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Places for Life, Places for Desire

A business reflects its era and the evolution of department stores informs us about our time. Look at the 3,000 sq.m. basement of the Parisian Galeries Lafayette Haussmann. Twenty years ago (at the beginning of the century), those who were not yet called Millenials or Gen Z, but simply teenagers, could find in there anything they desired. A sort of Citadium before its time, before it was designated as the empire of cool. Then the basement was changed into a shoe temple. After teenagers, their mothers. The place quickly became too small, given the hypertrophy of the offer. It was moved upstairs last year, in order to gain 1,000 square meters. At the same time, second hand and recycled products arrived, the answer of the Galleries to the spirit of the time.

 

The basement is now dedicated to holistic well-being and beauty. This high potencial market has doubled in size in four years on a global scale, according to experts… Welcome to the “Wellness Gallerie”. Here you will find exclusive products, of course, but also sportswear and a wide range of treatments (massages, alternative medicine consultations, fitness classes, etc.), not to mention a restaurant with a promise of healthy food. The complete package.

 

Let’s summarize: sportswear and streetwear to start with, then bags and shoes, and now well-being, without forgetting to check the recycling box. The perfect mirror of our changing expectations and the ambition of department stores to become places of life. For years, their offer and appearance remained the same, with only, from time to time, a renovated department or a new (and prestigious) brand invited. This is no longer enough. They now have to shake up their organization, disrupt their habits, and invent new proposals to meet our expectations of never-satisfied experiences. Something new, something exclusive, something ready-made.

 

It is difficult to keep seeing department stores as a collection of sales spaces. Isn’t Le Bon Marché currently hosting a play in its aisles at nightfall?

So What ?

The logic of commerce is getting closer and closer to that of culture: sales spaces must now be seen as "happening" spaces and salespeople must be inspired by curators. It's time for imagination.

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