Generally considered the world’s first department store, Le Bon Marché in Paris spurred a retail revolution when it began its incredible expansion in the late 19th century. The stores that followed on its tails, from Harrods in London and Macy’s in New York to Kaufhaus des Westens in Berlin and Mitsukoshi in Tokyo, have since become truly iconic.

Click through this gallery to discover their fascinating origin stories…

Le Bon Marché, Paris, France

Le Bon Marché's founders, Aristide Boucicaut and his wife Marguerite, started out selling textiles in a small novelty shop in the 1850s, but soon realised there was a market for a new kind of establishment that offered customers more choice.

They constructed a 'cathedral to commerce', on the corner of rue de Sèvres and rue Velpeau between 1869 and 1872 – adopting a visionary and daring approach to commerce which included the then unknown concepts of fixed prices, home delivery, exchanges and mail order. Their commercial model was soon being copied all over the world and inspired Emile Zola’s novel Au Bonheur des Dames.

The world's most famous department stores' fascinating histories