Les Grands Magasins du Louvre

Department store opened in Rue Marengo, near the Louvre by Alfred Chauchard (after making a lot of money, he became a very famous art collector) in Paris in 1855, at the time of the Second Universal Exhibition. For the epoch the department store was ahead of its time, with an automated system of goods distribution from the warehouses to the sales counters to the despatch department, and it remained such for many decades through the 20^th century, until the site was taken by the Louvre des Antiquaires, a sort of modern bazaar of antiques.