Galeries Lafayette aims to become world leader in department stores by 2030

Paris - Building on “solid performance” in a “complex environment”, the Galeries Lafayette group announced on Wednesday an investment plan of 260 million euros by 2030. The company has the ambition of making its Parisian flagship on Boulevard Haussmann the “world's leading department store”.

The historic brand has an international presence with 17 integrated and 38 affiliated points of sale in France. It achieved a turnover of 3.1 billion euros in 2025. This figure is stable year-over-year due to the closure of two stores in Marseille and the end of an affiliation contract with SGM (the operator of BHV). However, it represents an 11 percent increase compared to 2022, according to its management.

Two billion euros in sales

Two-thirds of the business comes from the Galeries Lafayette on Boulevard Haussmann. With two billion euros in sales (+4 percent year-over-year), the department store has “surpassed” its 2019 pre-Covid-19 pandemic level, highlighted the group's chief executive officer, Arthur Lemoine, during a press briefing. This was achieved despite a general decline of 1 percent in the clothing and footwear market in 2025.

According to the group, this performance is attributed to the recent transformation of the “Coupole building” for 100 million euros and the growing strength of sectors such as beauty and footwear.

Deprived of part of its Asian clientele during the health crisis, the department store also refocused on French shoppers, who accounted for 40 percent of its sales in 2025, compared to 33 percent in 2019. The share of Chinese customers fell over the same period from 33 percent to 22 percent, while that of other nationalities rose by 5 percentage points to 38 percent.

The establishment, “the most visited place in Europe” with 35 million visitors in 2025, is one of the top three department stores alongside Harrods in London and Isetan in Tokyo. It aims for the top spot “in terms of turnover; experience; differentiation; and service,” said Alexandre Liot, deputy chief executive officer of Galeries Lafayette.

The executives did not detail the breakdown of the 260 million euros of investment planned for the group. They only specified that 25 million will go towards the renovation of the menswear building on Boulevard Haussmann in 2026 and 2027, while six million will be dedicated this year to modernising the Nice store.