A couple of blocks west on Haussmann Blvd is another grand department store, Printemps, which I imagine is a competitor to Galleries Lafayette. I don’t know enough about Paris’ department store scene to judge the pecking order of these establishments. However, they both look impressive to me.

Austin no longer has grand department stores downtown. And even when they did, I’m sure they were comparably tiny regional stores, not at this scale. Now, department stores in Austin are at the suburban malls, and I admit, I rarely go to any, preferring smaller specialty stores. The ones in Paris seem different. Is it because we were tourists?

I suppose it’s expected that an opera house would be ornate and fancy. But in Paris, so are the department stores, though certainly not at the level of the Opéra Garnier. Still, there is enough of an interior spectacle that makes you feel like you’re in some special place. Perhaps it makes people more willing to part with their money.

My wife and I went not to buy anything but to look around at the architecture. We read good things about the top floor at Printemps, and we, purely by accident, timed our visit well. More on that in a later post.

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