Managing heritage brands: A study of the sacralization of heritagestores in the luxury industry

Delphine Dion 1, Stéphane Borraz n

Sorbonne Graduate Business School, 21 rue Broca, 75005 Paris, France

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:Received 19 March 2014Received in revised form16 September 2014Accepted 21 September 2014

Keywords:Heritage brandHeritage storeLuxurySacralizationMythRitual

a b s t r a c t

We investigate the concept of the heritage store, that is, the locations that lies at the heart of a brand'sidentity and history. Based on store observations and interviews with managers and sales personnel inthe luxury industry, we analyze the characteristics of heritage stores and their role in the management ofheritage brands. We show how managers sacralize a store's heritage to nurture the value proposition ofthe brand. Our analysis yields new insights into retailing, introducing the concept of the heritage storeand emphasizing its sacralizalization. We outline the implications for retail marketing in developing andmaintaining the sacralization of heritage stores.

& 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Gray walls, Louis XVI armchairs and Haussmannian moldings...In the heart of Shanghai, the magic of 30 Avenue Montaignewas there to greet the silhouettes of Raf Simons’ spring-summer haute couture designs for Dior.”2

As described in the opening quote, the store of Dior on theAvenue Montaigne in Paris features several iconic elements thatare reproduced in commercials, retail outlets, and fashion shows.The Dior store on the Avenue Montaigne in Paris features severaliconic elements that are reproduced in commercials, retail outlets,and fashion shows. In the vein of literature on heritage brands(Urde et al., 2007), we refer to this kind of location as a heritagestore, that is, a location that lies at the heart of a brand’s identityand history. We argue that heritage stores are key in the manage-ment of heritage brands.

Heritage brands emphasize their history as a key component oftheir brand identity. They are not brands with a heritage but“heritage brands,” heritage being part of a brand's value propositionand identity (Urde et al., 2007). From this perspective, heritagebrands nurture, maintain, and protect their heritage to generatestronger corporate marketing (Urde et al., 2007; Fionda and Moore,2009). In this article we explore the characteristics of heritagestores and their role in the management of heritage brands.

Our empirical setting is the luxury industry. Drawing on inter-views with professionals and observations conducted online and instores, we analyze the characteristics of heritage stores and theirrole in the management of heritage brands. We show how man-agers sacralize store heritage to nurture the value proposition of thebrand. Similarly to sacralization in a religious context, the sacraliza-tion of heritage brands is institutionalized through a set of mythicalnarratives, ritual practices, and symbolic boundaries (Wunenburger,1981). This study contributes to the literature on heritage brands byintroducing the concept of the heritage store and analyzing howcompanies sacralize these stores to nurture their heritage. We alsooutline the implications for retail marketing in developing andmaintaining the sacralization of heritage stores.

1. Theoretical background

To begin to study the management of heritage stores, wepresent our understanding of key constructs, e.g. heritage brandand sacralization.

1.1. Heritage brands

Aaker (1996) mentioned heritage as a component of brand equitybut the concept has been developed more recently and nowconstitutes a distinct conceptual category (Hudson, 2013). Heritagebrands make their heritage part of a brand's value proposition andidentity (Clais, 2002; Dion and de Boissieu, 2013; Urde et al., 2007).Their heritage holds value for the customer and other stakeholders,distinguishes the brand, is difficult for competitors to imitate, and

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Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2014.09.0050969-6989/& 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

n Corresponding author. Tel.:þ33 6 62 49 88 81.E-mail addresses: delphinedion@orange.fr (D. Dion),

stephane.borraz@gmail.com (S. Borraz).1 Tel.: þ33 6 64 63 56 44.2 http://www.dior.com/magazine/be_fr/content/view/full/7036 (accessed 13.02.14.).

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 22 (2015) 77–84

therefore leads to brand equity (Keller and Richey, 2006). Brandheritage adds sincerity and differentiation (Merchant and Rose,2013), brings authenticity (Fionda and Moore, 2009; Kapferer andBastien, 2008), and reduces purchasing risk (Steewart-Allen, 2002).

Heritage brands nurture, maintain, and protect their heritage,principally to generate stronger corporate marketing (Urde et al.,2007). From this perspective, we study heritage stores, that is, thelocations at the heart of a brand's identity and history. Theseheritage stores have a special aura. They are more than flagshipstores (Dion and Arnould, 2011; Joy et al., 2014; Kozinets et al.,2002) or brand museums (Borghini et al., 2009) because they arepart of a brand's heritage. We argue that managers sacralizeheritage stores—treat them as sacred places—to cherish andreinforce a brand's heritage.

