Casino teams with L’Oréal to launch Paris wellbeing stores
Two ‘le drugstore parisien’ outlets will offer extended hours and Sunday opening
French retailer Groupe Casino is teaming with consumer group L’Oréal to launch a beauty and wellbeing store concept in Paris, illustrating how retailers are seeking new ways of attracting consumers to shops in the face of growing competition from online.
On Saturday, Casino will open “le drugstore parisien” in two locations in the French capital through its Franprix convenience stores brand. As well as selling products ranging from beauty and wellbeing to snacks and accessories, the store will offer additional services including free WiFi and restrooms, mobile charging stations, hairdressers and pick-up stations for postal goods.
If the two stores — one on Rue de la Chaussée-d’Antin in the 9ème arrondissement and the other on Rue du Bac, near the fashionable Saint-Germain-des-Prés district — are successful, Casino plans to roll out the concept more widely in Paris and abroad.
Jean-Charles Naouri, Casino’s chief executive and controlling shareholder, is regarded as a pioneer in French retail. He downsized hypermarkets years before rivals, anticipating that the format would fall out of favour with consumers, and expanded convenience stores under the Franprix banner.
“With this ‘Parisian drugstore’ we meet the new expectations of consumers in metropolitan areas,” Mr Naouri said.
Unlike the large pharmacy and convenience chains such as CVS Health and Duane Reade in the US or Boots in the UK, French pharmacies stock only medicines and personal products. They tend to have restricted opening hours and are closed on Sundays.
“In Paris, there are pharmacies on one side and food retail on the other, but there is nothing really in the middle,” said Cécile Guillou, general manager of le drugstore parisien.
The only store in Paris that is at all comparable to Franprix’s new concept is the Publicis Drugstore on the Champs-Elysées, which brings together a round-the-clock pharmacy with a restaurant, bookstore, delicatessen and bookstore, and is a popular meeting place for Parisians.
Franprix’s first two drug stores will be open seven days a week, Monday to Saturday from 10.00am to midnight and Sunday from 11.00am to 8pm. For one day each month they will be open for 24 hours to offer Parisians what Casino calls “exclusive entertainment and wellness services”. This shows how brands are trying to create a more immersive and experiential dynamic that extends beyond just buying products.
Several L’Oréal brands including Maybelline, Garnier and NYX Professional Makeup will be stocked in the stores. Jean-Paul Agon, L’Oréal chief executive, said: “We are very happy to be a player in the change alongside Casino to invent a new beauty experience for consumers in France.”
The launches come as Casino’s share price has dropped a third this year. This reflects investor concerns about the structural complexity with which Mr Naouri has built the group over the past three decades and worries about the financing arrangements in its complex chain of investment vehicles, some of which face imminent debt refinancing deadlines.
Casino last week announced a disposal plan of €1.5bn in non-core assets, including real estate, to help reduce debt and shore up investor support.