Department Stores I Love - Yours?
 

I've always loved trekking thru European department stores - those old grandes dames built years ago - shopping ain't my bag but i love seeing the ornate huge domes and trappings these once luxuirous emporiums offer.

Some of my favorites -what are yours?

PARIS
well of course the Galleries Lafayette and adjacent Au Printemps - each with a hiuge dome - in Christmas the shopping windows at street level sport elaborate decor that draws zillions. And IF La Samaritaine ever re-opens that was really my favorite - what with all the little passages and chaotic lay-outs

LONDON
Harrods to me is one of the most fascinating places to go in London - check out the Egyptian staircase and Diana Memorial in the basement as well as the famous Food Halls - I like Selfridges on Oxfford Street a lot too - also neat Food Halls there

EDINBURGH
Well what bills itself as the 'world's oldest department store' awaits oogling in Edinburgh

BERLIN
The Kaufhall des Westens (sp?) is another amazing old store and again the Food Halls are fantastic

AMSTERDAM
De Biljenkorp (sp?) on Dam Square takes the spotlight here.

What department stores do you love?

Bijenkorf = Beehive ;)

Pal...that's Jenners in Edinburgh...and KaDeWe in Berlin. If I recall, Jenners still uses the old vacuum tube to send sales slips around the store. Of course if you're ever up in Vermont USA, do drop into the old and fascinating Vermont Country Store in Weston...or the world renowned Wall Drug Store in Wall, South Dakota...a hoot....and the new version of the old G.U.M in Moscow. The old G.U.M. during the SSR days in the 1970's was much more interesting and quite devoid of product...not so with the new..every popular brand name store except Bloomingdales!!!!
Stu

Berlin: Kaufhaus des Westens (KaDeWe).

However, department stores in Europe are dying out. You have seen the last dinosaurs.

I like Stockmans in Helsinki, Harrods in London, I too liked La Samaritaine in Paris. Went to the Bon Marche in Paris after La Samaritaine was closed with the doors locked.

Will be in Amsterdam in September so will check out the De Biljenkorp you recommend.

the nice thing about Dutch (and German) department stores IME is their cafeterias offering down-home local food at good prices. Dutch ones tend to be on top floors with views over town it seems.

tower -thanks for the name - i just forgot to type it.

and yes shopping malls are no doubt the death knell of many of Europe's department stores- like in Paris the (to me shabby) Les Halles underground mall

BHV Paris

Liberty of London

John Lewis London

I miss Samaritaine - it had a beautiful staircase, and the best lingerie department of any department store.

In London I like Liberty, with its dark wood panelling, mid-century furniture department, and gorgeous leather diaries. I used to like the Christmas grotto in the basement (one of the staff told me that if they'd been really naughty they got sent down there as a punishment, where it's windowless, relentlessly busy, hellishly hot and xmas muzak plays round the clock). Now the grotto is on one of the upper levels - I'm sure the staff are relieved, but it's just not the same.

I also ocassionally visit Peter Jones - not great shopping, admittedly, but I really like the little espresso bar on the top floor. It has a view across the rooftops with not one really well-known building (to tourists) in the vista, but the tall Georgian and Victorian houses with steeply pitched tiled roofs and the endless church spires, just shout 'London'!. Until I saw that view, I never thought the capital had a distinctive architectural style. Now I know it does.

RM - thanks for clueing me in on two must sees on my next London trip - Liberty (Christmas grotto sounds neat)and Peter Jones, for the view!

Bob, please note that the Christmas grotto isn't a year-round thing - it really is just the Christmas season. They like to have a theme - last year was union jack baubles. The year before seemed to be woodland beasties - mostly scary owls made of twigs.

The best department is the homewares and furniture (fab 60's coffee tables, lamps, old sofas reupholstered in Liberty fabrics, beautiful bedding in prints like 'Hera' etc etc). The diaries (ground floor, gifts) are the best I've found anywhere - week to a page, year-planner, tube map, and theatre numbers - embossed leather covers and watermarked paper.

I've loathed Harrods for decades, so my impressions may be out of date, but..... vulgar, vulgar, vulgar, and so far up itself as to be indecent. And Harvey Nicks has much better window displays.

Paris: BHV, of course, where else (especially the basement).

I usually hate shopping but liked El Corte Inglés in Spain. Wish I had bought a second purse while I was there.

KaDeWe (Berlin) food hall

Stockman's (Helsinki) - great book department

Galleries Lafayette (Paris) food department in basement

El Corte Ingles (Barcelona) truly awesome hosiery department

Liberty's (London) atmosphere really takes you back in time

(it's funny - I'm not a shopper! but I usually need something when I'm away)

I like Kotva in Prague and also liked El Corte Ingles in Madrid. None of the ones in London do a thing for me, just very ordinary, as most dept stores are to me. I do like Galleries Lafayette in Paris because it is beautiful, I prefer Bon Marche for the actual shopping and ambience. I never liked La Samaritaine, it was my least favorite, I just thought it was kind of dumpy.

KaDeWa has to be the best in the world, IMHO. GUM in Red Square is not really all that impressive EXCEPT for its location!! So it definitely has appeal.

Similar to Shanti and spcfa, my favourite store is El Corte Ingles (Madrid, Palma & Seville).

Great departments for guys. All shirts together, all pants together, all jackets together etc etc. Perfect.

I hate how many other stores these days mix each of them in a large number of smaller displays throughout a store. Seems to take me much longer to find what I'm looking for.

http://www.atticadps.gr/home.php

http://www.harveynichols.com/output/Page1.asp

http://www.brownsfashion.com/

Galleries Lafayette, Friedrichstrasse, Berlin

Thin

I can't think of a single department store that I have ever loved. However, I remember being fascinated by an East German department store on Alexanderplatz in Berlin (before 1989). Buying something there was like undergoing a prison search. I used to like the department stores in Singapore before they became 100% Western. I have also been very interested in department stores in Saigon and Phnom Penh. European or American department stores? No way! I'd just as soon buy what I need at Wal-Mart or Carrefour.

Samaritaine was my favorite. I loved the observation deck, it was always my first stop after arriving in Paris. A mini department store that I like is Monoprix. I always shop in the basement grocery store. I also like BHV for the basement hardware stuff.

Samaritaine being a Louis Vuitton property will become a 5-star hotel + luxury boutiques once they finally put it back together.