Christmas store design in Paris

Even allowing for the stylish surroundings of the Eurostar departure lounge at St Pancras International, it was hard to summon much enthusiasm for the task in hand. After all, heading to Paris for the day means travelling little further than, say, Leeds, and although Yorkshire’s commercial capital has its high points, there is little separating it from London in retail terms. So why should a two-and-a-bit-hour train journey to the French capital mean things should be that different?

In many ways they aren’t. France is just as afflicted by looming recession and faltering consumer confidence as the UK. It also has its own chains of mid-market stores all offering similar merchandise – just like Rosbif land.

However, the difference is that Christmas in Paris, on the grands boulevards at least, still means a show. Shimmy along Regent Street or Oxford Street and there is much that is commendable about the way retailers entice shoppers into their stores as Christmas draws near. Selfridges has certainly put its best foot forward once again, but on Oxford Street it is somewhat on its own in terms of crowd-pulling potential, although doubtless Debenhams would dispute this.

For sheer ooh-ing and ah-ing, Galeries Lafayette and Printemps still take the prize in Paris. That said, it’s hats off to the West End for the light displays on its streets. Paris seems to have given up on this and, with the exception of the imposing Boulevard Haussmann, London has the edge, although whether this will translate into sales over the next four weeks remains a moot point.

Galeries Lafayette
This is the store that probably comes closest to defining what Brits think of as French chic, yet, like Printemps, its windows have an obvious appeal for children. The moving gadgetry notwithstanding, it is the pink fantasy fashion windows that are the most arresting elements of this long frontage.

Posters proclaim Noel en Grand, for which “bigging up Christmas” might be a rough translation, and this is what Galeries Lafayette succeeds in doing.

However, inside lies the real blockbuster. Galeries Lafayette is famous for its art nouveau cupola, with one of the world’s largest perfume floors in the space beneath. But until Twelfth Night, the retailer has opted to give centre stage to a traditional Christmas tree that rises from the ground floor almost to the top of the dome, five and more floors above. Retailers are wary about giving up selling space for the sake of decoration, but for sheer mood-setting in the face of a recession, this takes some beating.

Elsewhere, curved, shiny, pink, plastic tables support displays of seasonal goodies, while mannequins with blonde, gravity-defying hairdos abound.

Hard times may be ahead but, at Galeries Lafayette, it’s a case of chin up.

Sephora
At one of its larger branches, on the Rue de Rivoli, beauty product chain Sephora has created an Andy Warhol-style entrance where the same image is apparent wherever you look, but with slight differences in each case. On closer inspection, the identical, red-lined, glass-fronted boxes that fill the walls either side of the entrance have female Christmas dolls in a variety of poses.

It’s hard to tell whether this is a good move or not as, unless you know about Sephora, which at this branch is indicated by a logo that is the same colour as the walls it features on, the point might be missed entirely.

Given that this is a store that trades beneath street level and whose entrance ushers shoppers down an escalator to gain access to the shop, there is a danger that despite an admirable display, it might just fail to pull shoppers in.

Printemps
One of the two grands magasins (department stores) that occupy about four blocks of the Boulevard Haussmann, this store, like the neighbouring Galeries Lafayette, puts viewing platforms in front of several of its windows. Not intended for adult use, these allow children to step up and come face-to-face with the animatronic marvels that fill the main windows.

For those lucky enough to get prime position on one of these platforms, there is everything from flying female space elves sporting identical Mary Quant-style bob haircuts, through to animated teddies against an ice-blue backdrop.

Even the more static windows, aimed at a more mature audience, have a 1960s retro feel, with white-booted silver mannequins in rotating half-globes. Karl Lagerfeld was one of sundry creatives called on to create the schemes.

Fauchon
This was the preferred carry-out for former French president Jacques Chirac, who was rumoured to have spent a small fortune on food from Fauchon on the chic Place de la Madeleine. And Paris’ grandest food store always pulls out the stops at this time of year, with displays that make you want to buy even when the prices tell you not to.

Fauchon (“Paris on your lips”) bathes its interior in pink light, has packaging to match and takes the art of visual merchandising to levels unparalleled anywhere else in the world of food retailing. By definition, retail is about marketing a product, but Fauchon is an object lesson in what can be done if money really is no object. All that and the knowledge that monies from the Élysée Palace were diverted here and you are bound to be impressed.

Eres
The French lingerie retailer on the fashionable Rue Tronchet does its best to provide onlookers with an S&M variation on the seasonal theme. Mannequin trios are contained within blue-lined packing cases clad only in colour-matching smalls and wearing French military style caps. So far, so normalish, but the game is given away by the addition of fingerless gauntlets, black shoes with puttees and a riding crop for each of the figures.
This probably goes quite a long way towards confirming the opinion of Englishmen about what the French get up to in their packing cases, but it also works as a straightforward attention-grabber on one of Paris’ grander streets. In spite of the relative simplicity of this scheme, this is a very expensive option with correspondingly slick execution.