«The department stores were veritable dream worlds.»
Angela Bhend on Jewish founders of Department Stores in Switzerland
Modern department stores first opened in Switzerland in the 19th century, many by Jewish entrepreneurs such as Julius Brann and the brothers Maus and Léon Nordmann. The Jewish Museum of Switzerland collects objects from their early years, among them brochures, clichés and receipts. Dr. Barbara Häne, historian at the Jewish Museum, spoke to her colleague, Dr. Angela Bhend, about Jewish entrepreneurship, sacred architecture and seductive advertising.
Barbara Häne: Angela, you have written extensively about department stores. What is the difference between a store and a department store?
Angela Bhend: This is hotly debated. The differences between the retail businesses, such as department and fashion stores, are not clearly delineated, but usually refer to size, product range and turnover. A department store is usually defined as a large retail outlet that sells a variety of products including clothing, household goods, furniture, electronics, toys, food and other objects. The idea of selling goods from all over the world under one roof was considered revolutionary in the mid-19th century. Similarly, new sales methods such as fixed prices, free admission, the right to return items and staging goods in elaborate window displays as well as advertising, fundamentally uprooted the small retail shops that had dominated the city streets previously.
BH: Were many of the founders Jewish?
AB: Yes, about half of the Swiss department store founders came from Jewish families. In Germany, almost all department stores were founded by Jews. The preponderance of Jewish businessmen has a historical reason, which is that in the previous centuries, Jews were discriminated against and often forced into commercial professions, such as livestock and textile trade. They were legally barred from other professions. As a result, they had extensive trading skills, were adept at dealing with producers and consumers and were accustomed to a mobile lifestyle. When the legal barriers in Western Europe fell, many Jewish traders established their own trading companies, which gave rise to numerous department stores.
BH: Where did the Jewish department store founders come from?
AB: The Jewish department store owners in Switzerland mainly came from neighbouring countries. Julius Brann came from the then Prussian town of Rawitsch (now Poland). The Knopf family came from the Prussian town of Międzychód (now Poland). The Loeb family came from Nieder-Wiesen (Rheinhessen) and the Maus and Nordmann families (Manor), as well as the Lang brothers, came from Alsace (Colmar, Hegenheim and Sierentz).
BH: Your book is titled «Triumph der Moderne» (Triumph of Modernity). What triumph did the department stores celebrate?
AB: In their early days, department stores were fascinating and often written about. As early as 1881, the Parisian newspaper Le Figaro described the department store as one of the most important economic phenomena of its time. In Berlin, London and Paris, they attracted crowds. The department store promised everyone, regardless of their social status, an experience of luxury at an affordable price. The department store architecture was a sensation, reminiscent of a castle or a church. With their designed interiors, thousands of articles stacked in towers and elaborate displays of goods, department stores were must-sees. Central atriums created a special, sacred shopping atmosphere. No wonder the French writer Émile Zola devoted his novel The Ladies’ Paradise to the department store as a «temple of extravagance» and a «cathedral of modern commerce.» Lastly, innovative marketing and presentation strategies, such as catalogs and shop window design, informed bourgeois taste.
The department stores at the fin de siècle offered a wide range of services including restaurants, libraries, art exhibitions and modern technology, i.e. electricity. Besides emboying a new economic idea, they expressed social change. Seen in this light, department stores around 1900 were a turning point, a new beginning, a visible sign of modernity. People were born as consumers, shopping became an experience, a leisurely activity and a new source of identity for the aspiring middle class.
BH: Which stores were particularly innovative?
AB: Julius Brann was a great pioneer in the department store scene. In 1896, at age twenty, he opened Switzerland’s first department store in Zurich. He then expanded his business to numerous Swiss cities, where he opened further stores. His chain was very successful. Then, when World War II broke out, he sold his business and emigrated to the USA. Today, the Brannhof in Zurich, which opened in 2023, commemorates the former department store’s entrepreneur.
The Loeb brothers also initially founded stores in various cities, for example in Basel on Eisengasse. The Loeb department store in Berne, which has remained a family business to this day and is now successfully run by the fifth generation, later became the most important and lasting one.
The Maus brothers and Léon Nordmann were particularly innovative. Maus initially worked in the wholesale trade and worked to found department stores together with Nordmann. As wholesalers, they promoted the idea of the department store to their customers and contributed to the emergence of department stores in smaller towns and villages in Switzerland. At the beginning, the department stores were given evocative names, such as Au Louvre, Zur Stadt Paris, but from the late 1970s, they were standardised to Nordmann, Rheinbrücke, Vilan, Placette and Galeries. Starting in September 1994, the department stores in German-speaking Switzerland (and starting in September 2000 those in French-speaking Switzerland and Ticino as well) bore the name Manor, in honor of the founding families. Today, Manor is the largest department store chain in Switzerland.
BH: The department stores contributed to the discourse of their time, among others by means of advertising. What were favourite themes?
AB: A central narrative of advertising was seduction. Customers were depicted as crowds waiting eagerly to enter the store. Many showed fashionable, desirable women. Children’s toys were also a major theme. Posters and flyers appealed to consumer’s desires and conveyed the sense that shopping made you feel good. Keywords such as «cheap,» «save» and «sell-out» helped the population through years of crisis. The posters also reflected the spirit of the times and artistic trends, and I am particularly impressed by the posters from the fin de siècle. One example is the ad by Charles Loupot from 1915 for the Loeb brothers in Bern, which shows a woman in a white dress with two angels – a reference to innocence and temptation.
BH: Dear Angela, thank you very much for the interview.
verfasst am 14.06.2024
© Illustration: Marva Gradwohl.
© Abb.1: Leporello embroidery pattern, promotional gift from the Loeb department stores in Zurich, JMS 2120.5, with thanks to: Nicole Loeb, Berne. Photo: Alliya Oppliger.
© Abb.2: In-house newspapers and anniversary editions of the Loeb department stores, with thanks to: Nicole Loeb, Berne. Photo: Aline Chalfin.
© Abb.3: In-house newspapers and anniversary editions of the Loeb department stores, with thanks to: Nicole Loeb, Berne. Photo: Aline Chalfin.
© Abb.4: In-house newspapers and anniversary editions of the Loeb department stores, with thanks to: Nicole Loeb, Berne. Photo: Aline Chalfin.
© Abb.5: Postcard, shop front of the department stores Au Louvre, Murten, JMS 2125.6, with thanks to: Alain und Gérard Kahn, Basel and Berne. Photo: Aline Chalfin.
© Abb.6: Illustrated brochure to mark the 50th anniversary of the Au Louvre department stores in Murten, JMS 2125.7, with thanks to: Alain und Gérard Kahn, Basel and Berne. Photo: Aline Chalfin.
© Abb.7: Catalogue of the department stores Au Louvre in Murten, JMS 2125.8, with thanks to: Alain und Gérard Kahn, Basel and Berne. Photo: Aline Chalfin.
© Abb.8: Postcard, colored lithograph of the Brann department store, Zurich, JMS 2116.2.
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