What is Galeries Lafayette? Galeries Lafayette Review

Founded in the late 19th century, Galeries Lafayette is the most famous high-end department store in France. Galeries Lafayette has always maintained a careful selection and continuous updating of brands, providing consumers with products and brand choices in different price ranges. From the most prestigious luxury brands to brands acceptable to the general public, they can all be found in Galeries Lafayette.

About Galeries Lafayette

"Let fashion belong to everyone" has always been the brand mission of Galeries Lafayette, which is the same for any Galeries Lafayette department store in the world. This is also the gene and soul of the Galeries Lafayette brand. Galeries Lafayette conveys the method and concept of mix and match to the public, hoping that everyone can create their own unique style.

About Galeries Lafayette Flagship Store

Located on the Boulevard Haussmann in the center of Paris, Galeries Lafayette Haussmann is the largest department store in Europe, covering an area of ​​over 70,000 square meters. It houses more than 3,500 international brands and spans three large shopping malls. It is close to the Paris Opera House and its once sensational Byzantine-style decoration makes it feel like entering the Middle Ages.

Galeries Lafayette Haussmann is divided into the main hall, men's wear hall and furniture art and life hall, which include clothing (men, women and children), furniture and furniture equipment, travel goods, etc. The three malls are located on both sides of Boulevard Haussmann in downtown Paris, surrounded by subway stations. The top floor platform of the mall has an unobstructed view and you can enjoy the Eiffel Tower.

Founding Story

In 1893, cousins ​​Théophile Bader and Alphonse Kahn opened a 70-square-meter sewing shop on Lafayette Street, not far from the Opera Garnier. A year later, they named the shop "Galeries Lafayette". In 1895, they bought the entire building at 1 Lafayette Street and opened the first new-style department store, Aux Galeries Lafayette. Soon after, they began to make and sell their own fashions. Galeries Lafayette, now an important fashion landmark in Paris, originated here.

Galeries Lafayette enters China

In 2013, Galeries Lafayette opened its first flagship store in China, the Beijing Galeries Lafayette. Like the Galeries Lafayette in France, the Beijing flagship store brings together nearly 600 brands from luxury brands to mass brands, creating an unparalleled fashion destination. The dazzling array of fashion brands has created a fashionable mix-and-match atmosphere at Galeries Lafayette, including the well-known Saint Laurent, Bottega VenETA, Givenchy, Fendi, Chloe, Balenciaga, Delvaux, Valentino, Stella McCartney, MCM, COACH, Furla, etc., as well as international first-line fashion brands and high street brands that are popular among fashionistas, such as TOPSHOP, 5cm, CHOCOOLATE, izzue, A Bathing Ape, RED Valentino, Carven, maje, Sandro, Lafayette Collection, etc.

On January 16, 2018, Galeries Lafayette (China) Co., Ltd. and Shanghai Lujiazui Financial and Trade Zone Development Co., Ltd. officially signed a joint venture contract, which is expected to open at the end of the year, and the cooperation period is a total of 19 years and 11 months from the opening date. The store is located from the underground level to the fourth floor of the L+Mall in Shanghai Lujiazui Center, with a total area of ​​about 23,000 square meters, and was designed by HKMK, a British consulting design company that has provided designs for brands such as Burberry, Selfridges, Nike and Bloomingdales.

When the Xidan store in Beijing opened, the top management of Galeries Lafayette Group said that they would open 16 more stores in China, but now there are only two. However, Houzé recently stated that the new plan of Galeries Lafayette is to enter six major cities in China by 2025, open 12 physical stores, and accelerate the influence of e-commerce channels.

Entry conditions

1. Must have a physical store and business license;

2. Trademark, brand certificate or authorized brand certificate or trademark;

3. Provide links to B2C platform stores you have worked on;

4. Galeries Lafayette uses the Mirakl operating system, so sellers are required to create their stores on the Mirakl system.

cost

The monthly rental fee for Galeries Lafayette's platform is 49 euros, and matters such as entering shopping malls and contracts depend on the specific circumstances of the brand.

The "counterfeit money" incident

1. Cause of the incident: On February 11, 2010, a Chinese couple traveled to France with a tour group and went shopping at the Galeries Lafayette flagship store on Boulevard Haussmann in Paris. When they were paying, the cashier thought one of the banknotes was a "counterfeit" and immediately called security personnel to take the couple to the security department. After several rounds of "verification", the banknote was still considered a "counterfeit", and the store staff immediately called the police, who took the couple to the police station and conducted "inhumane" interrogation and search. Finally, a bank expert identified the banknote as a real banknote. After that, the couple returned to the Galeries Lafayette flagship store to shop again and pay, but the cashier again identified the banknote as a "counterfeit", and the two sides clashed. During this period, the couple's tour group was also treated "unfairly" at the Galeries Lafayette flagship store, and Chinese tourists were deeply angry about the Galeries Lafayette flagship store's practices.

2. Public Apology: At 8:30 a.m. on February 22, 2010, local time, the Galeries Lafayette Group formally held a public apology meeting, inviting major Chinese media in France, and two officials from the Chinese Embassy in France. Five senior leaders from the Galeries Lafayette Group attended the meeting, including the group president, media and public relations director, operations director, general manager of the Paris flagship store, and China project manager of the development department. Galeries Lafayette Group President De Laouter made a public apology on behalf of the group. He said: "We make a formal and most sincere apology for the sudden incident on February 11, 2010 to the young Chinese couple who were deeply hurt by the incident, their tour group members, and all the Chinese people who were hurt by this incident." De Laouter said: Although the store has conducted multiple verifications on the counterfeit banknotes, it finally came to a regrettable wrong conclusion. Although the group is following legal procedures, it has forgotten its responsibility to receive and accompany customers, which is very regrettable and unacceptable. The Galeries Lafayette Group will never allow similar incidents to happen again.

Development History

-In 1893, Théophile Bader and Alphonse Kahn opened a 70-square-meter sewing supply store on Lafayette Street. A year later, they named the store "Galeries Lafayette".

- In 1996, Galeries Lafayette opened in Berlin.

-In 2009, the Dubai store opened.

- In February 2011, Galeries Lafayette launched Dubai's first gold ATM. Shoppers can insert cash and receive a corresponding amount of gold bars or coins.

-In 2011, Galeries Lafayette Casablanca store opened.

-In June 2013, Galeries Lafayette opened its new store in Indonesia. The store has four floors and an area of ​​1.29 million square feet.

-In the fall of 2013, Galeries Lafayette opened its first store in Beijing, China.

-In March 2015, French department store Galeries Lafayette closed two loss-making stores in Béziers and Thiais, affecting 300 employees.

-In May 2017, Galeries Lafayette, in partnership with DEMSA Group, opened its first store in Emaar Square Mall in Istanbul.

- Galeries Lafayette will open its second location in Vadistanbul, Istanbul in 2019 in partnership with DEMSA Group.