Photos

On ne trouve plus rien à la Samaritaine.

The store was first opened in 1869 by fr:Ernest Cognacq and fr:Marie-Louise Jaÿ, his wife and incidentally the first clothing vendor at Le Bon Marché, a rival department store. Cognacq began his trade on the fr:rue de la Monnaie, starting out on a small scale with a very small boutique. By 1900, the couple had decided to expand their enterprise, giving birth to the large edifice seen today, the "Grands Magasins de La Samaritaine."
Further structural changes were successfully completed in 1933 by Henri Sauvage who, in his turn, reworked the architecture to reflect the aesthetic principles of Art Déco. The result was an eleven-story department store, one that is today considered a historical monument.
Falling prey to the national deficit of the 1990s, La Samaritaine saw itself shrink: it was bought in 2001 by LVMH, the luxury-goods company that had just previously purchased Le Bon Marché. On June 15, 2005, in order to update the 19th-century building to modern standards of security, or for purposes of restructuring, as the labor unions believe, the department store was closed. It is estimated that La Samaritaine will reopen its doors by the end of 2011.
A project was presented in June 2008 by LVMH for the redevelopment of the site with offices, shops, a hotel and some housing, for a scheduled opening in 2013.


Photo of store front "rue de la monnaie" Paris 1st