La Samaritaine, the landmark Paris department store that dates to 1870, is reopening in a city bereft of tourists following a 16-year closure.
Luxury group LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, which owns the store, carried out a 750 million euros (US$892 million) renovation and originally intended to reopen in April last year, until the COVID-19 pandemic derailed those plans. French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday joined the inauguration of the revamped store, which opens to the public today.
While COVID-19 is in retreat in France and the government has lifted most restrictions, the grand relaunch comes at a difficult moment for many retailers. In pre-pandemic times, the French capital drew about 10 million tourists each summer, but might get only half that number this year, estimates from the Paris Tourism Office showed. To make matters worse, a shift to shopping online has accelerated during the health crisis.
Photo: Bloomberg
“We expect it will take one or two years for tourists to really return,” Eleonore de Boysson, regional president for the unit that houses La Samaritaine, said at a news conference. In the meantime, “we want Parisians to reclaim La Samaritaine.”
Nestled between the river Seine and the Rue de Rivoli on the right bank, La Samaritaine, known for its Art Deco and Art Nouveau details, spreads over about 20,000m2. A wavy contemporary facade designed by the Japanese architectural firm SANAA surrounds the building.
The store is showcasing established luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, as well as emerging designers, such as Austria’s Petar Petrov. The beauty section offers spa services at Cinq Mondes, where a one-hour session starts 116 euros.
Visitors can drink and dine at Voyage, a bar and restaurant on the top floor, where natural light enters through the main atrium. Menus are created by chefs in residence. There is also a Cheval Blanc hotel, with 26 rooms and 46 suites, that is set to open on Sept. 7, with prices starting at 1,150 euros a night. A daycare center, 15,000m2 of office space and 96 social housing units also form part of the complex.
Revenue at LVMH’s selective retailing unit, which also includes Le Bon Marche department store on Paris’ left bank, fell by almost one-third last year, the biggest drop among all of the group’s divisions.
It is “complex” to predict Samaritaine’s sales for next year, partly because consumers have “lost the habit” of shopping there during the years it has been shut, LVMH chief financial officer Jean-Jacques Guiony, who also heads La Samaritaine, said at the news conference, but added that he was confident the renovated store would eventually achieve the same sales per square meter as Le Bon Marche.
“It doesn’t seem crazy to be reopening a department store right now, even though we’re in a lull,” International Association of Department Stores managing director Selvane Mohandas du Menil said. “Paris isn’t giving up, quite the opposite.”
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