Felix Potin in Paris: under wraps

On one of the loveliest and longest shopping streets in Paris, the rue de Rennes in the 6^th arrondissement, is a turret: a magnificent turret.

Along the street from the Boulevard Saint-Germain-des-Pres to the 55 floors of Montparnasse’s black tower, is a stylish suite of shops. Rue de Rennes was originally designed to connect the Gare Montparnasse (the railway station) with the Left Bank. When trains depart the Gare Montparnasse, one of their destinations is Rennes in Brittany, north-west France. Hence the street was named after the town Rennes.

Baron Georges Haussmann, the town planner of Paris, wanted the street to reach the River Seine in 1853, but by the late 1860s it had only reached the Boulevard Saint-Germain. The northern extension was blocked by the Institut de France, the cultural institute. The plans resurfaced every few years to knock down the institute to continue the road, but by 1976 the idea was abandoned. British historian, Richard Cobb, described rue de Rennes as “the most desolate, inhuman street in Paris” because its construction led to the destruction of many historical buildings.

On rue de Rennes is a department store built in 1904 as part of the Felix Potin grocery empire. Designed by Paul Auscher in Art Nouveau style, the six storey building has an exterior of moulded concrete casts. On the top is a turret – a free-form bell tower embellished with the name of Felix Potin.

French architect Paul Auscher (1866-1932) designed several buildings for Felix Potin. The distinctive turrets bearing Felix’s name can still be seen on the Boulevard de Sebastapol (now a Monoprix store) and rue de Rennes (now a Zara store).

Potin (1820-1871) was an innovative retailer who pioneered the manufacture of goods under one brand to sell in his own stores – mass distribution retail. He opened his first shop in Paris when he was only 24 years old. By 1860 he opened the first two-level retail store on the Boulevard de Sebastopol and in 1861 the Felix Potin factory in La Villette. In 1870 he started a home delivery service.

After his death, the business continued and another department store was built on rue de Rennes in 1904. By 1923 the business had 70 branches, 10 factories, 5 wine stores, 650 horses, and almost 8,000 workers. The Woolworth’s chain of stores was based on the Potin retail model.

The business collapsed in 1996 and in 2003 the Societe Philippe Potin acquired the right to use the Felix Potin name its distribution network in south east France.

For further information: http://buttes-chaumont.blogspot.fr/2010/08/rue-de-rennes.html

MARTINA NICOLLSis an international aid and development consultant, and the authorof:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom(2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).