As the cradle of high fashion, Paris gave the world designers like Coco Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent and Christian Dior, who in turn gifted the world some of fashion history's most enduring iconography, including the LBD, or little black dress. 作為高級時尚的搖籃，巴黎給了世界設計師如可可香奈兒，聖羅蘭和克里斯汀迪奧，他們反過來又給了世界一些時尚史上最持久的圖像，包括 LBD，或小黑裙。
But there are two other French figures who don't get nearly as much credit in the fashion and retail world as they should, given that they are probably more relevant to the average household than Chanel and Dior. 但還有另外兩位法國人物在時尚和零售界沒有得到應有的信任，因為他們對普通家庭的影響可能比香奈兒和迪奧更大。
At Le Bon Marché department store in Paris, which was founded in 1852 and holds the title of the oldest and longest-running department store in the world, Aristide and Marguerite Boucicaut pioneered retail concepts many people probably take for granted. 巴黎的 Le Bon march 百貨商店成立於1852年，是世界上最古老、經營時間最長的百貨商店。在這裡，阿里斯蒂德和瑪格麗特•布西卡開創了許多人可能認為理所當然的零售概念。
The husband and wife team were revolutionary in this fast-changing industry called retail.夫妻團隊在這個快速變化的零售業中是革命性的。
Le Bon Marché was founded in Paris in 1852, making it the world's oldest and longest-running department store. Le Bon march 於1852年在巴黎成立，是世界上最古老、經營時間最長的百貨公司
Yvan Matrat/Courtesy Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche Yvan matrat / courtesy Le Bon march Rive Gauche
The practice of returning merchandise for a refund? Le Bon Marché lays claim to the concept. 退貨退款的做法？ Le Bon march 聲稱擁有這個概念
Mail order catalogs à la Ikea and J. Crew? 宜家和 J.Crew 的郵購目錄？
In fact, the Boucicauts published the world's first department store catalog and included fabric swatches for customers to select the color and material of their attire. They enabled — and empowered — shoppers to customize their designs. 事實上，布西考特夫婦出版了世界上第一份百貨商店目錄，並附有面料樣本，供顧客選擇服裝的顏色和麵料。 它們使購物者能夠定製自己的設計，並賦予購物者權力
And the modern, now-ubiquitous practice of free delivery for purchases of $25 or more? You could say Le Bon Marché was a forerunner in that department as well, introducing home delivery 160 years ago for mail orders costing over 25 francs. 那麼，現在普遍存在的25美元以上的購物免費送貨的現代實踐呢？ 你可以說 Le Bon march 也是這個領域的先驅，在160年前就引入了家庭遞送服務，郵寄訂單超過25法郎
While the retail industry has changed a great deal since 1852, Le Bon Marché has maintained a strong foothold, evolving in response to industry changes and shoppers' proclivities. 儘管自1852年以來，零售業發生了巨大變化，但樂邦馬奇一直保持著穩固的立足點，隨著行業變化和消費者傾向的變化而不斷髮展
Revolutionizing the way we shop
徹底改變我們的購物方式
It's a Saturday afternoon inside the ladies' department of the luxury department store on Paris's Left Bank, and shoppers are performing time-honored rituals: sifting through designer dresses, flipping over price tags and holding blouses up their necks to inspect their reflections in the mirror. 這是一個週六的下午，在巴黎左岸的一家奢侈品百貨商店的女裝部裡，購物者正在進行一些歷史悠久的儀式: 篩選設計師設計的服裝，翻動價格標籤，把襯衫舉到脖子上，觀察鏡子裡的自己
Customers looking for a deal rummage through the sales racks; the tactile ones run materials through their fingers, while window shoppers with no agenda waltz through the store, letting their gazes take in the goods. 顧客們在貨架上翻來翻去，有觸感的顧客用手指運送物品，沒有日程安排的櫥窗購物者在商店裡跳著華爾茲舞，讓他們的目光在商品中穿梭
It's a common enough scene that could be replayed across town at Galeries Lafayette, Printemps or any other department store, in any other city in the world. 這是一個很常見的場景，可以在巴黎老佛爺百貨公司、 Printemps 或者世界上任何其他城市的任何一家百貨商店重演
Le Bon Marché bills itself as the small, big department store, a play on words in French (le petit grand magasin). Le Bon march 將自己標榜為一個小型的、大型的百貨商店，一個法語單詞的遊戲(Le petit grand magasin)
