Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche: The Invention of the Department Store

Monica Burckhardt

ISBN 10: 1614280894 / ISBN 13: 9781614280897

Edité par Assouline, New York, 2013

A propos de cet article

Scarce hardcover, 80 pages, glossy paper, illustrated throughout, NOT ex-library. Book is clean and bright throughout with unmarked text, free of inscriptions and stamps, firmly bound. Dust jacket shows mild wear. -- In 1852, Aristide Boucicaut, the son of a milliner from the orne region of Normandy, invested his modest savings in a store called Au Bon Marché and founded what would become the world's first department store. Boucicaut's modern version of retail included free access to the store without any obligation to buy. For the first time, the customer could see and handle the merchandise - fixed prices were posted rather than determined à la binette, based on the client's appearance. The rapid success of these revolutionary business practices allowed Aristide and Marguerite Boucicaut to expand their store and introduce unprecedented customer services (reading and writing rooms, a refreshments buffet, painting exhibitions, and much more). They also instituted significant improvements in the working conditions of their employees. Although they came from humble backgrounds, by the end of their lives Aristide and Marguerite Boucicaut were at the helm of a store that had revolutionized the art of merchandising. The Boucicauts were visionary architects of commerce who created a new way to sell, a new way to manage, and a new business model that would forever change the commercial practices of their time. -- Contents: Aristide and Marguerite Boucicaut: A Destiny Fulfilled; Building a Temple of Modern Commerce; New Sales Strategies; Invention of Mail-Order Shopping; Birth of Marketing; Seasonal Promotions, Innovative Strategies; At the Forefront of Parisian Fashion; Home Furnishings Design Studios; Christmas at Le Bon Marché; Employee Benefits; New Customer Services; Gourmet Food Hall; A Center for Art and Culture; Chronology; Author's Notes; Bibliography; Acknowledgements -- Chief curator of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris from 1950 to 1997, Monica Burckhardt has published numerous works on French furniture and toys. In 1998 she undertook the cataloging and digitizing of the archives of Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche, an exhaustive inventory that led to the production of two notable exhibitions on the history of the department store and its founders. Burckhardt also provided research material for the documentaries Karambolage (2010) and Seduction in the City: The Birth of Shopping (2011), produced by the Arte television channel.

N° de réf. du vendeur 007254

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche: The Invention of the Department Store
• Éditeur: Assouline, New York
• Date de parution: 2013
• Langue: français
• ISBN à 10 chiffres: 1614280894
• ISBN à 13 chiffres: 9781614280897
• Reliure: Hardcover
• Édition: 1st Edition
• État de l'article: Near Fine
• État de la jaquette: Very Good