“Babylonian palaces”, “cathedrals of commerce”, “modern temples”: this is how Émile Zola described them in his famous novel
Au Bonheur des Dames
(1883.) Le Bon Marché, the Grands Magasins du Louvre, the Galeries Lafayette, the Bazar de l'Hôtel de Ville, Printemps, the Grands Magasins Dufayel, la Samaritaine: all opened during the second half of the 19th century, in the midst of the industrial revolution, these emporiums of a new type have largely transformed commerce. Better still, they invented modern shopping. These days, a rich exhibition at the Museum of Decorative Arts bringing together advertising posters, toys and fashion and design articles retraces this crazy commercial and social epic.
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“Department stores are a decisive cog in the history of mass commerce,” explains Amélie Gastaut, curator of the exhibition. They opened a new era in France, that of the consumer society which would reach its peak during the Trente Glorieuses.” With their monumental architecture, their almost theatrical decor and their counters overflowing with items, the department stores quickly became the hotspots of Parisian life during the Second Empire. Above all designed to capture the bourgeoisie, an emerging social category with strong purchasing power, they especially appealed to women. They become the target of little commercial geniuses who multiply marketing ideas to organize the desirability of products. Guided tour in the form of an alphabet book.
A like Aristide Boucicaut
He is the one who will invent everything (or almost.) Nicknamed in his time "the man that America envied", this Norman, son of a hatter, seller in the markets, founded Au Bon Marché in 1852. He will revolutionize commerce thanks to its innovative ideas, notably free entry, acceptance of the return of unsuitable items or fixed price. Before him, shopkeepers had only one objective: to sell as expensively as possible – which required endless haggling. Boucicaut is the first to reduce margins to have a wide stock rotation (and generate a greater profit). He also offers goods at “sacrifice” prices and advertises them in the press and on public roads. The ancestor of promotions. A business genius, he made Le Bon Marché a very profitable house: turnover rose from 500,000 francs in 1852 to… 72 million when he died in 1877!
B for luxury bazaar
Clothing, crockery, but also furniture: in department stores, you can find everything, and each counter is specialized. The novelty also lies in the presentation of the goods: particular attention is paid to “display”, a new technique. The decor is made to dazzle (like at the Grands Magasins Dufayel, now gone), with monumental staircases, fantastic domes and opulent balconies which borrow from the architectural vocabulary of the theater, then in full swing. Even the facades are designed to attract customers, with Art Nouveau mosaic frescoes and gilding in abundance.
C for customer
Buying is no longer a necessity but a pleasure: at Le Bon Marché, a saleswoman follows the customer with a chair during her purchases, while another carries her packages. The department store is also the first to offer free buffets for customers (and comfortable reading rooms for those gentlemen who get bored with shopping). And even toilets, an incredible luxury for the time! To be delivered ? It's possible ! A dedicated service is set up using horse-drawn carriages.
The sumptuous decor of Galeries Lafayette contributed to its success with Parisians. (c) Roger-Viollet
D for lady boss
Aristide Boucicaut's wife, Marguerite, is a philanthropic boss – a novelty at a time when working conditions are extremely trying for the working class. The Boucicaut couple were thus the first to set up a provident fund and a crèche, to establish Sunday rest (the law did not require it until 1906), and to offer free medical assistance for their 1788 employees.
In 1902, cars were drawn up in front of Au Bon Marché, which was innovating with a home delivery service. (c) Neurdein / Roger-Viollet
E like child
At the end of the 19th century, society was changing – even if bourgeois education still remained very strict. The child, if not considered as an individual in his own right, nevertheless becomes a new marketing target for department stores. In 1870, Le Bon Marché created the first toy department. Amélie Gastaut says: “To build customer loyalty, department stores published images, also called “chromos”, widely shown in the exhibition. After a purchase or on Thursday, a day of rest at the time, the child received an advertising image. There were several, all collectable.” Panini stickers before their time.
The advent of modern commerce makes children an ideal target for stores, which dedicate their own departments to them. (c) Hélène Roger-Viollet & Jean Fischer / Roger-Viollet
K for kleptomania
In these new temples of frenzied consumption, customers can touch the merchandise – a small revolution which has a drawback: shoplifting is increasing. A social phenomenon which even became, according to historian Lisa Bogani in the exhibition catalogue, “the fifth cause of arrest in the capital in 1885”! Kleptomania, perceived as a form of typically feminine mental illness by a deeply misogynistic society, fascinates the medical community.
As at the Grands Magasins du Louvre, customers are now the center of all attention. Bridgeman Images
L for window shopping
According to commissioner Amélie Gastaut, “department stores would not have existed without Haussmann.” Appointed by Napoleon III prefect of the Seine in 1853, the baron profoundly transformed the capital and laid out 300 km of boulevards and rectilinear avenues, which would be ideal locations for the Galeries Lafayette or Printemps, for example. On large openings, circulation is easier for pedestrians, especially since sidewalks have just been invented. A godsend for strollers looking for bargains. “Window shopping” has just been born.
Bon Marché customers even have a reading room. Bridgeman Images
M for marketing
Sales in December, white in January, gloves and lace in February, new products in March… “Sales meetings” are multiplying. Just like advertising materials: trinkets, posters, banners, postcards, recipe books, diaries. In the 1870s, the Grands Magasins du Louvre distributed red or blue advertising balloons to attract customers, while others offered bouquets of violets or small toys. Because the competition is tough: if the Bon Marché proclaims that it practices “the lowest prices”, the Louvre claims to sell “everything more elegant and cheaper than elsewhere”, while the Galeries Lafayette wants to be “the house which sells the cheapest in all of Paris.”
The installation of displays allows (here at Galeries Lafayette) better visibility and access to goods. Bridgeman Images
P for Parisienne
At the end of the century, the department store is the new social theater where you have to be seen. The image of the “Parisienne” then crystallized, a bourgeois symbol of elegance which was exported to the provinces, then spread throughout the world, thanks in particular to mail-order catalogs (invented in 1867 by… Boucicaut.) the Universal Exhibition of 1900, there is even a huge statue in his likeness which 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