La Samaritaine: what to expect after so many expectations?
It's here!
Suspense was on almost until the D-day. The long-awaited reopening of iconic Parisian department store, La Samaritaine, is finally here after sixteen years out of business and a total investment estimated between EUR 750 million and EUR 1 billion.
Closed in 2005 for safety reasons, the initial renovation plan was aiming for a reopening in 2010. Renovation plans were only unveiled in 2012, with, at the time, a target opening date set for 2016. After some blockages from local authorities (before and during the course of the renovation), works didn't begin until the end of 2014 and, later on, the opening was announced for April 2020. But due to the Covid pandemic, the opening was postponed to June 2021, although the precise date changed several times while getting closer to the date. After many changes and an official pre-opening event with French President Emmanuel Macron, La Samaritaine Paris Pont-Neuf – finally – opens its doors on 23 June. Luxury takes time as Bernard Arnault always says.
A little bit of history
La Samaritaine was founded in 1870 by Etienne Cognacq and his wife Marie-Louise Jaÿ. Both came from modest families, he was a hawker and she was a sales person at Le Bon Marché. Believing in innovative selling methods (fixed prices, clear price information, possibility to try on garments, easy in-store circulation …), the couple is a remarkable example of the social climbing that was linked to the rise of department stores at the end of the 19th century. Growing through the years, they ended up with a four-building store completed in 1932.
Having acquired Le Bon Marché in 1984, LVMH bought La Samaritaine in 2000 with the ambition to transform them in modern and trendy department stores, on both sides of the Seine River. However, the approach for La Samaritaine significantly differed from le Bon Marché (which is a LVMH entity), as it would be managed by DFS, the Hong Kong-based tax-free shopping division of LVMH.
(Chinese) tourists vs. locals
A first Duty Free Shoppers store opened in Hong Kong airport in 1960. In 1972, the company launched its first DFS Gallerias in Honolulu and Hong Kong. In 2013, DFS announced their intention to expand outside of Asia, by looking for a few European locations (France, Italy, Switzerland). The strategy was to rely on DFS' brand awareness among Mainland Chinese shoppers and company's understanding of Asian consumers to capture their spending when travelling to Europe. For DFS, at the time, "Chinese customers will continue to account for more than half of our revenue in several years to come". In 2016 they opened their first European duty-free business in Venice, combining luxury and curated local products. While it still remains unclear if it is successful or not, DFS claims it has been attracting 3 million visitors in the first year. La Samaritaine is their second European outpost.
For LVMH, tourists (especially Chinese ones) were supposed to account for half of the department store's customers. In 2019 alone, nearly 1 million Chinese tourists visited Paris, spending over EUR 1 billion in tourism revenue. The average amount spent in stores is EUR 1,128 per day and per person. In that sense, department stores are an important crossing point for such spending (Galeries Lafayette is the second place to be visited after the Eiffel Tower and the retailer now has a dedicated store across from the flagship Boulevard Haussmann, just for Chinese tourists). Before the pandemic, and comparing La Samaritaine with the results of the Galeries Lafayette's Haussmann branch in Paris, French trade magazine LSA estimated that the revamped department store's annual revenue could potentially exceed EUR 500 million. For comparison, Le Bon Marché turnover is estimated to EUR 550 million, with 50% more retail space than La Samaritaine. But Le Bon Marché is not known for attracting that many Chinese tourists.
Needless to mention that Covid changed the game and La Samaritaine has, at least for now, to rely on Parisian, French, and hopefully European customers. For the time being, the opening marketing campaign is very much French-oriented (if not to say Parisian) and features the real store employees, using a very French and girly tone.
But Bernard Arnault has a long-term perspective on DFS' new venture and the current situation is not making much of a difference to him: "In the short term, there are very few tourists. […]. The question is not whether things will return to normal or not. Clearly, they will return to normal. The question is when? We don't know, and everything depends on that. But we've waited 15 years, an extra year won't make much difference."
So, La Samaritaine's strategy towards Chinese customers has not changed despite Covid crisis, and DFS will just have to wait for them to come back. In that sense, just looking at the store loyalty program says a lot. Using a QR code, you can get your digital card directly and instantly while in the store: what you get is not a Samaritaine card, but a Loyal T Card by DFS and an email from them, informing you about "What's happening In Hong Kong This Month"… To say the least, it will be confusing for Parisian customers who don't know anything about DFS. In itself, the loyalty programme includes the usual: exclusive offers, free alterations, exchange without receipt, free delivery from EUR 200, and reward points coming with each purchase.
