The concentration of fantastic department stores in central Paris is no accident. Courtesy of the exploding population that followed Baron Haussmann’s total redesign and re-construction of Paris in the mid 19th century, commerce took a front seat. Aristide Boucicaut was the first with the department store concept, building Le Bon Marché on the Left Bank in 1852, setting the model for large, multi-brand stores which would later be built across the rest of Europe and America. Thanks to the city’s economic well-being Boucicaut’s idea proved a roaring success. Soon to follow? Construction of BHV, Printemps, Samaritaine and Galeries Lafayette between 1856 and 1895. Of those Samaritaine is the only one no longer in operation, having shut down in 2005 after being condemned as a fire risk. Today the department stores stock an enormous range of international and French brands, restaurants and client shopping and information services. The healthy competition that prompted their construction all within a short space of time still exists today, with the store managements’ enthusiastic attempts to secure new brands, offer discounts and create dynamic shopping environments helping to keep attracting the floods of shoppers who continue to surge through the doors each year.