What: After years of renovation work, a USD 750 million investment, the department store will finally open on 22 or 23 June.

Why is it important: According to LVMH's initial plans, tourists (especially Chinese tourists) were to account for half of the department store’s customers. In the current situation, La Samaritaine will have to entice local, French and European customers.

Run by LVMH’s DFS subsidiary, La Samaritaine is set to host 600 brands, including 40 exclusives (the LVMH group’s leading names, as well as those of Kering and Richemont), across an area of about 20,000 square metres.

Offices, private apartments and a crèche occupy part of the 70,000-square-metre complex, which is also home to Cheval Blanc Paris, a 72-room prestige hotel designed to attract an international clientele.

Before the pandemic, and comparing La Samaritaine with the results of the Galeries Lafayette’s Haussmann branch in Paris, French trade magazine LSA estimated that the revamped department store’s annual revenue could potentially exceed EUR 500 million.

LVMH Sets Date for Reopening of La Samaritaine Department Store