Every grand department store worth its name has a food hall and for most it’s a point of pride that this part of the shop is a destination in its own right.
In Paris, Le Bon Marché, one of the triumvirate of luxury department stores in the city (Galeries Lafayette and Printemps being the other two) has led the race in the food hall stakes for some years.
Not content to rest on its laurels however, it has just completed a makeover of La Grande Epicerie, aka the food hall, following a blueprint created by Zurich-based consultancy Interstore Design. And the striking aspect of what has been done is a series of shop-in-shops that follow the tradition of French markets. The food hall is in a large space that occupies a semi-discrete part of Le Bon Marché, which has meant that there is room to create a patisserie, a chocolate shop, a butcher and suchlike.
The other point is that everything on view in the areas where food preparation is involved has been created in store on the same day.
There is perhaps not that much that is new about this, UK supermarkets have been doing something similar for years. But at Le Bon Marché, a theatrical element has been fostered that puts many of the shop-in-shops in the window and allows shoppers to see the production process, assisting in creating the impression that everything on offer is handmade.
There is an apparent simplicity to what has been done in this food hall, with the palette of materials being conspicuously restrained.
The emphasis is on providing a neutralbut pleasing setting and letting the products do the work through careful visual merchandising. Le Bon Marché is the department store for Parisians, and they should be pleased with this.
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