Printemps, the Department Store of Many Firsts

Printemps was founded in 1865 by Jules Jaluzot and has earned the label "first" in a number of areas. To begin with, it was the first department store to hold a "sale." Seasonal discounts and Black Friday may be commonplace now, but Printemps was the first to use sales to sell off out-of-season goods at low prices, boosting revenue and clearing inventory at the same time.

It was also the first to install an elevator, and the first to open a men's store inside a department store, which people then thought of as a women's space. Its building was the first with an iron facade, a full five years ahead of the Eiffel Tower. And it was the first to use electric lighting, so shoppers could browse a store as bright as day after dark. None of this surprises us now, but back then it was all new and revolutionary. With its ornate exterior and its iconic dome, Printemps became a historic monument of Paris, and every department store afterward drew inspiration from its design.

Today, Printemps has a dome with a slightly different feel from the one at Galeries Lafayette. Which do you prefer? They look alike but feel different, and both are lovely. Our guide thinks the dome is pretty, but that it's the exterior that's truly stunning. It's a facade you'd want to visit even now, and it's easy to imagine how astonishing it must have looked in its day, when it was setting records for firsts in so many fields.

Printemps has also reopened its grand central staircase, which had been closed for forty years, giving visitors a glimpse of the store as it once was. Climbing it, you can imagine Parisians shopping here in the past, and the event links people's memories of Printemps past and present into a shared memory. If you're at Printemps or on your way, take the stairs up at least once, even if you're used to escalators and elevators and it feels like a bit of an effort. It may become a good memory the next time you visit Paris.

Like Galeries Lafayette, Printemps is famous for its views. On the sixth floor of the women's store, the dessert cafe Blue Cupola offers a view of Sacré-Coeur Basilica in Montmartre. Plenty of people come just for a coffee with that scenery, so if you get tired of shopping, it's worth a break.

Printemps, a store with so many "firsts," also has a lovely name. In French, Printemps means "spring," and the name carries the idea that it brings a new spring to Paris and that its goods are as fresh and beautiful as spring itself.