China's Capital City Welcomes French Department Store

French department store group Galeries Lafayette and Hong Kong's I.T Group jointly announced that Galeries Lafayette's first Chinese flagship store has been officially opened in Beijing.

Located at the intersection of North Xidan Street and Lingjing Hutong, the new Galeries Lafayette department store has six floors and a total area of over 47,000 square meters. With a total investment of USD36 million, it mainly provides fashion products, including cosmetics and apparel.

Early in November 2010, Galeries Lafayette, I.T Group, and Financial Street Holding Company Limited jointly announced in Hong Kong that they planned to launch a Galeries Lafayette department store at Financial Street's Xidan plaza.

Liu Yongjie, a representative from Galeries Lafayette China, revealed during an interview that the opening of the Beijing outlet is only the beginning of the company's expansion in China. They plan to open 16 outlets in the mainland Chinese market within five years.

Founded in 1893, Galeries Lafayette is a well-known department store operator in France. It previously had 64 department stores, including 60 in France, one in Berlin, one in Casablanca, one in Jakarta, and one in Dubai.