Paris - Galeries Lafayette - 9me

 Plate LXXXII – Galeries Lafayette… 

If I remember things correctly the retail hierarchy in French starts with the kiosque (a stall or kiosk), rises through the boutique (what else but - a boutique?), the magasin (a store) and then top of the food chain - the grand magasin (a departmental store).

And the grandest of the grands magasins must surely be Galeries Lafayette.

Another magnificent Parisian example of Art Nouveau era architecture, the highlights of the main store building are without question the incredible stained glass domed ceiling and the elaborate staircases which you can ascend to rise through the ten floors of retail space offered by the Galeries. Comparable, in my experience, only to Harrods in London the store offers an incredible array of quality merchandise from home furnishings through books and electronics to fashion items and food. Many of France’s best known brands are to be found here including Lalique and Baccarat - and a particularly pleasurable find for me was Etains du Manoir. I have a partiality for the practicality of pewter over the eternally tarnishing qualities of silver. A small Manoir rose bowl bought from the Galeries reminds of my time browsing the wares on the Boulevard Haussman.

The Galeries, started in 1893 as a small fashion store by Théophile Bader and Alphonse Kahn, purchased the lot at 1 Rue La Fayette from where the name derives, and went on to acquire the present Boulevard Haussman site in 1905. The architecture of the present main building was commissioned by Bader from Georges Chedanne and Ferdinand Chanut and was completed in 1912. Galeries Lafayette today has stores in Berlin, New York and Dubai, as well as owning French retail chains like BHV, Monoprix and Prisunic.

A luxury spa for those requiring some retail therapy!