The most iconic places in the Right Shore of Paris
18th, October
The most iconic luxury places
Laurent Poultier du Mesnil took us in the most emblematic luxury places of Paris. We first took a coffee at avenue Champs Elysee at the Louise bakery, (such a cute place!) to talk about ourselves and to know him a little bit more. He is a business leader, journalist, teacher, specialized in the luxury lifestyle and gastronomy. He created the Hermine society and the festival of French history. He also lead the « Libre Journal de la Vie Française » and a lot more !
Avenue Montaigne
After this nice break (it was raining a lot), we walk to Avenue Montaigne, where he explained to us that the most famous group LVMH, Kering, Prada… was competiting against each other inside of the luxury market. He told us for instance that when Notre Dame burned in March 2020, François Pineault first called Emmanuel Macron offering 100 million euros to help reconstruct it, and later, when Bernard Arnault knew it, he called immediately Emmanuel Macron too, and offer 200 million euros.
LVMH’s group bought Loro Piana for 2 billion to concurrence Hermès, and also bought Tiffany&Co for 15,8 billion euros.
Furthermore, in Avenue Montaigne, the shops are in the same street facing each other, and all the luxury groups are represented: LVMH with Louis Vuitton, Givenchy... Kering with Gucci, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen… Prada as well. There is no place for friendship in luxury market. The display windows was amazing, showing iconics products, tailoring and accessories.
Jacquemus display windows
He gave us some clues about the luxury palaces and hotels sector: to become a Palace, a hotel has to be historic and telling something, for example the Cheval Blanc (owned by LVMH), have the same history as La Samaritaine, or le Plaza Athenee…
It is the institution “A Toit France” who awards titles and stars.
Bernard Arnault
La Samaritaine
Then, because of the rain, we went to La Samaritaine, a department store located in Paris between rue de Rivoli and the Seine, near the Pont Neuf in the 1st arrondissement of Paris. It was founded in 1870, and owned by LVMH. It is a very touristic store, because of its proximity with the Louvre Museum. Laurent explained that it is a different atmosphere compared to the Bon Marché even if it has the same group owner because of the different locations: La Samaritaine is in the right shore whereas Le bon Marché is in the left one, a side more intellectual and cultural.
In La Samaritaine, we saw a lot of luxury corner: Louboutin, Hennessy, Trudon (a “niche brand” the older waxer in France since 1643, it has a specific clientele). As we climb the stairs, it become luxier. La Samaritaine was well decorated and each corner was beautiful and attractive, some corners changed depending of the different period of the year (Christmas, Spring) , which make the store modern, because it is never the same, but some iconic corners stay all year so that the loyal customers can come back. Luxury retails includes everything: from the design and atmosphere of the store, the merchandising and visual display of the stores, to the retail experience itself and how customers are served
The store
The Louboutin Corner
What did I like about this afternoon:
-I liked that a professional luxury teacher told us the little stories of many brands and groups, it was really interesting because I felt closer to the brands in a way and I learned a lot of new things about them.
-I really discover a new perspective of luxury brands: the historic side of each brand and group such as Trudor, La Samaritaine and I realized all the brands’ works to attract clients, for example Ruinard corner in la Samaritaine, which was very amazing.
-It permits me to extend my definition of luxury: it is a lifestyle, a real experience but also a link with the luxury brands, that resonate with the personality of each customer.
-What I appreciate the most was definitely the Montaigne Avenue, each store was so well decorated, the designs was beautiful such as the shop windows, my favorite one was the Jacquemus store and Givenchy, all is there to give to the customers a great retail’s experience: a low density display, a toned down atmosphere, rare products.
i loved your blog ! it's very well written and the pictures are really pretty
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