Shop windows on the world at Paris CDG

by Dermot Davitt |

The most important marketing tool in the armoury of any physical store is the shop window. Be creative and colourful and blend art, design and fashion, and you’ll stop people in their tracks. Be drab, grey and lifeless, and they’ll walk on by. Amid increasing pressure from e-commerce, those messages have never been as important.

Daring by design: Dior, Gucci and Hermès at Paris CDG 2A.

So it was with a sense of encouragement that I flew last night from Paris Charles de Gaulle Terminal 2A – en route to Muscat for this weekend’s inauguration of the new airport terminal and Muscat Duty Free shops – after walking the luxury store boulevard that one encounters directly after the Buy Paris Duty Free walk-through. As you emerge from the store, you take in some of the classiest shop window displays that any airport can boast in such limited space.

There’s the elegance of Gucci and Dior and the quirky luxury tones of Hermès, but there’s more. Ladurée’s dash of colour, Swarovski’s always memorable Christmas display (small but neatly done here) and other brands framed behind the glass of Lagardère Travel Retail’s fashion store.

The visuals transmit a smart, upscale picture of Paris to departing visitors; a shop window for the city to the world beyond.

Liking the Ladurée look (above) and Christmas comes early with Swarovski and Coach (below)