Adieu to the great French stores?

As the catwalk season gets into full swing in Paris, a familiar element of the retail landscape is missing. Samaritaine, the famous department store — or grand magasin, as they call such monoliths over here — has closed. Flags no longer flutter proudly on the parapets of the imposing Art Deco building on Rue de Rivoli, overlooking the Seine. The loss stings: an equivalent trauma in London might be the closure of Selfridges.

“La Samar” has been closed because it is dangerous. An investigation by Paris city authorities revealed that the edifice, completed in 1905, did not conform to modern safety regulations and some reports suggested that, should there be a blaze, deaths would occur within minutes. The building is owned by the LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy) group, which insists that Samaritaine will reopen after “vital works” have been completed.
But others suggest that it may not return for a long time. “La Samaritaine has been struggling for more than ten years,” says Michel Roulleau, commercial director of Galeries Lafayette, Samaritaine’s great rival. “The client profile of the Rue de Rivoli is getting younger and younger, and La Samaritaine did not adapt quickly enough. Despite the best efforts of LVMH to turn it around, everyone knows that it has been underperforming.”

But the closure of La Samaritaine in a city that still prides itself on being the cradle of style and fashion raises questions about the future of all the Parisian grands magasins. In comparison with slick concept stores such as Colette, the perennially trendy spot on Rue Saint Honoré, not to mention a string of multi-brand boutiques in the buzzing Marais district, the Paris behemoths are looking a bit moth-eaten. London stores such as Selfridges and Harrods have made strenuous efforts to modernise. But can the remaining Parisian giants — Galeries Lafayette, Le Bon Marché and Printemps — do the same?