1.2. The sacred

Studies have shown the development of the sacred in contextsother than religion, including politics (Rivière, 1994), music(Ménard, 2001) and consumption (Belk et al., 1989). Researchershave studied sacred experiences and practices of sacralization inbrand relationships (Khalla, 2007) and brand communities (Schauet al., 2009; Schouten et al., 2007; Chalmers and Arthur, 2008;O'Sullivan et al., 2011). Authors have also focused on the sacraliza-tion of secular objects (Belk et al., 1989; Curasi et al., 2004; Robert-Demontrond et al., 2007; Fernandez, 2008; Hirschman et al., 2012;Rinallo et al., 2013) and rituals of consumption (Rook, 1985). Otherstudies have investigated the use of religious objects such ascrucifixes (Higgins and Hamilton, 2011), rosaries (Rinallo et al.,2013), and religious places like cathedrals (Shackley, 2002) andcemeteries (Toussaint and Decrop, 2013). They analyze howconsumers sacralize and desacralize both secular and religiousobjects and show that the frontier between profane and sacredmeaning has become increasingly blurred (Arnould and Price,2004). In contrast to prior research, we study sacralization frommarketing rather than the consumer perspective. We exploremarketing practices used to sacralize heritage stores.

A sacred place is a key place associated with the identity of asocial group. It holds a legitimate power in relation to the originof things (Laburthe-Tolra and Warnier, 2003). We argue thatin a similar way, heritage stores lie at the heart of the identityand history of heritage brands. Similar to sacralization in areligious context (Turner, 1967, 1969; Wunenburger, 1981), thesacred is institutionalized through a set of myths, rituals, andprohibitions.

2. Methodology

We focus on the luxury industry to understand the manage-ment of heritage brands (Clais, 2002; Kapferer and Bastien, 2008)because it is an “extreme case” (Eisenhardt, 1989). Heritage iscrucial for many luxury brands, as it brings an element ofauthenticity and uniqueness (Clais, 2002; Fionda and Moore,2009). These brands emphasize their history as a key componentof their brand identity (Kapferer and Bastien, 2008; Lipovetsky andRoux, 2003).

To analyze heritage stores, we adopted an inductive approach,an emergent and interactive research process rooted in ongoingengagement with the field of retail action (Glaser and Strauss,1967; Hudson and Ozanne, 1988). Our analysis is built on con-tinuous comparisons between the data collected through fieldobservations and interviews with experts, inductive analysis ofdata, and the scrutiny of these data through a number ofconceptual lenses (Glaser and Strauss, 1967). Since we do notstudy consumers' experiences and perceptions but the way firms

manage heritage stores, we based our empirical study on storeobservations and expert interviews.

The data collection began with the observation of 45 luxurystores in Paris, selected by location: we visited all the luxuryfashion and jewelry stores located in the Triangle d'Or, the historicheadquarters for luxury shopping outlets in Paris bordered by theChamps Elysées and the Avenues George V and Montaigne. Thereis a wide variety among the stores visited in terms of brand range,history, and parent company. The length of each visit varied from15 to 45 min depending on the size of the store. Systematicobservations were carried out using an observational grid. Thisremained semi-open, allowing us to add unexpected items andcategories that appeared during the observation period (Peretz,2007). The grid was organized around three dimensions: thesubstantive staging of the point of sale (design, materials used,decorative elements, music, fragrances, lighting, colors, and streetfrontage); evaluation of the point of sale (inductive appreciation ofthe atmosphere and retail design elements); and the impressionsmade by the store and personnel (Arnould et al., 1998; Baker et al.,2002). The grid was semi-open in the sense that we did not havepredefined modalities. That is, we did not have a precise list ofelements to check when describing a street frontage, for example.We had to describe such features in a more precise way. Weanalyzed notes taken in the field using a categorization process(Dion, 2007). We established several store categorizations (e.g., bybrand, country of origin, street, parent company, store design style,artistic director, etc.).We subsequently interviewed 17 experts inluxury retail. Our goal was to obtain different perspectives onheritage stores by interviewing people in marketing and retailingdepartments. Our informants worked or had worked in a variety ofpositions (general management, sales, marketing, merchandising,architecture, and innovation) in the following luxury firms:Boucheron, Cartier, Christofle, Van Cleef and Arpels (jewelry);Dior, Chanel, Ferragamo, Hermès, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Louboutin,Moynat (fashion and haute couture); and Printemps Haussmann,Galeries Lafayette Haussmann (elite department stores). All ourinformants were French. However, most of them worked oninternational issues and had worked in other countries, mainlyChina and Japan.

