Paris terrorist attacks: many stores closed their doors this Saturday

After opening for a few hours on Saturday morning, Parisian department stores Le Printemps and Galeries Lafayette on Boulevard Haussmann, closed their doors for the rest of the day in the afternoon, as a consequence of the terror attacks that struck the French capital on Friday evening.

Other ready-to-wear and luxury stores took similar action.

At 11:30 am, Le Printemps, a department store popular among tourists, announced to the AFP - the French news agency - that it was about to close its doors.

The Galeries Lafayette group, owner of the eponymous store, as well as of the BHV department store, in the center of Paris, had also opened its doors on Saturday morning, marking its "civic engagement" and its "willingness to resist".

However, according to a press release, "the group was compelled to reconsider its position at noon today, for its Parisian stores, [...] given the difficulty to maintain service quality for customers."

The LVMH group also announced that its Parisian outlets, including Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior, as well as Sephora and Le Bon Marché, would stay closed all day.

A similar decision was made by H&M, which did not open its Parisian outlets on Staurday: "For the security of our staff and our customers, and in solidarity with the victims, we chose not to open our stores on Saturday, in Paris and its area."

Finally, Unibail Rodamco, which manages a number of malls in France, closed the Les Halles shopping centre at the heart of Paris, this time following a request from the authorities.