You won't find everything...

I gave you a report on Galeries Lafayette, the iconic department store in Paris. But I also went this time to la Samaritaine, which with Galeries, le Bon Marché and au Printemps, formed the apex quartet of consumerism in the city. I vaguely recall buying a cotton top at au Printemps on a trip there in the 90s, and I made a pass through le Bon Marché in 2018, because it was between my hotel and le musée de l’Armée. But I couldn’t recall having been to la Samaritaine, so this time I went there.

Originally built in 1869 as a dress shop, the store expanded physically as it expanded its merchandise. Eventually, you could buy anything from ladies clothing to lawnmowers there (rather like Sears, as I think of it), lending truth to its slogan “On trouve tout à la Samaritaine” (you can find everything at the Samaritaine). It was decidedly more downmarket from the likes of Galeries or Bon Marché, which was evident from a display of 60s and 70s commercials they had.

(Actress looks more like Princess Margaret, but still pretty good.)

(The part I saw in the store starts at 0:44.)

The store declined throughout the latter part of the 20^th Century, and closed in 2005. It was eventually acquired by Bernard Arnault and a part of his LVMH conglomerate; Arnault poured seven years and nearly $900M into renovations before it reopened a little over two years ago. This time round, it is definitely not a middle-class mecca, and you will not find a whiff of a lawnmower anywhere near it. It struck me as a Galeries Lafayette manqué, just with fewer floors and less space, but pretty much the same merch. Viz:

It does have beautiful Art Nouveau touches from its origins, and the glass roof ensures it’s flooded with light, even on an overcast day.

But—as with GL—it’s not clear to me who would actually buy there, outside of certain categories of foreign tourists, into none of which I fall.