Department stores around the world

Department stores hit the nerve of their time when they are built in the middle of the 19th century. With industrialization and the beginning of mass consumption, new social needs are also emerging. Innovations in production techniques lead to faster production and larger quantities. This results in price reductions. A large selection of different types of goods from different countries are united under one roof - without any compulsion to consume.

Department stores are entering new dimensions for the retail trade and are leading to a new sales system: fixed prices, bulk purchases, smaller margins, marketing concepts and, last but not least, an assortment in a mostly pompous building that encourages customers to enter. The shopping experience is a completely new one and will become the emblem of the developing consumer society. They are often financed by financial institutions. After all, the management of the buildings requires an increased amount of capital.

Parisian department store culture, the "cathedrals of commerce"

The origins of Europe's luxury department stores lie in France. More precisely, in Paris. In 1883, the French writer Émile Zola describes Parisian department stores as "cathedrals of commerce". The capital of France is a metropolis for luxury goods since the time of the Sun King Lous XIV.

Au Bon Marché

"Au Bon Marché" is built in 1852 by the Boucicaut couple. It is the first and, at that time, the largest department store in the world. This document from 1932 depicts the two founders – Marguerithe on the right, Aristide Boucicaut on the left. The joint stock company is founded in 1880 by Marguerithe herself, as her husband died in 1977. The AG dedicates its name to him: "Au Bon Marché. Maison Aristide Boucicaut». In addition to profit sharing, Marguerithe also offers employees insurance cover and a retirement pension. The city of Paris pays tribute to its philanthropic foundations with a street named after it. Under the name "Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche", the department store is still worth a visit today.

Magasins du Louvre

In 1855, a trio of partners opens the Magasins du Louvre in the basement of the Grand Hôtel du Louvre, which is built in 1852 on Rue de Rivoli on the occasion of the Universal Exhibition. Only ten years later, the company has 2400 employees. In the mid-1970s, the department store closes its doors.

Grands Magasins du Printemps "Laguionie & Cie"

"Nouveau, frais et joli" is the motto with which the department store Au Printempts is founded in 1865 by a self-made man. It is the first department store to use electricity and elevators, introducing state-of-the-art architectural feats such as a massive spiral staircase and a 42-meter-high dome.

Aux Galeries Lafayette

Who doesn't know them? The Galeries Lafayette in Paris inspires around 60,000 visitors every day. A transparent glass bridge in the middle of the gallery invites you to take a selfie as a photo spot. The department store is built in 1893 and becomes a public limited company in 1899. The magnificent building is opened in 1912, and this document is issued ten years later.

USA: «The Magic of Macy’s»

R.H. Macy and Company, Inc., 1919, Source: Stiftung Sammlung historischer Wertpapiere

It is not only on the European continent that department store fever begins, but also overseas, in the land of unlimited opportunities. Macy's is founded in 1858 on 6th Avenue in New York by Rowland H. Macy. His cousin, Margaret Getchell, is an accountant in the company and supports him in setting up the department store. She is also responsible for the training of the so-called "cash girls". With her ideas, she makes the department store flourish and is further promoted. Later, she takes a leadership position in the company. In 1922, R.H. Macy & Company, Inc. becomes a public company and expands throughout the country. On the share the parent company at Herald Square in 1919 is visible.

THE WORLD'S OLDEST DEPARTMENT STORE

Source: Mitsukoshi Department Store Keijō Branch, 1910～1945 from Tohoku Univ., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

However, if you look further beyond the borders, you will see that the history of department stores is founded in Japan as early as the 17th century during the Edo period. The oldest surviving chain of department stores in Japan is founded in 1673. Japanese trader Takatoshi Mitsui enters the business with his trading company Echigoya to sell kimono fabrics. What is special is that Mitsui is already going to sell its fabrics at fixed prices. Today, under the name Mitsukoshi, the department store chain is one of the three largest in Japan.

And what about Switzerland?

In January 2023, the news shocks that the traditional house Jelmoli would close its doors in 2024 after 190 years of consumer history

Grands Magasins Jelmoli S.A.

In 1899, "Grands Magasins Jelmoli S.A.", the glass palace – almost as we know it today – is inaugurated on Seidengasse in Zurich. As early as 1833, the founder Johann Peter Jelmoli opens a shop for cheap fashion goods at fixed prices – putting an end to haggling. A concept that Jelmoli then expands to the whole of Switzerland by means of mail order. In 1896, the future traditional house is converted into a stock corporation, and many changes of ownership followed. This 1959 share is signed by the then majority shareholder Hans Ringier, part of the publishing dynasty.

Magazine zum Globus, 1908, Source: Stiftung Sammlung historischer Wertpapiere

Globe Stores of Switzerland Ltd. / Magazine zum Globus

Josef Weber, the son of a wealthy merchant family, founds a department store in Zurich in 1892 based on the Parisian model with electrically lit shop windows. As early as 1996, Globus is used for the first time as the company name for the shop, and in 1907 the name is changed to "Magazine zum Globus". Then taken over by the banker Heinrich Burkhardt for several years.

Gebrüder Loeb AG

In 1881, a clothing store is founded in the federal capital under the name Loeb and converts into a stock corporation in 1918. The Loeb family members run several textile shops in Germany and Switzerland, but the one in Bern becomes a modern department store with water-powered elevators in 1899. Loeb disappear in some places, but the Loeb in Bern is still in operation at the same location today.

Source Header image: Au bon Marché heute. Jumilla, CC BY 2.0