Paris (France) has a long history, dating back to the Middle Ages, of producing luxury goods for the aristocracy and the wealthy and shopping itself. Today the most important luxury goods firm in Paris is LVMH, headed by Bernard Arnault, who also heads Christian Dior S.A., a major international fashion company, which has its headquarters at 30 Avenue Montaigne in the 8th arrondissement. Dior holds 42.36 percent of the stock of LVMH and 59.01 percent of the voting rights in LVMH. The LVMH group includes Louis Vuitton and the champagne maker Moët Hennessy, which merged in 1987. LVMH has sixty subsidiaries, including Bulgari, the cosmetics store Sephora, and the department stores Bon Marché and Samaritaine. The products of the group include ready-to-wear, fashion accessories, footwear, timepieces, perfumes, cosmetics and skincare products. The group had revenue of 53.7 billion euros in 2018.
The great rival of LVMH is the luxury group Kering, founded in 1963 by François Pinault, and now run by his son, François-Henri Pinault. It controls many well-known brands, including Saint-Laurent, Gucci, Brioni, Boucheron, Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, and had revenues in 2020 of 13.1 billion euros. Kering has its headquarters at 40 rue de Sèvres in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, in the former Hôpital Laennec.
The census of Parisian businesses was carried out in October 2020, for the 8th time since 2000, at the initiative of the City of Paris, the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
As of this date, Paris has 61,541 businesses and commercial services, representing a very high commercial density compared to that of other large French cities.
The 2020 census reveals that trends that have been at work for many years continue. There was a slight decrease in the number of businesses and commercial services between 2017 and 2020 (-1.9%) while it remained stable between 2014 and 2017. The activities which are changing the most are personal equipment stores (ready-to-wear, shoe merchants, jewelry stores, etc.) in sharp decline while restaurants, the health-beauty and well-being sector and “organic” stores continue to grow. Wholesale businesses are tending to disappear.
Main shopping centres
Galeries Lafayette on Boulevard Haussmann
Main shopping streets
Flea market
Saint-Ouen/Clignancourt (outside Peripherique)
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