As of today, you just might have one more good reason to shop in Paris (as if you needed another).
Qatar Holding has officially opened the second Printemps department store in the City of Light, at a strategic touristic location in the center of Paris: the Louvre Museum.
The new store is located at the Carrousel du Louvre and extends over two floors, with a total retail space of 2,500 square meters. Almost 18 months of construction work and a financial investment of US $34 million (AED/SAR 125 million) were required to refurbish the retail site.
Compared to Printemps’ historical department store on Boulevard Haussmann (43,000 square meters), the new store is rather small, but it will nevertheless provide a luxurious range of cosmetics, leather goods, jewelry, and watches. An automatic tax refund, personal shoppers, and a VIP lounge will complement the shopping offer.
To emphasize its proximity to the famous Louvre Museum, the Printemps du Louvre store will offer regular exhibitions of international artists. The first one, named Pop the Bag, is dedicated to the mise-en-scène of women’s handbags, and will be on display until March 3rd. The participating artists include Gilles Cenazandotti, Kordian Lewandowski, Matt Maitland, Wang Qiang, and Gao Yu.
Last year, Qatar Holding purchased the upscale department store for US $1.41 billion (AED/SAR 5.17 billion) from French luxury group Kering (formerly PPR), and recently acquired a minority stake in another French retailer, Vente-Privee.com.
Style.com/Arabia reached out to Qatar Holding, who declined to comment on this story.