The interviews were non-directive and organized around thetheme of luxury stores. In order to avoid prompting informants,we did not mention issues of heritage or sacralization in theinterviews. We let informants talk spontaneously about luxuryshops, beginning with “grand tour” questions about participants'professional backgrounds (McCracken, 1988). The interviewslasted between 45 min and 2.5 h. We transcribed and codedinterviews using open coding. These qualitative data were theninterpreted using a hermeneutic approach (Thompson, 1997); wecontinuously revised our provisional coding through an interativeprocess of analyzing transcripts of the verbatim interviews andrelating them to our emerging theorical understanding of ourinterviewees' observations (emic meanings) and our own (eticcategories) (Thompson and Arsel, 2004).

After having identified our initial findings, we returned to the fieldto conduct further analysis (Arnould and Wallendorf, 1994). This datacollection concentrated on four heritage stores: Chanel Rue Cambon,Dior Avenue Montaigne, Cartier Rue de la Paix and Boucheron PlaceVendôme. It is a common outcome of the iterative research process tohighlight in-depth analyses of a small number of representative cases(e.g., Borghini et al., 2009; Kozinets et al. 2002). We selected these fourstores because they appeared to best exemplify our theory. Similarly toa floating observation, we conducted extensive online research andcollected press articles, blogs and comments on these four locations.Our goal was to identify instances of sacralization at work andtriangulate our store observation and interview data with the on-line data (Kozinets, 2002). The aim of our online research was to

D. Dion, S. Borraz / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 22 (2015) 77–8478

identify the way these four heritage stores are staged on websites.We downloaded web pages where these four locations were men-tioned. We also collected the annual reports of the three mainconglomerates in the luxury industry (LVMH, Kiering, and Richmond).We observed the way companies refer to their heritage stores in theseofficial documents. We analyzed the documents collected using theinterpretative frames provided by our informants (Schroeder, 2002)and our theoretical lens. We tried to identify elements that wereconsistent and inconsistent and those that we could not understandfrom our first analysis (Dion et al., 2014).

We ended the data collection by visiting 37 luxury stores inShanghai, located in the city's most important luxury shoppingcenters (Hong Kong Plaza and Plaza 66). Our goal was to identifyconnections with heritage stores. We wanted to see how heritagestores are staged in other stores. This new round of data collection,combined with a fresh literature review, allowed us to propose arefined theoretical analysis.

3. Results

First, we highlight the characteristics of heritage stores andtheir role in the management of heritage brand. Then, we analyzethe sacralization of heritage stores.

3.1. Heritage stores

All our informants spontaneously evoked the importance ofheritage in the luxury industry and all talked about the brands'historic stores, which we call heritage stores. They explained thatthese locations have a specific aura:

“The store on Avenue Montaigne is really an integral part of theDior myth because Christian Dior was there. The first fashionshows were there; everything came from there. You can see theentire collection there, even the most extravagant pieces. It's amythical place… It is as if you were at M. Dior's tomb. So thesestores keep the traces of something that has gone, but morethan that they embody the brand, since you see the fullcommercial range there. So I think these shops have a superspecial status… for sure.” (Claude, marketing)

Claude describes Dior's heritage store as a mythical location.She stresses the legendary dimension of the place and the way itembeds the history and the identity of the brand. The historicdimension of the store creates a special aura. Similarly, manybrands present their heritage store as a legendary or a mythiclocation (online observations).

In Paris, many heritage stores combine history and savoir-fairewhich are part of the brand heritage because most are linked tohaute-couture or haute-joaillerie (high-jewelry) workshops. Thisproximity with the workshops reinforces the aura of heritagestores. For instance, the Chanel store on Rue Cambon is locatedabove the haute-couture workshops directed by Karl Lagerfeld andCoco Chanel's apartment, so it is at the heart of both the historyand the know-how of the brand. This close relationship issymbolized in many different ways in the store. At one end, animposing staircase allows access to the haute-couture workshopsand Coco Chanel's apartment where she used to sit to observewhat was going on in the store. This emblematic staircase is usedin many commercials and videos. Coco Chanel's portrait hangs atthe end of the hall (field notes). Thus, heritage stores in Paris havea double dimension that situates them at the heart of the historyand identity of the brand.

