Quite rightly, there has been a lot of buzz about Printemps NYC opening.

And most of the noise around the opening of this luxury space in the financial district has circled around what it might mean for the future of department stores in the US.

Its focus on blending high-end hospitality and shopping – a feature of many European department stores – is fascinating. It would appear an obvious way of increasing dwell time, and perhaps more ambitiously, changing the way US shoppers experience a department store.

This is a place to spend time, not just a place to spend money.

But for anyone mulling what this store means, and how it might take European approaches and habits into an American context, it’s worth considering what that European experience is actually like.

Because, like everything in retail, it’s a lot more complex than it seems.

European department stores are struggling too

The first and most obvious point to make is that European department stores are struggling too.

The causes are varied and numerous, but on the whole, familiar to Americans. Huge, expensive spaces to run that are uniquely vulnerable to online retail.

British department store chains like Debenhams, House of Fraser and British Home Stores have all either entirely or partially closed in the last ten years. John Lewis, a national treasure and a department store that was quick to digitise and innovate, has closed 16 stores in the last five years, leaving 34.

In Spain, Europe’s largest department store chain El Corte Ingles has had well-publicised struggles since 2020. In France, Galeries Lafayette has closed dozens of franchised stores – and last year closed its ambitious flagship in Berlin.

Printemps itself closed seven stores between 2020 and 2022, some of which were part of the Citadium group it owns.

In short, the department store problem isn’t exclusively an American one.

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