For its March 2026 edition, Les Jeudis de La Retail Tech chose to step outside its usual framework to observe retail where it is fully expressed: in the field. For one morning, the rue de Valois gave way to an immersion in the heart of Paris, carefully imagined by Mike Hadjadj 🛍️, Barbara SARRE-DEROUBAIX and Nicolas Diacono 🤖🛍️.
The venue was Fouquet’s, on the Champs-Élysées. More than just a starting point, this emblematic Parisian landmark, at the crossroads of cinema, history and the French art of living, gave this off-site edition a very special tone. A symbolic backdrop for an itinerary dedicated to inspiration, experience and new expressions of retail.
🌵 SXSW 2026: AI accelerates everything and the human becomes the real strategic subject again.
Before starting the store tour, Nicolas Diacono 🤖🛍️ shared his feedback from the South by Southwest event, which is a collection of music, film and interactive media festivals held annually since 1987 in Austin, Texas.
One message emerges very clearly: the subject is no longer just what AI can do. The real issue is what its acceleration is changing in our organizations, our uses… and our relationship with people.
🤖 AI has become a political issue Debates go far beyond technology: surveillance, weaponry, platform dependency, economic impacts… Tool choices are also becoming societal choices.
⚙️ AI agents are already changing the game We’re entering a world where agents can perform tasks 24/7. So it’s not just a question of adopting AI tools, but of rethinking the way work is organized between humans and agents.
🧠 The risk is not just technical, it’s emotional As AI becomes more conversational, more “human”, the question of anthropomorphism becomes central. Trust, attachment, dependency: we’re already projecting a lot onto these tools.
👥 In response, community regains value In an increasingly automated environment, the brands that emerge are those that create links, cultural codes, a sense of belonging.
🏬 And this is where retail becomes strategic again. The store is no longer just a transactional place. It can once again become a social, cultural and relational place. In short, a space where the brand creates something other than a purchase: a human experience.
👉 In short: the more automated commerce becomes, the more differentiation is achieved through culture, community and human connection.
A great introduction to the store tour!
☕ Bacha Coffee: when retail becomes a sensory journey
The first stop of this off-site edition: the brand-new Bacha Coffee flagship on the Champs-Élysées. And the least we can say is that the experience lives up to the promise.
Founded in Marrakech in 1910, Maison Bacha Coffee was built around a strong promise: to take its customers on a journey through a selection of specialty 100% Arabica coffees from the finest origins. Today, the brand offers over 200 products from more than 35 producing countries.
Relaunched in 2019, the brand has rapidly accelerated its international development (Hong Kong, Middle East, Asia), before opening its first European flagship in Paris in 2025.
This elegantly reinterprets the spirit of Dar el Bacha, its original palace in Marrakech: red ochre tones, black and white checkerboard marble, geometric trellises and carved cedar woodwork create an immersive, refined and instantly recognizable setting.
👉 A fine example of experiential retail, where the venue doesn’t just sell a product, but stages a genuine sensory and cultural journey around coffee.
🏛️ HR on the Champs-Élysées: when the flagship becomes a destination in its own right
The visit then continued with the new RH flagship on the Champs-Élysées, opening in September 2025. With this RH Gallery, the Californian home furnishings brand, formerly Restoration Hardware, signs a spectacular Parisian arrival in a place designed to be much more than just a store.
Installed on the site of the former Abercrombie & Fitch store, the concept impresses from the moment you enter: monumental gates, landscaped driveways, architectural staging, generous volumes… everything contributes to transforming the visit into a real experience.
On several floors, RH unfolds a hybrid universe combining furniture, decoration, interior design studio, design bookshop, bars, restaurant and rooftop overlooking Paris. The space is aimed at both private and professional customers, with a focus on tailor-made support and personalized rooms.
This flagship perfectly illustrates a strong trend in premium retail: creating spaces where people don’t just come to buy, but also to be inspired, to plan, to lunch, to stroll and to experience the brand.
👉 A fine example of where retail meets design, hospitality and the art of living.
📸 Monoprix Champs-Élysées: a concept designed for tourists, combining services, image and heritage
The visit continued at Monoprix des Champs-Élysées, a store designed above all for international customers. There’s no food to be found here: the offer focuses on fashion, decoration and beauty, in a 2,000 m² space on three levels.