The aura of heritage stores is so strong that informants qualifythem as legendary, mythic, and even sacred. For instance, describ-ing Louboutin's heritage store, a Vogue journalist talked about the

“Holy of Holies” of the brand [“le coeur du sacré de la marque”].3 Inthe next section, we analyze the sacralization process of theseheritage stores in more detail.

3.2. Sacralization of heritage stores

Similarly to sacralization in religious context, the sacred is institu-tionalized through myths, rituals, and prohibitions (Wunenburger,1981).

3.2.1. MythsMyths grow out of the founding narratives transmitted by

members of a society from generation to generation, since timeimmemorial (Bell, 1992, 1997). Myths are an attempt to makesense of our origins, existence, and future. Thus, these narratives“provide models of human behavior and give meaning and valueto life” (Eliade, 1963, p. 12). Luxury brands create many myths,more specifically around the places that are at the heart of theiridentity and history. We observed several ways in which theheritage of these locations is enhanced. We also analyzed theway brands identify key iconic features of their heritage stores thatare diffused in their collections, communications, and other out-lets (de Lassus and Anido Freire, 2014). Through this process,brands mythify their heritage stores.

First, the store is a stage for a brand's heritage and bears thefootprint of the founder. In most heritage stores, we observed portraitsof the founder hung in prominent positions (Fig. 1) and displays of thefounder's possessions. For instance, in the Cartier store on the Rue dela Paix, a room called “Louis Cartier's office” is decorated with hispersonal belongings (field notes). The Cartier store is a recreation ofwhat the building looked like when Louis Cartier moved there at theend of the 19th century (Fig. 1). The architects immersed themselvesin the archives of the house to realize the perfect store that LouisCartier had dreamed of. Thus, in these heritage stores there is awillingness to focus on the early stage of the brand. The aura of thefounder pervades the building as if he/she were still there.

Second, brands reinforce the aura of their heritage store bycreating collections and naming products that refer to its location.For instance, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the brand,Cartier created “13,” an exclusive collection of watches and jewelryinspired by the symbolism of the store and referring directly itsaddress: 13 Rue de la Paix. Some fragrances do the same, like 24Faubourg by Hermès and Le Dix [10] by Balenciaga. Chaumetcreated a collection of 12 sets of fine jewelry referencing thecompany's historic address, 12 Place Vendôme:

“This is where the Maison's private mansion and its historicsalons, its museum, its workshop and creative studio are located;where the Maison's heart and soul resides, ever since its foundingin 1780. (…) Chaumet presents its high-jewelry collection, 12Vendôme. Twelve jewelry sets, combining French classicism andmodernity, embody the style, the creativity and the jewelryexcellence of 12 Place Vendôme.” (Chaumet website)4

Chaumet presents this collection of 12 exceptional pieces as atribute to the heritage store of the brand, which is described as thebrand's heart and the soul. This is staged in the video that presentsthe collection.5 It begins with views of Place Vendôme, then wefollow the camera up the grand staircase to the workshops. In thedistance, we can see the Vendôme obelisk through a window. Thevideo features the skills of the jewelers: production sketches,

3 http://eu.christianlouboutin.com/fr_fr/loubi-world/video.html (accessed 13.02.14.).4 http://www.chaumet.com/chaumet-news/biennale-des-antiquaires-

announcement5 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3612KTDUY9Q

D. Dion, S. Borraz / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 22 (2015) 77–84 79

selection of stones, setting, polishing, etc. It ends with images ofPlace Vendôme, accompanied by music by Chopin, who composedseveral pieces in the house (online observation). Through thesehigh-jewelry collection, the brand demonstates its know-how andthe richness of its heritage.

