The history of sales with Björn ✨

Every year, the sales are eagerly awaited! ⌚

Like you, we can't wait to share our bargains with you!

But do you know the origin of sales?

Sales first appeared in the 19th century with Simon Mannoury. He was the founder in 1830 of the first Parisian department store, the “Petit saint Thomas”, which we all know as the “Bon Marché”. Mannoury was the forerunner of sales. Thanks to his department store concept, Simon M. needed space for new arrivals. So he came up with the idea of offering reduced prices to clear his old stock. But this destocking was not yet a truly planned seasonal operation.

In January 1866, Jules Jaluzot, the founder of Printemps, had the idea of making the sales a major seasonal operation. He declared: “On January 15, we're going to put up for sale all our winter season novelty sales, all our fabrics that have been tired or faded since our stores opened, and we'll do this periodically every year”.

In 1906, laws were introduced to regulate these seasonal events.

What is a sale?

Originally, the French word “solde” meant “leftover fabric, coupon” in merchants' slang. It was therefore a singular, masculine word. It wasn't until the twentieth century, with the advent of the “solde” framework, that the word began to be used in the plural. This is still the case today!