By Paris breakfasts. I LOVE YOU.

Au Bonheur des Dames

It would be difficult to visit Paris and bypass Les Grands Magasinswould it not?

I was browsing Paris Forever and by chance got smitten with the map and background on Emil Zola. Zola became consumed with the development and innovation of the first big department stores like Le Bon Marche of the Second Empire. And he built a novel around them,Au Bonheur des Dames/The Ladies Paradise.

The novel revoles around Denise, an orphaned (of course) poor, young country girl moves to the big city, becomes a shop assistant in the fabric department, and ultimately wins the heart of the owner of the store bla bla bla.

There are many intriguing back stories within this rather mundane tale that reveal much about the early days of the Second Empire, whenBaron Haussmann was changing the face of Paris.

Le Bon Marche became the model of all future department stores as we know them. They offered workers some benefits like free lunches (though they had to sit at the same spot daily). But shop women could lose their jobs instantly in hard times and often had to take to the streets till they were rehired.

Retail trade changed vastly with the coming of the big emporiums.

The vast variety of products offered all in one place was a huge asset.

Prices were fixed unlike previously in the small boutiques.

Illustrated catalogs were provided so shoppers could plan and dream...

Everything to make women comfortable and happy so they'd stay within the store's confines including the first ladies tea salons was thought of. 

Mirroring Zola's imagined tale of love in a department store, real-lifeErnest Cognacq, while working at Le Bon Marche married dress assistant Louise Jay. Together they went off to create La Samaritaine.Musee Cognacq-Jay in the Marais is the result of their accumulated riches. Department stores Printemps(founded in 1865, by Jules Jaluzot and Jean-Alfred Duclos) and Galeries Lafayette(founded in1893, two cousins, Théophile Bader and Alphonse Kahn) were soon to follow along with Macy's, Harrod's.

Zola's Au Bonheur des Dames will fill you in on the inner workings behind the doors of many a grand magasine you have happily thrown money at. He touches on many social issues of the time: the rise of a consumer culture and the changing role of women, among others. Altogether a fascinating read.