Third, brands diffuse key features of their heritage store in theircollections, communications, and other outlets. For instance, theDior gray, that dominates the store on Avenue Montaigne wascreated by Christian Dior and has become the brand's iconic color:

“In 1946, when Christian Dior handed the task of decorating hisboutique to Victor Grandpierre, both men were of the samemind when it came to imagining a décor that was chic, soberand pure – the perfect foil for the house's future fashion shows.And gray was the ideal color for this neo-Louis XVI style, as itwould set off Monsieur Dior's strikingly colored couture todramatic effect. Gray, for the couturier, was “the most practicaland most elegant of neutral colors.” (…) today, gray's classicelegance and inimitable chic are to be found on the house'sbags, shoes and make-up palettes. Conceived by the brush ofTyen, the creative director of Dior Make-Up, gray comes withnames like “chrome”, “chic jean” and “argentic”, making itsway to that final frontier – one's own skin.” (Dior.com)6

This architectural feature of Dior's first store became an iconicfeature of the whole brand. The color is used in Dior's other outlets,its commercials, and its products. Dior gray is so emblematic that ithas become a specific color on many commercial paint palettes.People talk about Dior gray in the same way as they talk about Kleinblue, a reference to the painter's famous monochrome canvases.Other architectural elements of the Avenue Montaigne store arereproduced in other Dior outlets (Fig. 2). These images of Dior storesin Shanghai show how the Haussmann style of the heritage store isreproduced and the use of Dior gray. Inside the store are severalLouis XVI armchairs, again features of the Avenue Montaigne store,while on the stairs, a video installation by Oyoram dramatizes allthe mythic tales associated with the brand: Paris, Christian Dior,iconic pieces, the store on Avenue Montaigne, and so on.

In sum, brands stage their heritage stores to reinforce their auraand therefore their heritage. They identify key iconic features oftheir heritage store that they diffuse in their collections, commu-nications and other outlets. In the next section, we will examinerituals, the second practice of the institutionalization of the sacred.

3.2.2. RitualsMauss (1950) defined a ritual as the set of rules that prescribe

how people should behave with sacred things. Rituals go far

beyond narratives, in so far as they signify the operationalizationof the sacred. The concept of ritual has been extended to areasother than the sacrosanct—consumption, in particular—but not sofar as to assimilate the ritual into a routine process. These ritualsare often rites of passage, ensuring smooth transitions, andestablishing status and prestige by allowing us to remember andbelong (Gennep, 1907; Lardelier, 2005). Rituals are conducted inresponse to certain situations and the combination of rituals formsa system (Bonté and Izard, 1991). Two broad categories of ritualhave been defined: large collective celebrations and personal/interpersonal micro-rituals (Lardelier, 2005). Both these formsare important in the sacralization of luxury stores.

The haute-couture fashion shows are undoubtedly the mostimportant collective rituals in the luxury industry and represent amajor symbolic event for the brands (Dion and Arnould, 2011).Iconic features of heritage stores are often reproduced in fashionshows. For the 2009 Paris fashion show at the Grand Palais, Chanelmodels walked a catwalk with a backdrop of the Rue Cambon shopfront, Chanel's heritage store. The following year, the show wasorganized around a giant sculpture of a lion, a reproduction of abronze in Coco Chanel's apartment (Fig. 3).

A visit to a heritage store is marked by a series of rituals, whichare more individual and provide a symbolic timeframe. At Chaumet:

“We need to keep the ‘jewel box’ spirit of the Place Vendôme.Luxury stores should maintain these luxury codes, but these arealmost more intimate than elitist codes. Their status of ‘jewelbox’ stores gives them a magic aura. There are not many peoplein these stores. They are fairly quiet stores, there is a littlemusic and everything … the carpet is super soft. You feel likeyou are a nuisance and you're going to tarnish the place.[Laughs]. You're a little impressed by the windows in whichyou have pretty amazing stuff. If you want something, you haveto ask, you need a tray, a pair of gloves… That's the way it is…You can't walk just anywhere, you have to take care. And thenyou feel invaded and overwhelmed by the etiquette, thechandeliers, they are all flickering. But it's like a museum, youcan't run, you can't talk too loudly, there is a respect in thepresence of works of art.” (Sylvie, marketing)

As Sylvie explains, rituals are important and essential to drawclients into the magic of luxury in heritage stores.

In sum, both forms of rituals are important in the sacralizationof heritage stores. Collective rituals integrate elements of heritagestore and thus enhance their aura. Individual rituals draw clientsinto the magic of luxury. Finally the last element of the sacraliza-tion is based on prohibitions within heritage stores that reinforcethe aura of the brand.

Fig. 1. Memories of the founder: the Dior heritage store on Avenue Montaigne (left) and the Cartier heritage store on the Rue de la Paix (right).

6 http://www.dior.com/magazine/en_gb/News/Gray (accessed 15.09.14.).

