Questions around the reopening of the Samaritaine

Sixteen, eight days.On June 15, 2005, the Samaritaine closed its doors, for "safety reasons" and for an indefinite period.On June 23, 2021, she finally reopens.A tunnel of sixteen years that no one would have imagined so long.In truth, everything was ready to get the curtain on last year, but the COVVI-19 crisis will have decided otherwise.And to the point where LVMH was, after having invested some 750 million euros on the site, a year more, a year less ...

Pushing the date was giving yourself the chances of reopening in better conditions.Not sure that this is ultimately the case: foreign tourists, a clientele mainly targeted by this “luxury” department store, have still not returned to Paris.But they will come back, the bet is made.So, reopens ...

The smallest of department stores

Here, 20,000 m², on five floors, are reserved for the department store which, so as not to overshadow the other signs of the LVMH house, Le Bon Marché and the Grande Epicerie de Paris, is refrained from offering the slightest food offer . On 20,000 m², in any case, "the smallest of department stores", as Péléonore de Boysson, president of Europe and Middle East of DFS, had to make choices. So that's all for fashion, jewelry, watchmaking, cosmetics and, highlight of the show, beauty: 3000 m² just for the latter with, on the wand, the whimsical designer Hubert de Malherbe who, surely, was able to have fun on the project: “These 3000 m² were designed as a stroll, as a place where each woman feels at any time in the center of the capital, taking her charming streets, discovering the storefronts of multiple cafes and 'Refined stalls, "he explains, evoking traffic recalling" the random plans of Paris of yesteryear. »»

More generally, explains Éléonore de Boysson, "our desire is to make the Samaritaine a place of life, a place of discovery celebrating the art of French living, a place that Parisians can reclaim.A place, finally, which, we hope, will become essential for tourists, in the heart of Paris.»»

A link between Montaigne and Marais

Visually, that makes the "job", it is a certainty.This is true for this beauty space, as it is true for the Samaritaine as a whole.The spaces are clear, ventilated, the wandering is pleasant, the sequence of sales concepts is fluid, natural, nicely embellished with twelve catering points and pauses scattered here and there in the department store."With LVMH, which never does things by halves, we did not expect something else," comments a end of the environment.Which points to a slight disappointment, concerning the offer: “It is very high-end, much more than in the spring and even much more than in Galeries Lafayette, but I see nothing very newNevertheless.»»

In all, some 600 brands, including fifty exclusive, are present.The big names expected are there with "a selective offer that mixes the biggest names in luxury but, also, smaller French and international brands.Something like a link between Montaigne and the Marais, "said Éléonore de Boysson.The price range is very wide - very wide upwards, if you dare to say - but, on the "rivoli" side, a concept store has this special vocation of addressing as many people as possible.Open to younger brands, more "trends", its role is to attract customers and customers ... to the amendment.

"A fun, playful and joyful walk"

So, this Samaritaine, an additional department store in a deserted Paris of its tourists or the concept store of tomorrow, the one we will talk about all over the world and that you will absolutely have to see, when we visit the Light City?The future will say.In the meantime, LVMH delivers a partition without false note, daring without being extravagant."A fun and joyful walk, punctuated by surprises and discoveries," promises Éléonore de Boysson.And then, "an opening of such a magnitude, in Paris, it does not happen every year", salutes Pierre-François Le Louët, president of the French Federation of Women's Leaders and President of the AgencyNelly-Rodi, specialist in strategy advice and expert in prospective."It is a very beautiful and very large store, with a very international resonance, which will participate in restoring an attractiveness in Paris," he continues.

Replace Colette?

The challenge is there, entirely summarized: Paris, for fashion, for luxury, is it always Paris?Nothing is less sure.Let us remember the closure of the Colette store, rue Saint-Honoré.It is certainly ancient, dating from the end of 2017 but, since then, this concept store that has made admiration around the world, has not been replaced.Worse still: with the disappearance of Colette, the whole Parisian golden triangle is suffering."Missoni, Manoush, Sportmax, Stuart Weitzman, Clergerie, Bonpoint last week, Diane von Furstenberg ... I could add fifteen other shops that closed within a 150 m radius around what was formerly the epicenter of shopping shoppingMondial ", lists François Le Louët, speaking during a meeting organized by CCI Paris-Ile-de-France, who adds, worried:" What I see by speaking with the world's fashion patterns is thatParis is no longer the priority for them.»»

A huge challenge to take up

The words are hard.They have the merit of making the observation.They have the merit, above all, to show how the challenge landed in LVMH, with the Samaritaine, is immense.This store reopens at a crucial period of Parisian trade.Crucial and terribly uncertain.Haven't Lafayette Galeries, boulevard Haussmann, lost half of their turnover with the crisis?And the group does not envisage today a return to the front pandemic level before ... 2024.

Entre 2019 et 2020, les flux de trafic, dans le IX^e arrondissement de Paris où se situent les Galeries Lafayette, ont baissé de 44% selon les données de MyTraffic. Dans le I^er arrondissement – celui de La Samaritaine – le recul est supérieur encore : -55%... Dit plus clairement : cela n’augure pas d’un succès aussi facile qu’un simple claquement de doigt. En tout cas pas tant que les touristes ne seront pas revenus… « Cela prendra un petit peu de temps pour prendre son essor », reconnaît Eléonore de Boysson. Mais cette dernière se veut « confiante » et « ambitieuse », évoquant, « d’ici trois à quatre ans, un minimum de 5 millions de visiteurs. » Jean-Jacques Guiony, PDG de La Samaritaine, estime quant à lui réalisable « l’objectif d’atteindre les niveaux de chiffre d’affaires au mètre carré du Bon Marché, à terme. »

Information that does not fall into the ears of a deaf.Le Bon Marché spans around 3,000,000 m² and, for 2019, displayed a turnover of more than 500 million euros, if the data of the commercial courts are believed.An average of more than 17,000 euros per square meter.For the Samaritaine, this would give a minimum of 350 million euros.We estimated the potential a bit above, eighteen months ago in LSA.Customers to play to decide in ...

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