Departement Stores

The Cité de l’architecture & du patrimoine is exhibiting the history of department stores in France but also abroad, from 1852 to the 21st century. It emphasizes the birth of exceptional architectures, both dazzling and functional, dedicated to new consumption modes and whose influence irrigates our contemporary societies. The itinerary invites the visitor to a European tour of these architectures in perpetual renewal, which have shaped as much as they have reflected the major societal mutations over more than 150 years. Multidisciplinary, the exhibition assembles nearly 300 original works of various natures taken notably from never-before-seen collections of the
department stores. It mixes architectural, economic, social and artistic questions.

The golden age of department stores (1850-1930)
 

The spectacular development of transportation and industry, combined with the urbanization of cities, brought about during the Second Empire a metamorphosis of commerce and the emergence of a new commercial genre: the department store. With its monumental architectural and fantastical décor, the department stores offered revolutionary sales methods paired with a presentation of merchandise that allowed a bourgeois clientele to discover a new way of consuming: shopping. The purchasing act became a sensorial experience that evoked for the
first time the ideas of pleasure and entertainment, cleverly maintained by the department stores’ commercial strategy. This revolution profoundly upset consumption codes, in France but also in major European metropolises.

The new experiences proposed by the department stores were accompanied by innovations in thecompanies’ organization of its employees. Microcosms often compared to hives, these commercial institutions stood out by the number of employees who worked in them. These men and women worked under the intransigent eyes of a boss, the founding father of the department store, who supervised their needs and decreed the company rules of life.

The department store, a selling machine (1930-1980)

After a prosperous period between the wars during which they incarnated luxury, taste and joie de vivre, the department stores confronted new challenges and had to adapt to the emerging consumer society. Forced to deal with new forms of commerce with the appearance of supermarkets (1957) then, on the outskirts of the cities, that of hypermarkets (1963), they entered a profitability race and transformed themselves into “selling machines.” The stores were remodeled to be more efficient and to follow marketing theories that were in full development. The clientele, examined under the microscope, became a study object.

This rationalization of spaces and practices tended toward uniformization, even the dissolution of the singularity of the department stores. They attempted to maintain their influence by proposing an art of fine living through multiple events. They also promoted the development and dissemination of ready-to-wear and took part in the creation of design objects through their art studios founded before World War II.

The shopping experience however was gradually replaced by the purchasing act. And the quest for profitability came up against its limits with the oil shocks of the 1970s.

The renewal of the department stores, from the temple of consumption to that of emotion (1980 – tomorrow)
 

Following the economic crises of the 1970s, the expansion of the department stores, largely in competition with supermarkets and other big box stores, suddenly came to a halt. Despite profound mutations, the department stores did not succeed in fulfilling the mass consumption requirements and several historic stores went out of business. They confronted a serious identity crisis that forced them to revise their positioning. A number of them began a return to their sources and revived the foundations of their commercial originality through the rediscovery of their architectural identity.

In the mid-1990s, the birth of online commerce, combined with the globalization of exchanges, once again modified the traditional reference points of the department stores. The digital revolution and the ramping up of e-commerce in the 21st century profoundly transformed purchasing behaviors. The department stores had to reinvent themselves so that their customers would find an interest in addition to the purchasing act alone during their visit. The temples of consumption had had their day. They are giving way to a new concept founded on the experience and service.