Why Community Might Be The Missing Piece To Revive Department Stores

It’s been a challenging time for department stores for a while now, with a complete reinvention being overdue and essential to regain relevancy amongst shoppers. Budget and luxury retailers alike are struggling to maintain footfall and drive sales in the context of heightened economic pressure, coupled with the continuous rise of alternative shopping models and a shift in consumer behavior and expectations.

Beautiful Store Design And Brand Lineup Won’t Save Department Stores

Dynamics within the U.S. retail landscape have shown how much the traditional department store model is no longer viable from both a customer experience and business model standpoint. “All the costs of doing business have gone up,” Saks Global CEO Marc Metrick told The Business of Fashion. “The amount of competition has increased, the verticalization of the brands themselves opening their own stores has increased.” Consolidation, through store closures and operational cost-cutting, is very much the top priority for most department store owners. Macy’s announced plans to close 150 stores by 2026, while Kohl’s will close 27 locations by the end of April, as both chains aim to streamline operations and cut costs. But this step is just to stop the bleeding; it might help their bottom lines to some extent, but something much more transformative in terms of store experience and brand offering is needed.

For example, LVMH-owned La Samaritaine, with its 600 brands and premium shopping experience, might have built a beautiful department store, but it fell short of its ambitions after opening in 2021 and is struggling to attract shoppers and drive purchase. Tourists pass by the store as an attraction during their Paris trip but rarely buy, and locals would rather go to Le Bon Marché, also owned by LVMH. Having visited a few weeks ago, the store felt like strolling through a large showroom with little customer service and experiencing a space that felt somewhat soulless. Is having an exclusive curation of brands not enough in 2025?

The obvious answer is no. Consumers are no longer just shoppers, and shouldn’t be treated as such. They want unique interactions, to immerse themselves in brand environments and experience exclusive lifestyle and community-led events, and this is where the opportunity lies. Department stores have an advantage over networks of brand-owned stores in that they have space and a diversity of offerings, with many categories of products and services to offer all under one roof. Yet they don’t leverage that enough because they are still too focused on the linear path-to-purchase model and transactional KPIs.

French Department Store Le Bon Marché Thrives On Community-Driven Retail

This is where the power and potential of community retail comes in, and could help radically transform the department store experience and offering. A key success example is Le Bon Marché, probably Paris’ most iconic department store and the world’s oldest one. The main reason why it manages to stay relevant and thrive amongst locals and tourists alike is its ability to constantly offer unique brand and community experiences through original programming. Indeed, in addition to having a beautifully designed store with a strong curation of brands (well-balanced between classic and up-and-coming as well as premium and high-end luxury), le Bon Marché works closely with brands to organize thematic pop-ups or brand ateliers, bringing a sense of liveliness and exclusivity that shoppers greatly enjoy. On top of that, it contributes into making the department store an iconic destination that goes beyond shopping only through a carefully thought out art programme. It then becomes a space meant for interaction and discovery, something shoppers are increasingly responsive to.

Indeed, the department store has various spaces dedicated solely to temporary exhibitions and pop-ups, thus blending shopping, culture and community. For the whole month of April, it transformed multiple areas into a playground for dog owners, lovers and the dog themselves. The Alpha Dog House hosted a selection of beauty brands, accessories, fashion, and other everyday products meant for dogs, while a “niche kiosk” was hosted in a café with snacks designed for dogs and magazines dedicated to them were on display.

In addition to thematic shopping experiences and brand pop-ups, Le Bon Marché has a constant programming aimed at a large audience: colouring workshops for kids, after-hours historic tour of the store, table arts workshop with fashion and lifestyle brands, yoga classes and frequent conversations with change makers and entrepreneurs. The department store also places its focus on offering artistic and cultural experiences to visitors: it often invites selected artists to take over part of the space by decorating certain areas or creating sculptures designed to surprise and delight shoppers. In addition, following the success of previous after-hours performances, the department store will be inviting choreographer Mourad Merzouki for a unique performance based on the myth of the Tower of Babel, combining dance and circus. The show will start in september and tickets can be bought on Le Bon Marché’s website.

Printemps Store In NYC Blends Hospitality, And Lifestyle With Shopping

French department store Printemps just opened its first location in the U.S. in the heart of Manhattan’s financial district a few weeks ago, and builds on this idea of blending hospitality and retail as well. While it is betting on “reinventing retail” through spectacular design and merchandising, Jean-Marc Bellaiche, the group’s CEO, has also highlighted a focus to create events to bring people together and get visitors to linger and interact with the space in more ways than purely transactional shopping. He shared with Forbes a few weeks back: “beyond products, we put a lot of focus on programming. Conferences, talks … [and I have said] we should do fashion shows in the store.”

This marks a mindset shift hinting that it’s not just about having a wide range of brands and exclusive partnerships in a beautiful setting, but also about designing spaces meant for interaction and gathering. Organizing talks, ateliers and activities while allowing customers to enjoy a drink or a meal through hospitality offers shows that department stores might have finally understood the importance of merging community and customer experience to build loyalty and differentiate themselves in an ever so competitive retail environment.

As the boundaries between retail, hospitality and culture blur, department stores that invest and understand the potential of community-driven activations won’t just survive the shifts in consumer behavior and new shopping dynamics, they will help redefine and elevate physical retail.