D. Dion, S. Borraz / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 22 (2015) 77–8480

3.2.3. ProhibitionsIn heritage stores, some areas are not freely accessible to the

public. Customers cannot penetrate the heart of the sacred place, thatis, the haute-couture or high-jewelry workshops. At Chanel, thisprohibition is reinforced by the presence of a guard who monitorsaccess to the workshops and Coco Chanel's apartment upstairs (fieldnotes). No doubt there are practical and strategic reasons for this butmore fundamentally this prohibition has a very important symbolicsignificance: we cannot have access to sacred places and objects.Etymologically, sacred means separated, isolated (Laburthe-Tolra andWarnier, 2003). Durkheim (1915) notes that sacred things areprotected and isolated by several prohibitions. Similarly, in a Catholicchurch, we cannot have access to the tabernacle: it is a place reservedfor the servants of God. Prohibitions preserve the magic thatsurrounds sacred places (Wunenburger, 1981).

However, some brands open these sacred places under certainconditions and organize visits. For example, Chanel VIP buyers aresometimes invited to visit Coco Chanel's apartment. These visitsare part of a ritual staging of the holiness of a place. For instance,here is an account by Alix in her blog The Cherry blossom girl of hervisit to Coco Chanel's apartment after the release of the CocoCocoon collection:7

“Coco Chanel's apartment at 31 Rue Cambon may be very wellguarded but I was granted the amazing privilege of passingthrough the front door. This awe-inspiring home is filled withtrinkets, Chinese art, various vintage furniture, a lot of gold, andeven camel statuettes! … The atmosphere was so warm and cozythat I really felt as if I was in my own home, and could almostenvision myself settling down on the couch (all which did nothappen, of course… That would have been sacrilegious!)”

Alix reveals her sense of extreme privilege at visiting CocoChanel's apartment. She also conveys the sense of sacredness theplace invoked, explaining that it would have been “sacrilegious” tosit on the couch.

In the same spirit, LVMH opens its workshops to the public onselected “Journées Particulières” (“special days”). As LVMH explainson its website, visitors are taken “behind the scenes of the dream”

and given access to the know-how of the brand. It “pays tribute tothose who create excellence and dream.”8 Marc points out thatthese special days allow the public to enter “the heart of the magic”:

“LVMH Journées Particulières are important. They are rathersimilar to Heritage Days. Visitors are allowed to go behind thescenes… In fact it is not at all like ‘I will show you what happensbackstage.’ That's what is very interesting in luxury: when yougo backstage, the dream doesn't collapse. It's not like in Disney-land and the Walt Disney Studio, a second park entitled ‘Back-stage Magic’ with warehouses, tips, and stuff… And that parkdidn't work because people wanted to dream and they weretaken to a place where you do not dream. But here, behind thescenes, people dream because we take them to the heart of themagic, to the heart of creation; we show them how the productsare made and where. So obviously they do not see everythingbecause not everything is staged. We do not show them secrets,but they really approach the heart. And it's funny, this concept of‘I will take you backstage,’ because in fact even if it is behind thescenes, it's even more magical for people because they are wherethe creation process takes place. So that's what is interestingwith these Journées Particulières. And speaking of places, I thinkit's also as impressive in terms of the luxury experience as abeautiful shop is.” (Marc, sales and marketing)

Fig. 2. Iconic features of Dior's Avenue Montaigne heritage store reproduced at Plaza 66 in Shanghai.

Fig. 3. Iconic features of the Chanel heritage store reproduced at the Paris fashion shows in 2009 (left) and 2010 (right).

7 http://www.thecherryblossomgirl.com/chez-coco-chanel/10671/ (accessed13.02.14.).

8 http://www.dior.com/magazine/fr_fr/News/Les-journees-particulieres(accessed 08.07.13.).

D. Dion, S. Borraz / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 22 (2015) 77–84 81

We can draw a parallel between these “special days” and theCatholic practice of removing relics or statues from their sacredplaces and processing them through towns and villages. Theserituals connect secular and public spheres with the sacred. TheJournées Particulières, rather than being the passage of the sacredthrough the secular world, represent a profane intrusion into sacredterritory. This meeting of the sacred and profane is accompanied byits own set of rituals and prohibitions. As emphasized by the nameof the event, this event allows customers to “go behind the scenesof the dream” and so maintain its sacralization. As Marc explains, itmakes the products more magical.

