The heyday of large stores
interior architecture of the Galeries Lafayette in the city of Angers with its Art Deco and art nouveau elements, photographed towards the store’s glass ceiling, Loire Valley, France

<u>Some background information:</u>

Galeries Lafayette is an upmarket French department store chain, the biggest in all of Europe. Its flagship store is on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris but it also operates a number of locations in France and other countries. The business was founded in 1894 by Théophile Bader and his cousin Alphonse Kahn, who opened a fashion store in a small haberdasher's shop at the corner of Rue La Fayette and Chaussée d'Antin in Paris.

in 1905 they acquired the buildings at 38, 40 and 42 boulevard Haussmann and 15 rue de la Chaussée d'Antin. Bader commissioned the architect Georges Chedanne to design the store at the Haussmann location with a glass and steel dome as well as Art Nouveau staircases.  It was finally opened in 1912. Subsequently, the company expanded and the department store became a department store chain, with more and more branches opening in other French as well as European cities, such as London and Budapest. In the 1990s and 2000s expansionist efforts were intensified again with stores opening in Berlin as well as different overseas cities, such as Beijing, Dubai, Doha, Jakarta, Macau, Shanghai, Casablanca and Mumbai. 

However, changed consumer behaviour since the 2000s hasn’t spared Galeries Lafayette. In 2018, twenty-two stores in small and mid-sized French cities were turned into franchises and sold to FIB (Financière Immobilière Bordelaise) a company owned by Michel Ohayon. The decision to convert the stores to franchises was done as Galeries Lafayette wanted to focus on expansion internationally and online. Today, Galeries Lafayette employs a staff of 11,000 worldwide, who work in 56 stores in France and another 12 stores abroad. The annual revenue amounts to roughly 4.5 billion euros.

The Galeries Lafayette in the city of Angers succeeded the Nouvelles Galeries store in 1993. The Nouvelles Galeries building was inaugurated in 1901, on the site of the gardens of a hotel located at Place du Ralliement. The building was designed by architect Auguste Martin, following the models of large Parisian department stores, with a central plan featuring a large atrium surrounded by balconies on three levels. The façade facing Rue d'Alsace is largely constructed with a metal framework reminiscent of the Eiffel Tower. The building thus respects the Haussmannian architecture common in downtown Angers at that time. Some architectural modifications were made by architects Léon and Marcel Lamaizière in 1903.

In 1916, the building was located between the Grand-Hôtel and Rue des Angles. The first extension occurred with the annexation of the small music hall theater called Frantaisies angevines. In 1919, a second extension was planned for the Grand Hôtel du Ralliement. After some difficulties, work began in the autumn of 1926, with the restoration of the Grand-Hôtel’s façades. The main construction was completed in 1928 and the extension of the Nouvelles Galeries was inaugurated one year later.

The city of Angers is located in western France, about 300 km (190 miles) to the southwest of the capital city of Paris. It has a population of almost 155,000 inhabitants, while around 432,900 residents live in its metropolitan area. This makes Angers the third most populous commune in northwestern France after Nantes and Rennes and the 18th most populous commune in France.

Until the French Revolution, Angers was the capital of the province of Anjou and today, it is still the prefecture of the French department of Maine-et-Loire. For a long time, the city was an important stronghold in northwestern France, the cradle of the Plantagenet dynasty that held the English throne for more than three centuries, and also one of the intellectual centers of Europe. The town developed at the confluence of three rivers, the Mayenne, the Sarthe, and the Loir, all coming from the north and flowing south to the Loire. Their confluence, just north of Angers, creates the Maine, a short but wide river that flows into the Loire several kilometres south.

The city of Angers has a long history. During the 5th century BC, the Andecavi, a Celtic tribe, settled north of the Loire and by the end of the Iron Age, Angers was a relatively densely populated hillfort. When the Romans settled there, the town, which was named Juliomagus at that time, consisted of many villas, baths an amphitheater and a temple dedicated to the goddess Mithra. Successive Germanic invasions in 275 and 276 AD forced the inhabitants to move to the highest point of their town and build a wall around a small area of roughly nine hectares (22 acres).

In 372, Angers received its first bishop. The first abbey, Saint-Aubin, was built during the 7th century to house the sarcophagus of Saint Albinius. A secoind abbey, Saint-Serge, was founded by the Merovingian kings Clovis II and Theuderic III just a century later. From the 850s, Angers suffered from its situation on the border with Brittany and Normandy. In September 851, Charles the Bald and Erispoe, a Breton chief, met in the town to sign the Treaty of Angers, which secured Breton independence and fixed the borders of Brittany. 

However, the situation remained dangerous for Angers. In 853, Charles the Bald, King of West-Francia, created a wide buffer zone around Brittany comprising parts of Anjou, Touraine, Maine and Sées. In 870, the Viking chief Hastein seized Angers where he settled until he was temporarily displaced. In 873, he again took control of the town, but shortly afterwards he was ousted by the Carolingian Emperor.

