French Finance and Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire and Galeries Lafayette group Executive Chairman Philippe Houze visit the new Galeries Lafayette flaghip store on the Champs Elysees avenue in Paris, March 26, 2019. Reuters/Gonzalo Fuentes
PARIS: High-end French department store Galeries Lafayette will open a new outlet on Paris's Champs Elysees this week, aiming to lure big-spending tourists and trendy Parisians back to the tree-lined avenue that was once a byword for style.
The opening comes as top-tier department stores are increasingly trying to pitch themselves as day-trip destinations to counter competition from online rivals such as Amazon and Net-a-Porter.com.
"The store is a retail laboratory where we will test new practices," said Nicolas Houze, head of the family-owned Galeries Lafayette group, which also owns retailer BHV Marais.
"It is a symbol of our ongoing transformation into an omni-channel retail leader," he said of the March 28 opening.
The four-story, 6,500-square-metre (70,000 square feet) store, in an Art Deco building once home to a Virgin megastore, will sell edgy fashion brands such as RouJe, Walk of Shame and Mira Mikati, as well as top-end labels from Gucci to Chanel.
The store, at 60 Champs Elysees, has recruited and trained 300 tech-savvy personal stylists to advise shoppers on the range of fashion, accessory, beauty and lifestyle brands on offer.
The opening comes at a difficult time, however, with the Champs Elysees repeatedly targeted by the "yellow vest" protest movement that has rocked France, with windows smashed, stores looted and buildings set on fire this month.
The historic avenue has also been battling for years to put itself back at the heart of the Paris fashion map - many locals avoid the Champs Elysees, seeing it as a tourist trap for its 300,000 daily visitors.
As well as the shopping, the new Galeries Lafayette will offer an upmarket food court, a coffee lounge, a restaura
