’ well-being, Théophile Bader set up a welfare fund, nursery and pension fund before such benefits were required by law. In June 1940, posters identifying the store as a Jewish-owned enterprise were plastered on the windows. The owner was dispossessed by the Vichy government and his twosons-in-law joined the French Resistance. Théophile Bader died in Paris in 1942, at the age of 78. He never renounced his heritage; he married Jeanne Bloch in the synagogue and observed the traditional Jewish holidays. A philanthropist and friend of the literary arts, Théophile Bader supported numerous works. During the war, he organized a model hospital in Paris’ Grand-Palais. He also helped with the reconstruction of Hôtel de Massa, home to a leading French literary society. A street was name after him in his hometown of Dambach. Backed by their experience on the Board of Directors, Théophile Bader’s sons-in-law, Max Heilbronn and Raoul Meyer, took over the company.

A theatrical approach to displaying contemporary trends was Galeries Lafayette’s hallmark throughout the century. The following generations, led by sons-in-law Etienne Moulin and Georges Meyer, developed a network of stores in France with the acquisition of Nouvelles Galeries. Over the years, 59 stores were opened, mainly in the downtown districts of France’s largest cities. The network also includes a dozen affiliated outlets and a store in Berlin. Galeries Lafayette has always promoted new talent. Previously unknown designers such as Sonia Rykiel, Daniel Hechter, Pierre Cardin, Cacharel, Yves Saint-Laurent and Dorothée Bis all got their start with a shop-in-shop at Galeries Lafayette.

A million people come through Galeries Lafayette each day, with the flagship Boulevard Haussmann store welcoming 90,000 of them. Recognized as a beacon of elegance and French taste, the more than 100-year-old Galeries Lafayette Group is still led by members of the founding family, with a Supervisory Board/Management Board corporate structure. This family saga, unique in the history of retailing, has underpinned a long-term vision of management and fashion. Shoppers from France and around the world continue to flock to the flagship department stores, because, as the motto goes, “Something is always happening at Galeries Lafayette”.

The Galeries Lafayette Group currently operates in three market segments: department stores, with Galeries Lafayette and BHV; city markets, with Monoprix and Monop; and financial services, with LaSer/Cofinoga.

Visit galerieslafayettes.com to shop online or for more information.

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