New Fashion Shops vs. the Arcades

The arcades may have become the shopping malls of Paris, but the shops inside them were actually not much fun to shop in. Lured in by a glittering window under the gas lamps, you would find yourself in a dim room with a low ceiling, goods piled in layers and covered in dust. It was a stuffy place, nothing like today's bright, clean, well-organized stores.

More startling still, you couldn't come and go freely. It wasn't a matter of class: once you stepped inside, you simply couldn't leave without buying something. You could come in whenever you liked, but leaving was another story. Unlike today, when we wander between stores comparing prices, you had to decide to buy first and only then find out what it cost.

Prices weren't even clearly marked. People haggled with the shopkeeper, and the process left them with a nagging worry: "Am I being cheated? Did I really pay a fair price?" And prices really were high. Such shops were called "schools for swindling" and "places that ought to disappear," and Parisians grew hesitant to buy. Plenty of them may well have just window-shopped.

The new fashion shops were completely different. Inside, they were bright, with high ceilings that kept them from feeling cramped. Neatly arranged goods in spaces that looked far bigger caught the eye and made it easy to find what you wanted. Thanks to high-volume, low-margin selling, prices were lower than in the old shops, even after haggling, and with prices clearly displayed there was no more anxiety about being overcharged. You could come and go freely, comparing prices across several shops before choosing, just as we do now. You could even return goods: the old shops never accepted returns, but the new ones took back anything with a defect. Things we take for granted today were being tried for the first time, and by fixing the old shops' problems, the new fashion shops established themselves as the place to shop.

Beyond the shops themselves, Haussmann's remaking of Paris drew Parisians out of the arcades. Once street lamps lined the boulevards and lit up the fashion shops, the gaslit arcades were no longer special. Walking got easier, new public transport appeared, and boulevard shops became far more accessible. The arcades lost their appeal, and Parisians no longer had much reason to shop there.

Sadly, the fashion shops that had risen to prominence went under one after another amid social upheaval, including the February Revolution of 1848 and Napoleon III's coup, and a prolonged recession. Bon Marché, however, survived. What set it apart is the subject of the next chapter.