Patrice Wagner has been a retail radical his entire career. He takes risks, is adventurous and introduces customers to unique experiences and socially and culturally relevant activities. Wagner also combines creativity with design. He is Chairman and CEO of Le Bon Marché Group (Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche, La Samaritaine, La Grande Epicerie de Paris) and Brand and Executive Support for Rimowa – all LVMH luxury brands. He also leads the retail industry as a board member of IGDS (International Group of Department Stores). Le Bon Marché is part of the Selective Retailing business group at LVMH that comprises 75 luxury brands, and the group was up six percent in organic growth in 2024.
There are three major keys to success: spend time on the floor, truly understand your customers, and develop the ability to lead and inspire people. Retail is first and foremost a human business
Current History
As head of Bon Marché, he is the steward of a daunting heritage; Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche was the first department store in the world and opened in 1852 in Paris as an innovative concept that transformed shopping into a sensory and social experience, reflecting the grandeur and innovation with of era. And for the past 174 years, it has excelled in delivering extraordinary experiences. Matthew Cyr, Founder & CEO, Crave Retail, adds, “Relevance at 174 years old doesn’t happen by chance. It takes a retail radical like Patrice Wagner to keep heritage alive with purpose and imagination.”
Wagner describes Le Bon Marché, “Department stores have disruption in their DNA— they’ve been retail pioneers since the 19th century. For over a decade, our strategy has been to carry this legacy forward while inventing new retail models for the future. We aim to spark emotion and surprise through art, culture, and curated products.” We are a department store, but also a concert hall and an art gallery. That’s how we continue to attract customers who, now more than ever, are looking for meaningful, physical, and human experiences.”
Cultural Relevance
Le Bon Marché is a cultural destination in addition to a one-of-a-kind department store. As a radical, Wagner has updated legacy retail memes into a surprising fusion of desirable merchandise and artistic statements about our global culture.
Return on Experience is made all the more possible when you have a dramatic theatrical space that serves as a stage set…every day. Housed in Belle Epoque architecture, Le Bon Marché is modern, on-trend, enticing, experiential, and always surprising. The store is an event space that sells stuff. It is one of the most socially relevant, artful, and legitimate tastemakers in retail. It is as though Bon Marché is on a mission to educate customers as much as sell to them.
Wagner says, “Over the past 10 years, we’ve collaborated with more than 30 artists—from Ai Weiwei to Chiharu Shiota—and regularly transform Le Bon Marché into a stage for concerts, immersive theater, and dance performances. In September, we had the honor of hosting Patti Smith to launch our new exhibition celebrating rock culture. Every year, more than 20,000 spectators come to attend a show at Le Bon Marché.”
World Class Operations
According to architect Kevin Roche, who provided planning and design leadership as a Senior Advisor to Wagner, “Le Bon Marché is perhaps the best expression of the traditional department that has managed to remain meaningful; it is what I call a socially relevant, both a place of commerce and a place to learn through an ever-evolving curation of today’s lifestyles. It is both distinctive for hospitality, entertainment and shopping. Le Bon Marché convinces you to buy merchandise you really do not need.” The store balances Parisian identity with global relevance, serving both local residents and tourists.
The store has world-class merchandisers across all the classic department store categories: women’s, men’s, and children’s fashion, beauty, furniture, a full home store, books and stationery, and lifestyle electronics. It has a wide selection of restaurants and cafes, including a men’s barber and beauty services and a drop-dead impressive VIP Lounge. The latest iconic brands are all represented. What makes the store so seductive is that there is always newness and something to buy that makes you feel good.
Wagner says, “Curation is also central to our product offering: 35 percent of our selection is entirely exclusive, and 10 percent of our store space is dedicated to seasonal exhibitions that change every two months. He adds innovation is embedded into his teams, “Every year, we engage all our teams in shaping our strategy through collaborative workshops, so they can really contribute to the future of our business, at every level. We embrace risk, launch bold initiatives, and see every failure as a step toward progress. We also embrace innovation in how we run the business—prioritizing long-term value creation over short-term gains.”
Wagner deeply believes in physical retail. He advises, “To me, there are three major keys to success: spend time on the floor, truly understand your customers, and develop the ability to lead and inspire people. Retail is first and foremost a human business.”
Thinking Local
Le Bon Marché’s most valid consumer-based distinction is that it is the store of choice for Parisians. The newly renovated food hall, Le Grand Epicerie and La Cave wine cellar, in a separate building, are world-class food and spirit emporiums. L’Épicerie offers efficient in-store dining options across ethnic and category categories and, of course, ready-to-eat carryout.The Parisians find everything on the Left Bank under Le Bon Marché’s soaring atrium. It’s localization at its best. Bon Marche’s soaring atrium, designed by Moisant and Gustave Eiffel Studios in 1905, has become a transformative experiential space. Roche says, “They are world-class storytellers and visual merchandisers. Throughout the store, their ability to seamlessly cross merchandise categories tastefully and surprisingly engages the customer and encourages a sense of discovery on every visit. They have taken the profession of visual merchandising to another level. Le Bon Marché’s event marketing leverages the store’s iconic lifestyle positioning as a backdrop for relevant trend-savvy event experiences.”
Newness is woven into the cultural calendar. Several times a year, the store stages immersive art installations that spark the imagination and the sense of humor of both customers and tourists. This fall, Rock’n’Drôle, orchestrated by Antoine de Caunes, features a deep dive into the concert and backstage scene with a selection of 70s-inspired rock fashion must-haves. Exclusive offerings include upcycled accessories from Atelier Costa, vinyl records by iconic groups from Big Smile Bazar, and t-shirts emblazoned with signature phrases by artist Thomas Lelu. Here is a sample of the ongoing quality, imagination and audaciousness of its events: “Choreographer Mourad Merzouku stages an original creation, after-hours in the store, with an immersive, dreamlike interpretation of the myth of the Tower of Babel, combining dance and circus.”
Radical Thinking
Wagner says, being a retail radical is important in shaping the future of the retail industry because. “I deeply believe in the future of brick-and-mortar retail—even in the age of ecommerce and AI. But to stay relevant, we must be bold. We have to reinvent the experience, surprise our customers, and offer them something they cannot find anywhere else.”
Le Bon Marche’ is a modern-day agora that is relevant, meaningful and exciting to visit, shop, and experience. The creativity of its installations encourages customers to explore every nook and cranny of the store, discovering luxuries they cannot live without in the process. Patrice Wagner is a quintessential retail radical who consistently reimagines what a department store should mean in the 21st century; it’s not just a place to buy, but a place to see, to experience, to be surprised. He has changed the retail culture internally by redefining operations with a global perspective focused on relevance, curated content and immersive themes. He marries heritage with innovation in a high‑luxury context, makes bold leadership moves and takes his cues from cultural trends and shifts, translating them into keeping a retail dream alive for close to two centuries.
About the Retail Radicals
The 2025 Crave Retail Radicals Awards include Le Bon Marché, Build-A-Bear Workshops, Pacsun, Skims and Sprouts. For the past seven years, we have identified radical thinkers and doers (innovators and entrepreneurial leaders) driving major transformations within their respective retail brands. In a marketplace that is defined by transactions and risk-avoidance, these five retailers have bucked the trend and are helping to transform the industry by rewriting the rules of retail by being bold and brave. Each is a role model for keeping retail relevant and vibrant, and exceeding expectations experientially and financially.
