The LVMH group had high hopes to be able to inaugurate revamped Parisian department store La Samaritaine before the summer. Renovation work at the retail complex, acquired in 2010 by the French luxury giant, was completed in the last few months. Having postponed its opening by a year, then pondered different dates in late May and early June, the department store will finally open on Saturday, June 19.
It means the end of a very long wait for this historic building located right in the heart of Paris, which LVMH bought in 2001, and which closed down in 2005.
After multiple administrative appeals and years of renovation work, for a €750 million investment, the site was opened to the press for a presentation in 2019. LVMH had put the running of the department store division in the hands of its DFS subsidiary, and planned to open La Samaritaine in April 2020, before the Covid-19 pandemic and its economic impact forced the group to postpone again.
Staff recruitment, which was halted last year, has restarted, and work has begun again on retail corners and specific areas within the complex. La Samaritaine is set to host no less than 600 brands, including 40 exclusives (the LVMH group’s leading names, as well as those of Kering and Richemont), across an area of about 20,000 square metres.