In the 10th century, Fulk I of Anjou, took the title of Count of Angers and founded the first Anjou dynasty, the House of Ingelger. Subsequently, Angers became the capital of the province of Anjou. During the 12th century, after internal divisions in Brittany, the county of Nantes was annexed by and kept by Henry II Plantagenêt, Count of Anjou, for more than 30 years. Henry II Plantagenêt also succeeded to the English crown and ruled the vast Angevin Empire, which stretched from the Pyrenees to Ireland. At that time, the Château d'Angers was the seat of both the court and the dynasty.

In 1204, the Angevin Empire disappeared when the the French King Philip II seized Normandy and Anjou. Henceforth, there were no more counts of Anjou, as the Philip II had made Anjou a dukedom. Now a part of the Kingdom of France, Angers had to face still independent Brittany. Hence, the castle was rebuilt and the city fortified. Later, during the 1350s and 1360s, the schools of Law, Medicine and Theology, renowned in Europe, were organized into a university.

During the 14th and 15th centuries, the city’s economy suffered heavily from the Black Death and the Hundred Years' War, but René of Anjou, at that time Duke of Anjou and Count of Provence, contributed to the economic revival of the city by transforming Angers into a cultural and political centre. It was also him, who transformed the castle moat into a menagerie and built several gardens.

In 1474, the French King Louis XI, in his attempt to conquer Anjou, came to Angers with his army, asking for the keys of the city. René of Anjou did not want to lead a war against his nephew and surrendered his domains without a fight. Hence, Anjou fell into the royal domain. In 1572, after the news of the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre had reached Angers, another massacre took place in the city. The bodies of slain Protestants were thrown into the Mayenne and it were the aldermen, who finally stopped the slaughter.

In 1619, the French King Louis XIII gave the governance of Anjou to his mother, Marie de' Medici. The Queen Mother settled in Angers, together with her chaplain, Cardinal Richelieu. In 1649, the people of Angers revolted against rising taxes, which was the beginning of the Fronde in Anjou. The Fronde was a nationwide military conflict between some aristocrats wanting more autonomy and the Royal forces. In 1652, Henri Chabot, Duke of Rohan and governor of Anjou, decided to back Louis II de Bourbon, Prince of Condé, the leader of the Fronde. Angers again became rebellious and King Louis XIV sent his army to seize it. The Duke of Rohan immediately surrendered and by doing that prevented the sack of the city.

In 1793, the War of Vendée, a Royalist rebellion and counterrevolution in the course of the French Revolution, reached the Loire. The counterrevolutionists were pushed back, went back south and, to be able to cross the Loire, attacked Angers. Defended by only 4,000 Republican soldiers, the city managed to parry the attack of the 20,000 Royalists, supported by the strength of Angers‘ city walls and its castle.

During the 19th century, the city was deeply influenced by urban transformations. Many quarters were gradually destroyed, redeveloped, or rebuilt on the Parisian model. Around 1850, the city walls were demolished and replaced by wide boulevards. During the first half of the 20th century, several Art Nouveau and Art Deco buildings were erected. At the beginning of World War II, after Poland had been invaded by Germany, the Polish government-in-exile settled in Angers. But in 1940, the German Wehrmacht occupied Angers. In 1942, 853 Jews from Angers were arrested and sent to Auschwitz.

In May 1944, the first Allied bombing occurred over the Saint-Laud quarter and costed the lives of 243 locals, while the second and third bombing destroyed the train station and its surroundings. In August 1944, General Patton and his 5th infantry division arrived in Anjou. Although the US army had to face a difficult urban warfare in Angers, the city was finally liberated on 10th August.

After the end of the war, Angers experienced quick development and demographic growth. Today, Angers stands out for its specialization in the plant sector: Végépolys is Europe's leading horticultural competitiveness cluster, and the city is also home to the headquarters of the Community Plant Variety Office. In addition, Angers enjoys a rich cultural life, made possible by its universities and museums, while the old medieval centre is still dominated by the massive château of the Plantagenêts.

Since 2000, the Château d'Angers and the old town of Angers belong to the UNESCO Word Heritage Site &quot;The Loire Valley between Sully-sur-Loire and Chalonnes&quot; with its many breathtaking châteaux. Altogether there are more than 400 of them in the Loire region.
eu europe france frankreich french französisch loirevalley valdeloire loire angers galerieslafayette ruedalsace canon store bigstore departmentstore largestore grandmagasin kaufhaus grandemagazzino grandesalmacenes warenhuis clothingstore magasindevêtements bekleidungshaus clothing apparel bekleidung vêtements fashion mode moda artdeco artnouveau jugendstil house maison haus building gebäude interior inneres innenraum architecture architektur interiorarchitecture interiordecoration interiordesign innenarchitektur historic historisch ceiling decke glassceiling glasdecke glassroof glasdach city grosstadt town ville stadt shop laden geschäft storeys floors levels stockwerke etagen view summer sommer september 2021