What: La Samaritaine brings accessible-premium brands such as Sézane, Fursac and Jonak into prime spaces once reserved for luxury houses, as part of its post-DFS repositioning.

Why it is important: La Samaritaine is betting that accessible-premium brands in prime positions can convert tourist footfall into sales and win back Parisian shoppers, which the DFS-era luxury model failed to do.

LVMH's La Samaritaine has begun the first phase of a spatial and merchandising overhaul, following the failure of the concept DFS launched in 2021 and ahead of its integration into the Le Bon Marché organisation. After a beauty strategy shared with its Left Bank sister store, the commercial team is now reworking the core fashion offer to turn casual visitors into buyers and loyal customers.

On the ground floor, a large leather-goods pop-up featuring DeMellier, Lemaire, Isabel Marant, A.P.C. and Ganni, alongside a Rimowa installation, occupies space previously held by major luxury houses. In the historic Pont Neuf building, Sézane, already a major success at Le Bon Marché, takes a vast central womenswear corner formerly held by Jacquemus, Acne Studios and JW Anderson, which have moved to adjacent spaces. Footfall at the heart of the building has surged as a result.

Menswear now features a commercial hub with Fursac, Boss, Octobre Éditions and Sandro, plus Herno as an exclusive, while Marni and Maison Margiela move into the Art Nouveau structure. In footwear, Jonak and Bobbies are staged prominently. The challenge for the 20,000-square-metre store is to balance luxury's international pull with the profitability of accessible premium.

IADS Notes: The repositioning follows LVMH's decision to take La Samaritaine out of DFS management and refocus it on individual shoppers rather than Chinese tour groups, after the store struggled to meet its targets following its 2021 reopening (Fashion Network, January 2025). The store was then placed with Le Bon Marché in a single division led by Patrice Wagner, with a mandate to broaden its customer base (WWD, March 2025). Beauty was the first category reworked under this model, with the two stores sharing market intelligence while keeping distinct assortments and exclusives (Fashion Network, June 2026). The governance model preserves each store's identity: Le Bon Marché serves an affluent local Left Bank clientele, while La Samaritaine is more closely tied to the Right Bank and tourism (QDE, July 2026). The move towards accessible premium also has a precedent in the Rivoli building, which introduced a Sneakers Lounge, K-Way and Rains pop-ups and a Levi's corner to attract a younger audience (Fashion United, October 2023). What is new in this phase is that accessible-premium brands now sit in the historic building's prime spaces.

La Samaritaine premium overhaul takes shape