The concept is based on a more premium approach, with a meticulous design, a strong visual dimension and a host of services: concierge service, click & collect, an app to avoid the need for a checkout, connected cabins, on-site touch-ups, beauty diagnostics, hotel delivery and even key storage.
Everything has been thought out to offer a fluid, practical… and very Instagrammable experience.
Another striking feature: in the basement, an impressive safe door recalls the history of the building, which once housed the headquarters of First National City Bank. An architectural relic that lends the site an unexpected depth of heritage.
👉 An interesting example of a retailer adapting its concept, services and staging to a location as strategic as the Champs-Élysées.
🐊 Lacoste Arena: a flagship designed as a field of expression
The next stop is the Lacoste Arena, at 50 avenue des Champs-Élysées, on the site of the former Gaumont cinema, in a building owned by the Seydoux family, who control the cinema giant.
Opening in 2022, this 1,600 m² flagship showcases the Lacoste universe as a bridge between sport, fashion and design. Tennis, golf, padel, training, shoes and women’s, men’s and children’s ready-to-wear make up a complete offer, true to the brand’s DNA.
The space has been designed as a true experience, with several signature areas, an immersive tunnel, an interactive sports room and on-site personalization services, which have become essential in this type of address.
👉 More than a store, Lacoste offers here a living space, where performance, elegance and innovation meet, in a format tailor-made for the Champs-Élysées.
🐊 Café Lacoste: the brand expands its lifestyle playground
The visit continued with the very first Café Lacoste, opened on avenue Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a few hundred meters from the Lacoste Arena.
With this new address, Lacoste extends its universe beyond traditional retail, by fully investing in the lifestyle and hospitality register. In a 100 sq.m. space with a strong identity – deep green, off-white, terracotta touches and tennis-inspired lines – the brand offers an experience consistent with its image.
The offer has been designed for Parisians and tourists alike: specialty coffees, creative lattes, signature drinks, pastries featuring the brand’s symbols, takeaway products and Lacoste-branded objects make up a place that is both accessible, well-groomed and highly “branded”.
👉 A good example of a brand that seeks to establish itself in its customers’ daily lives, transforming its universe into a real living space.
🚗 Le Défilé Renault: when the automobile takes center stage on the Champs-Élysées
The visit continued at the Défilé Renault, 53 Champs-Élysées, a venue designed by Franklin Azzi that marks a new stage in the brand’s staging.
Conceived as a hybrid between showroom, event venue and sales outlet, the concept features a permanent vehicle display, a central agora for conferences and broadcasts, and a full range of purchase, financing, leasing and after-sales services.
With its “carwalk” name, a nod to the fashion catwalk, Renault is asserting a clear ambition: to make the visitor’s journey a more immersive, cultural and status-enhancing experience. The site is also extended by a digital twin, allowing visitors to explore the history of the brand and its models in an interactive virtual universe.
👉 A good example of a concept in which sales partially take a back seat to scenography, events and brand experience.
🍷 Maison Nicolas: reenchanting the point of sale through conviviality
The visit concluded at Maison Nicolas, Place de la Madeleine, with a talk by General Manager Cathy Collard Geiger on the company’s transformation.
Inaugurated in 2022, this new space is much more than a traditional store. Part boutique, part premium cellar and part events space, it has been redesigned as a veritable living space: monthly evenings, tastings, meetings between managers, journalists and partners… everything is designed to embody the brand’s signature.
A clear ambition: to make Maison Nicolas a “source of conviviality”, capable of creating links around wine and moments of sharing.
This drive is part of a wider transformation plan, aimed at modernizing the brand’s image, reaffirming its premium positioning and broadening its customer base in a tense market. In particular, the brand is working on its communication platform to reconcile elegance, accessibility and regulatory constraints.
The development of alcohol-free beverages is a prime example of this desire to adapt: a quality offering, designed to support new uses and attract new consumers, without sacrificing product quality.
👉 Here, the point of sale becomes a genuine strategic lever, at the crossroads of experience, brand content and customer relations.
💡 In summary, Maison Nicolas shows how a historic retailer can reinvent itself by transforming its spaces into places of exchange, emotion and discovery.
A fine conclusion to this retail immersion, which was all about conviviality.