Except that, were it not for the trailblazing concepts pioneered at Le Bon Marché, today's contemporary shopping experience might not be as easily recognizable. 除此之外，如果沒有 Le Bon march 開創性的概念，今天的當代購物體驗可能不會那麼容易辨認
For starters, let's begin with the one-stop shop. Finding everything from trousers to bedsheets and dishware to hairdryers and lipstick under one roof was an idea popularized in large part at Le Bon Marché under the Boucicauts' leadership. 首先，讓我們從一站式服務開始。 從褲子到床單，從餐具到吹風機和口紅，在布西考特夫婦的領導下，在 Le Bon march 大規模推廣了這個想法
In the 19th century, if you needed an umbrella, you went to a shop specializing in umbrellas. Same for women's clothing or shoes. 在19世紀，如果你需要一把傘，你會去一家專門賣傘的商店。 女人的衣服和鞋子也是一樣！
Most shops specialized in one single item, explains Eléna Fertil, Le Bon Marché's head of cultural events, and all merchandise was stocked behind the counter. 大多數商店只賣一種商品，Le Bon march 的文化活動負責人 el na Fertil 解釋說，所有商品都放在櫃檯後面
While this way of procuring items may sound romantic, it was also a bit tedious. 雖然這種獲取物品的方式聽起來很浪漫，但是也有點乏味
"The customer saw nothing. If they needed pink sheets, they would have to ask the sales clerk who would then pull out the closest thing they had to pink sheets," Fertil said. “顧客什麼也沒看見。 如果他們需要粉色床單，他們就得問售貨員，售貨員會拿出最接近粉色床單的東西
When Aristide joined the small shop on the corner of rue du Bac and rue de Sèvres in 1852 as a partner with the Videau brothers, he introduced modern, little-known practices that brought merchandise out into the open for customers to browse and touch. He also attached a fixed price to the goods. 1852年，當阿里斯蒂德作為合夥人加入位於巴克街和弗雷斯街拐角處的這家小店時，他引進了現代化的、鮮為人知的做法，讓顧客可以瀏覽和觸摸商品。 他還對貨物附加了固定價格
"Before, prices were at the discretion of the sales clerk, so the same product could be sold for two different prices to two different clients," Fertil explained. “以前，價格由銷售員決定，因此同一產品可以以兩種不同的價格賣給兩個不同的客戶，” Fertil 解釋說
Previously, when customers walked into a shop, it was understood they would walk out with a purchase. But at Bon Marché entry was "free." 以前，當顧客走進一家商店時，人們都知道他們會帶著購買的東西離開。 但是在 Bon march 的時候是“免費”的
Customers were invited to enter and browse at their leisure. No purchase necessary. And if they had buyer's remorse — too small, too big, too expensive — they could exchange or return the item for a full refund. 我們邀請顧客在閒暇時進來瀏覽。 無需購買。 如果他們感到後悔(太小、太大、太貴) ，他們可以更換或退貨，換取全額退款
Goods were also priced at a smaller profit margin (bon marché is French for a "good deal") but inventory turnover was high. 商品的定價也是利潤率較低(bon march 在法語裡是“ good deal”的意思) ，但是第一存貨週轉的利潤率很高
A gathering space for the female bourgeoisie
女性資產階級的聚集空間
Along with rewriting the codes of commerce, the store would become a "haven of freedom and pleasure" for Parisian women of the bourgeoisie, writes Monica Burckhardt in 隨著商業法典的改寫，這家商店將成為巴黎中產階級婦女的“自由和快樂的港灣” ，莫妮卡 · 布克哈特在年寫道"Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche: The Invention of the Department Store," Le Bon march Rive Gauche: 百貨公司的發明 published in 2013 and commissioned by Le Bon Marché.2013年出版，由 Le Bon march 委託出版
There, monied wives could spend an entire day daydreaming and socializing, independent of their husbands. 在那裡，有錢的妻子可以獨立於她們的丈夫，花一整天的時間做白日夢和社交
"Back then, cities were men's spaces," adds Jan Whitaker, a consumer historian from North Hampton, Massachusetts who authored the 2011 book 2011年出版的這本書的作者、來自馬薩諸塞州北漢普頓的消費史學家簡•惠特克(Jan Whitaker)補充道: “那時候，城市是男人的空間。”"The World of Department Stores." “百貨公司的世界。”
"If you were an upper middle-class woman, the streets were a vulnerable place to be. So department stores became women's spaces, and that was really significant." “如果你是一箇中上階層的女性，街道是一個容易受到攻擊的地方。 所以百貨商店成了女性的天下，這一點非常重要。”
The business model was much the same then as it is now: to get as many people of the socio-economic spectrum through the door as possible — and get them to stay. 當時的商業模式與現在大致相同: 讓儘可能多的社會經濟階層的人進入公司，並讓他們留下來
