On March 20, French department store Printemps will open its first branch in the USA, in New York’s Wall Street district, looking to make inroads with US consumers and expand the group’s international clientèle, heavily disrupted by the Covid-19 epidemic.

The new Printemps branch, the second overseas, is located at the former headquarters of a US bank in the southern part of Manhattan. The store is aiming to attract both residents and people who work in this “booming” New York neighbourhood, as Printemps president Jean-Marc Bellaiche defined it in early 2025, talking to AFP and other news outlets during a visit to the store, then still being renovated.

Printemps is also hoping to appeal to wealthy New Yorkers through the building’s architecture, the gourmet food on offer at the store, the selection of brands available, and Printemps’ French identity. The store will also “boost [Printemps’] global reputation,” according to Bellaiche.

Department stores in general, and Printemps in particular, were hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, which forced them to remain closed for long periods in 2020 and 2021, and prompted part of their Asian clientèle, which accounted for a significant share of revenue, to shop elsewhere.

Asked by AFP about the potential difficulties linked to launching a store in the USA at a time when the international situation is so tense, especially between the USA and Europe, Bellaiche mentioned in a written statement “a long-term vision that goes beyond the current climate.”

Unlike its great French rival Galeries Lafayette, Printemps has a minimal international presence. The group currently has 3,000 employees and operates 20 stores in France, including 4 franchised ones and 2 outlet stores, and a store in Doha, Qatar. In 2013, Printemps was acquired by Qatari investors via Luxembourg-based investment firm Divine Investments SA.

Talking about the New York store, located in the city’s financial district which is “being fully transformed,” Bellaiche drew a parallel with the Parisian district where Jules Jaluzot opened his department store on Boulevard Haussmann in 1865.

At the time, “the location wasn’t the most central nor the most welcoming [in Paris], far from it,” Printemps has written on its website, adding that proximity to a train station had been an asset, owing to the influx of travellers, especially from Paris’s chic western neighbourhoods.