What was changed
La Samaritaine, the Art Nouveau and Art Deco department store founded in 1870 by Ernest Cognacq and Marie-Louise Jaÿ, was forced to close in 2005 for safety reasons after decades of dilapidation. LVMH had bought 55% of the landmark in 2001 and acquired the remaining share in 2010, inheriting a fire-risk building in the heart of Paris between the Louvre and Pont Neuf.
The key decision was Bernard Arnault's choice not to sell or minimally patch the property but to fund an extraordinary €750 million, 16-year renovation — including a new SANAA-designed undulating glass facade on Rue de Rivoli — and to reposition the store not as a conventional grand magasin but as what DFS Europe president Eléonore de Boysson called the city's largest concept store: a place 'for living and strolling' heavy on experience, food and beauty.
Reopening on 23 June 2021 — inaugurated by President Emmanuel Macron and Arnault, in the middle of a pandemic with few tourists in Paris — the 20,000-square-metre store offered 650 luxury brands, 12 restaurant concepts and Europe's biggest beauty hall, staffed by around 1,700 people, with the Cheval Blanc Paris hotel following in September 2021. LVMH bet that post-lockdown pent-up demand and experiential retail would vindicate the investment.
The revival made Samaritaine a symbol of LVMH's patient-capital playbook, though trading proved harder than the opening: by 2025 LVMH merged its governance with Le Bon Marché under Patrice Wagner to give the store fresh momentum.
What it achieved
Reopened 23 June 2021 as Samaritaine Paris Pont-Neuf: 20,000 sqm, 650 luxury brands, 12 restaurants, ~1,700 jobs, plus Cheval Blanc hotel, offices and social housing.
Why it worked
It shows the scale of commitment heritage revivals demand: €750 million and 16 years for a single store.
The pivotal decision was repositioning from department store to experiential concept store rather than restoring the old model.
Opening mid-pandemic with no tourists was a deliberate statement of confidence in luxury retail's post-COVID recovery.
It anchors a whole mixed-use block — retail, hotel, offices, social housing — turning one store into a district regeneration.
What can be applied
When a heritage asset cannot be fixed cheaply, rebuild it into a destination: patient capital plus experiential positioning can turn a condemned building into a luxury landmark.
Aftermath
Samaritaine Paris Pont-Neuf became a tourist draw — even featuring in a Jay Chou video that sparked a Chinese online frenzy in 2022 — but struggled to find its audience commercially. In 2025 LVMH placed it under joint leadership with Le Bon Marché (Patrice Wagner) and acquired DFS's stake to bring it fully in-house, acknowledging that the road to profitability remained long.
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