(Re)discover our city - Knopf department store

Knopf

(Re)discover our city - Knopf department store

Think you know our capital well? Well, let's see about that! Some of the buildings that you walk past on a regular basis have a special story behind them. Dr Robert L. Philippart is a true expert on the subject and will take you through the city to uncover these hidden stories, giving you a new way of looking at some of our symbolic buildings.

Knopf department store

The building at the corner of Rue de la Reine and Rue du Fossé – where Lassner was founded in 1860 and the Spuerkeess is now located – was occupied by the men's and women's clothing shop Schaaf-Gengler after the ironmonger store's departure. In 1891, these premises were taken over by the department store M. Knopf, which had been founded two years earlier and specialised in the sale of fabrics, rugs, curtains, haberdashery, gloves, stockings, shoes, hats, lingerie and household goods. The business was so successful that it gradually branched out across 7 neighbouring buildings and built up a workforce of 80 people. M. Knopf trained shopkeepers in how to decorate their shop windows. The shop's multiple sections made it a department store: a place for the storage and sale of products manufactured on an industrial scale. Each floor contained a different range of products, with the ground floor offering items to catch passing trade and the upper floors reserved for more infrequent purchases. With continually changing displays, discounts all year round and free tram tickets for customers, it was a brand new style of sales promotion.

In 1923, M. Knopf became Grands Magasins MALUX, but the company was dissolved after the death of its manager in 1930. The building was immediately taken over by the shoe shop Bata. Then, in 1948, the confectioner and pâtissier Damme opened its tearoom there, before the building came down in 1954.

© Knopf rue du Fossé 1907 – Photothèque

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