"It was luxury for the masses," Whitaker said. "These were grandiose buildings that lower classes would otherwise never be invited into. The fact that they could go in there freely and that somebody would wait on you was not something to be taken for granted." “這對大眾來說是奢侈品，”惠特克說。 “這些都是宏偉的建築，否則下層階級永遠不會被邀請進入。 他們可以自由地進去，有人伺候你，這些都不是理所當然的。”
Patrons of the arts
藝術贊助人
The Boucicauts also understood the importance of customer loyalty and time spent inside the store. 布西考特夫婦也明白顧客忠誠度和在店內花費時間的重要性
After buying out the Videau brothers and taking complete ownership in 1863, the couple expanded the space and added new features and services that were deemed game changers at the time: a reading room for waiting husbands, a salon offering complimentary food and refreshments, billiard room, hairdressing salon, travel office and live concerts events. 1863年，在收購了 Videau 兄弟的全部所有權後，這對夫婦擴大了這個空間，並增加了當時被認為是改變遊戲規則的新功能和服務: 為等待丈夫的人提供閱覽室，提供免費食品和點心的沙龍，檯球室，美髮沙龍，旅行辦公室和現場音樂會活動
Another claim to fame? Gustave Eiffel was one of the contributing engineers who helped design the building's steel structure. 另一個成名的理由？ 古斯塔夫 · 埃菲爾是幫助設計大樓鋼結構的貢獻工程師之一
But one of the Boucicauts' biggest legacies, which is given special honor to this day, is their support of the fine arts. 但是，布西考特夫婦留下的最大遺產之一，是他們對美術的支持，這一點至今仍被賦予特殊的榮譽
Avant-gardists, the couple opened an art gallery in 1875 within the department store, offering artists who had been turned away by the Paris Salon -- the official art exhibition of the Academy of Fine Arts in Paris -- a home for their works and a large public audience, Burckhardt wrote. 布克哈特寫道，作為先鋒派藝術家，這對夫婦於1875年在百貨商店內開設了一個藝術畫廊，為那些被巴黎美術學院(Academy of Fine Arts)的官方藝術展——巴黎沙龍(Paris Salon)拒之門外的藝術家提供一個展示他們作品和大量公眾觀眾的場所
Stroll through the store today 145 years later, and you'll note that paintings, photographs, drawings and sculptures — a contemporary art collection curated over the last 30 years — line store walls and are placed strategically amidst the luxury goods. 145年後的今天，漫步在這家商店裡，你會注意到，過去30年裡策劃的一批當代藝術藏品——油畫、照片、素描和雕塑——排列在商店的牆壁上，戰略性地擺放在奢侈品中間
In 2016, the store invited Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei to launch a new art program, designed to pay homage to Aristide's creation of the annual White Sale in January. 2016年，該店邀請中國藝術家和活動家艾未未推出一個新的藝術項目，旨在向阿里斯蒂德在一月份創作的一年一度的白色拍賣表示敬意
As the story goes, Boucicault was walking around, despondent at seeing the shop so empty following the Christmas holidays. After looking out the window and seeing it snow, he decided to pull out all the white merchandise in the store and hold a big sales event, Fertil explained. 據說，布西科在聖誕節假期過後，看到商店空無一人，沮喪地四處走動。 在看到窗外下雪後，他決定把店裡所有的白色商品都拿出來，舉辦一個大型的促銷活動，Fertil 解釋說。
In a nod to this tradition, the store launched a program inviting international contemporary artists to create customized pop-up installations for Le Bon Marché every January. 為了表示對這一傳統的認可，該店推出了一個項目，邀請國際當代藝術家為每年一月的 Le Bon march 創作定製的彈出裝置
Their only request? That it center around the color white. Everything else is carte blanche, as they say, for the artists. 他們唯一的要求？ 以白色為中心。 正如他們所說，對於藝術家來說，其他一切都是全權委託
"These exhibits are really meant as a gift to our visitors," Fertil said. "The idea is that by strolling through the Bon Marché, they'll be moved by the artist's vision. Some loyal customers come every year to seek out our exhibits, but we know that others who've come just to shop may be pleasantly surprised to discover expositions like these." “這些展品實際上是給參觀者的禮物，”費爾蒂爾說。 “我的想法是，通過漫步在 Bon march，他們會被藝術家的想象力所感動。 一些忠實的顧客每年都會來參觀我們的展覽，但我們知道，其他只是來購物的人可能很快就會發現這樣的喜歡·一個人。”
閱讀更多 東方見聞錄 的文章
