Les Anciens Magasins Dufayel

The Les Anciens Magasins Dufayel occupy a vast city block bounded by the boulevard Barbès and the rue de Clignancourt. This site once held the world’s largest department store, a retail empire that rose in the eighteen eighties. Its founder, Georges Dufayel, transformed a local furniture shop into a destination for the working class by pioneering the use of consumer credit. Shoppers could purchase household goods on installment plans, with collectors visiting their homes monthly to retrieve payments.