A closer look at the store
The original state-of-the-art "Art Nouveau" and "Art Deco" architecture and decor are amazingly restored and completed by a new and controversial Rue de Rivoli wavy glass facade by Japanese architecture agency Sanaa, which was also in charge of the department store project. Depending on the store sections, interior design was handled by Yabu Pushelberg, Agence De Création Malherbe Paris and Studio Ciguë.
The whole project occupies 2 buildings out of the 4 original ones, represents 70,000 square-metres splitting in different parts, and will employ 3,000 people. Non-retail parts are offering offices, 96 social housing apartments and a childcare centre. For the business parts: a LVMH Cheval Blanc 5-star luxury hotel (72 rooms, some with private pools, scheduled to open on 7 September 2021), and 20,000 square-metres dedicated to the department store itself including 12 food vendors (before closing the selling surface was 30,000 square-metres). As a comparison, Le Bon Marché surface is 30,000 square-metres, BHV is 38,000 and Galeries Lafayette Haussmann is 70,000.
The relatively small surface implies choices and, as it was originally designed for an international customer base, the store is exclusively dedicated to fashion and beauty. As opposed to competitors, local customers won't find kid's wear, nor homeware or groceries. In terms of taste, feeling and brand mix, La Samaritaine is meant to be about lifestyle, discovery and experience, "at the intersection of Avenue Montaigne and Le Marais […] where they can treat themselves to a luxury purchase and sip an espresso made by an expert barista", according to Eléonore de Boysson, DFS' President for EMEA.
More than 600 luxury and premium brands (including 40 exclusive ones) can be found under the renovated store, mixing big names and independent labels in all departments. Basically, the store splits in 2 sections: a luxury one (Pont-Neuf side, throughout the 6 floors) using materials such as state-of-the-art mosaics, light wood and gold finishing, and a streetwear one (throughout the basement, ground and first floors) featuring graffiti, concrete and raw materials. The latter is shrewdly located on the "high-street" Rue de Rivoli side (an Oxford Street Parisian version) to attract Millennials and Gen Z customers.
Wandering through the floors
From the main entrance on Rue de La Monnaie, the ground floor is dedicated to leather goods and accessories such as sunglasses and costume jewellery. The organisation is quite the usual with concession stands all along the walls, smaller stands and multibrand areas displayed in the middle. A relatively small part of the floor is dedicated to "La Boutique de Loulou", an elevated gift shop, gathering 1,500 small objects, tech objects, stationery, books, souvenirs, accessories... Being self-service, metallic baskets are available to customers to easily shop. On the Rue de Rivoli side, the ground floor offers a young take on women's and men's fashion with a "Designers Lab". Also, on this side of the store, and for the next 5 months to come, famous contemporary art gallery Perrotin has a 200 square-metre pop up store offering cultural goods such as art books, artists' limited editions, goodies and decorative objects. It's worth mentioning that La Samaritaine boasts about highlighting French creative talents in the "Factory", a space for free expression.
The first floor is dedicated to luxury and contemporary women's fashion, mixing concession stands and multibrand areas. When strolling towards the Rue de Rivoli side, the floor is transitioning to a genderless streetwear, outdoor and athleisure area complemented by a Shinzo Paris sneakers shop-in-shop.
From Tiffany to Cartier, the second floor is entirely dedicated to jewellery and watches and should appeal to Chinese customers when they are back. The third floor is for men's fashion. The fourth floor is for women's shoes displayed in a boudoir style. It's worth mentioning that there is no men's shoes section per se, but only a sneakers wall on the men's floor in addition to the offer available at Shinzo's shop-in-shop.
The fifth floor is beautiful in itself with legendary Art Nouveau peacock frescos, from which the store communication takes its origin. It's also the place for Voyage restaurant and lounge coming along with an event space. Unfortunately, no rooftop, terrasse or spectacular views for the restaurant, such spaces being all taken over by Cheval Blanc hotel. Anyhow, food is an important part of the store, coming as a possible answer to the customer's current cravings for experience. The 12 food vendors available in the store are all exclusive concepts and are ranging from coffee to pastry shop and classic restaurants. Street Caviar run by Prunier and located on the Rivoli side, is certainly the most interesting one as it offers EUR 15 caviar sandwiches.
