Galeries Lafayette

Galeries Lafayette
Location	Boulevard Haussmann, Paris, France
Opening date	1912
No. of floors	Five (home store),; four (men's store),; ten (main store)
Website	Galeries Lafayette department stores website

The Galeries Lafayette (French pronunciation: [ɡalʁi lafajɛt]) is an upmarket French department store chain. Its flagship store is on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris but it now operates in a number of other locations in France and other countries. In 2009, Galeries Lafayette recorded earnings of over one billion euro.^[2] It is a part of the company Groupe Galeries Lafayette.^[3]

History

In 1895, Théophile Bader and his cousin Alphonse Kahn opened a fashion store in a small haberdasher's shop at the corner of rue La Fayette and the Chaussée d'Antin, in Paris.^[1] In 1896, their company purchased the entire building at n°1 rue La Fayette; in 1905 they acquired the buildings at n°38, 40 and 42, boulevard Haussmann and n°15 rue de la Chaussée d'Antin. Bader commissioned the architect Georges Chedanne and his pupil Ferdinand Chanut to design the store at the Haussmann location, where a glass and steel dome and Art Nouveau staircases were finished in 1912.

From 1921 Maurice Dufrêne directed the Maîtrise workshop of the Galeries Lafayette. This workshop for decorative art and furniture followed the Primavera of the Printemps store founded in 1912 by René Guilleré, Paul Follot's Pomone of Le Bon Marché, and the Studium of the Grands Magasins du Louvre.^[4]

Stores

Flagship store

Galeries Lafayette in Paris hosts a popular weekly free fashion show for visitors.^[5]

Stores opened or planned

Berlin

The Berlin store designed by Jean Nouvel

The store in Berlin in Germany was designed by Jean Nouvel and constructed between 1991 and 1995. It is located on Friedrichstraße two blocks south of Unter den Linden at the Französische Straße U-Bahn station and opened in 1996.^[6]

Casablanca

In 2008, the store announced a licensing agreement to open a store in Morocco Mall in 2010. The Casablanca store in Morocco Mall was designed by Davide Padoa of Design International. Galeries Lafayette previously operated a store in Casablanca from the 1920s through the early 1970s.^[7]

Jakarta

Galeries Lafayette opened their first store in South East Asia in the summer of 2013 at the Pacific Place Mall. The store occupies more than four floors.

Dubai

A Galeries Lafayette store opened in Dubai Mall on 18 May 2009.^[8] In February 2011, the store unveiled Dubai's first gold ATM. Shoppers can insert cash and receive a corresponding amount of gold nuggets or coins.^[9]

Beijing

Galeries Lafayette has announced that it will open its first location in China by the end of 2014. The Beijing store will be operated as a 50-50 joint venture between the French company and the Hong Kong-based fashion retailer I.T. ^[10]

Milan

On June 2014, Galeries Lafayette has announced that it will open its first location in Italy. The group have reached an agreement with Westfield and Gruppo Stilo - two leading international mall specialists - to open their first and wholly owned 18,000 m² store in Milan within Westfield, the expected largest mall in Italy.^[11]

Closed stores

New York City

A Lafayette location opened in Trump Tower in New York City in September 1991. It was unsuccessful, and closed after three years.^[12]