Les Anciens Magasins Dufayel

The building features an enormous corner dome that once held a powerful electric searchlight, visible for miles across Paris. Georges Dufayel opened this grand department store in the nineteenth century, creating a consumer paradise with a rooftop garden, a theater, and even a miniature railway for children. He sold everything from furniture to clothing on credit, which was a revolutionary idea at the time. The store staff once numbered in the thousands, all serving a public eager to embrace the new age of retail.