Last but not least, the beauty department, unusually located in the basement, is the store's main asset. Representing 3,400 square-metres and supposedly is the largest in Continental Europe, it should be a key driver for traffic and sales, for both tourists and locals. Two-hundred brands have been curated including 50 sustainable ones, plus niche and exclusive ones. They split in 2 different ways, a young and trendy self-service, and a more institutional space with concession stands. Interestingly and quite new, the majority of the beauty assistants are from La Samaritaine staff, not from brands. While all staff members are trained to be able to serve any customer need, customers can also shop by themselves as if at Sephora, thanks to baskets made available throughout the entire department. Services complement the beauty offer with a brow bar, a spa (Spa des Cing Mondes with hammam, sauna, and massage) and Studio de Beauté (run by Kure Bazar including nail bar, hairdressing and barbershop). Perfume is also emphasized with both an engraving station and one-of-a-kind editions ranging from EUR 3,000 to 300,000.
At your service
Besides "L'Appartement" VIP lounge available on the women's fashion floor, La Samariatine offers personalised, and sometimes, new services. To be booked at the "Conciergerie", personal shopping is developed through different options: directly in the store or in "L'Appartement" VIP lounge, but also at your home. In that case, a stylist will come to your place and show you ways to combine your pieces with new ones. La "Conciergerie" is also supposed to help any customer willing to book a museum ticket, a restaurant or a show. "Make my day" is a new service evolving around the idea of leisure and pushing customers to spend more time in the store. Offering them a "Samaritaine immersion", the experience ranges from 2 hours 30 minutes (including 3 culinary experiences and an hour with a member of the Rue de Rivoli team) to a full day pampering with manicure, brow, makeup and hair styling sessions, lunch at Voyage restaurant, 3 hours with a personal stylist and a photo shoot.
Hands-free shopping is available for customers to gather all purchases in one place and to pay for everything in a single transaction. A tax refund service is developed so that all store staff know how to proceed, making the refund seamless for an immediate refund in cash, credit card or by "Wallet Alipay".
As a conclusion, the IADS perspective
Times are difficult for multibrand retail and especially for department stores, competing to retain customers in store while being forced to develop their e-commerce and digital capabilities. Especially in Paris, retail suffered greatly with "Gilets Jaunes" social movement in 2018, massive strikes in 2019 and Covid in 2020. Meanwhile, Galeries Lafayette Champs-Elysees opened in March 2019 with results "below expectations," (after the first six months) company Chief Executive Officer Nicolas Houzé told BoF. More recently, Qatari-owned department store Printemps changed its management team and announced a new strategy.
So La Samaritaine is not a safe bet yet. While nobody knows when tourism will resume and allow the department store to fulfil its strategy, here is what we can keep in mind further to the opening:
- In a general way, La Samaritaine is not a store made for locals and Parisians will understand that in a minute, the loyalty program says everything about that.
- It might also be hard to attract big local spenders to this "high-street" Paris neighbourhood. Rue de Rivoli has never been their favourite and has recently transformed to a pedestrian way. For sure, people will visit this beautiful store and, while unable to splurge on a EUR 2,000 Loewe bag, will probably indulge with a EUR 15 caviar sandwich. That's not a lot of money at the end of the day, and it remains to be seen if they will come back for a second sandwich.
- There is no e-commerce and attached necessary delivery and click & collect services available.
- On the other hand, the beauty department is a real asset and could guarantee strong sales among locals, assuming they will be aware it exists.
- Food options are a lot considering the total footage. They are disseminated throughout the store, sometimes in debatable places, but will probably attract people looking for fun alternatives during their office lunch hours.
If Paris is still very much impacted by Covid, the city positions itself for a rebound. La Samaritaine will be part of it anyway, as well as IADS member Galeries Lafayette Haussmann that just completed the renovation of its historic and stunning "coupole" dome. On the cultural side and under global corporation umbrellas, art foundations (among them the Pinault one located very close to La Samaritaine) recently opened adding new and noteworthy attractions to a city now expecting life to go back to normal.
a closer look at la samaritaine
Credits: IADS (Christine Montard)