In sum, prohibitions protect the magic of these locations. Bylimiting and organizing the access to the heart of the store, theyreinforce their aura.

4. Discussion

In this analysis, we investigate the concept of the heritagestore. We analyze the characteristics of heritage stores and theirrole in the management of heritage brands. We show howmanagers sacralize heritage stores to nurture the value proposi-tion of the brand. This analysis of heritage stores gives newinsights into retailing and provides another response to thelegitimacy crisis of luxury goods after the strategic extensions ofluxury brands into mass marketing: the charismatic persona of thecreative director (Dion and Arnould, 2011) and heritage stores areboth specific attributes of luxury goods that can be grown andmanaged carefully.

4.1. Heritage stores

We define heritage stores as locations that lie at the heart of abrand's identity and history. Our findings show that heritagestores are key in the management of heritage brands. Heritagestores are different from other places where the history of thebrand is staged, such as flagship stores (Kozinets, 2002) or brandmuseums (Hollenbeck et al., 2008) because they are part of theheritage of the brand.

Our research shows that luxury brands use sacred codes tosacralize these locations. Similar to sacralization in a religious context,the sacred is institutionalized through a set of myths, rituals, andprohibitions. Through these practices, brands embed their heritagestore at the heart of their brand myths and rituals. Our informantsdescribe the heritage store as the place from which everythingoriginates, a message confirmed by the brands themselves in a varietyof ways. As LVMH puts it, heritage stores are the epicenter of a brand.

This echoes Eliade (1959) definition of the sacred as an absolutereference point, an axis mundi, the “center of the world.”

4.2. Managerial contributions to creating sacred places

The sacralization process begins with an analysis of theheritage locations: original store, emblematic store, or specialplaces related to the life of the founder (Table 1). For instance,Dior concentrates on two places: Christian Dior's first store on theAvenue Montaigne with the haute-couture workstores on the firstfloor, and his house in Normandy. However, not all brands havehistorical and mythological anchors in a place where they canembed their heritage and implement a process of sacralization. Wesuggest that these brands should seek integration with mythicalplaces, even if they are not related to brand myths. It is possible toroot the brand in a mythology associated with other places (adistrict, city, region or country) or past celebrities. For instance,Van Cleef & Arpels created a high jewelry collection called “744Fifth” as “a reminder of Van Cleef & Arpels’ mythical New Yorkaddress on Fifth Avenue. As a homage to women's grace andelegance, they named each piece of the collection after famousheroines: Isabella, Tess, Eliza….”9 Here, Van Cleef & Arpels buildson its heritage at two different symbolic levels: the history andheritage of the location and celebrities from the 1950s.

Once the key places are selected, brand managers can proceedto a deep analysis to select features that can be embedded in themythic storytelling of the brand (Table 1). For instance, Dior tookthe Louis XVI armchair, the Haussmannian molding and the grayfrom the Avenue Montaigne, and the rose from Christian Dior'shouse in Normandy. All have become iconic features of the brand.Managers can also retrieve secondary features; even though theyare not key features, they can help enrich the myths—forexample, the lion sculpture from Coco Chanel's private apart-ment. Finally, myths about these sacred places are disseminatedto the other stores and throughout brand communications. Thesymbols and main characteristics of the historic Dior store, forinstance, are used on communications about all the other Diorstores: the Dior gray and the Louis XVI armchair are nowsignatures of the brand. This process strengthens the power ofbrand myths.

Brand managers have to locate the heritage store in thecollective and interpersonal rituals of the brand. The haute-couture shows are major collective rituals in the luxury industryand brands frequently refer to the heritage store or other signaturesymbols in the staging of these shows, as we saw with Chanel's

Table 1The sacralization of heritage locations.

Places Places related to the history of the brand:� brand historic places: founder's home, original store, emblematic store� creation places: workshops, creative desksOther places where managers can anchor the brand in the myth of the location

Myths Features embedded in the brand's mythology:� architecture and decoration� events that took place in the locationIdentification of the iconic feature of the location and diffusion through the collections and other outlets

Rituals Staging the heritage store in collective rituals (e.g. fashion shows)Interpersonal rituals in the store: reminders of the historic/emblematic features of the store in the sales pitches; reminders of the proximity withworkshops

Prohibitions Publicly accessible and restricted spacesConditions of accessibility to restricted spaces: for whom, when, and according which rituals

9 https://www.richemont.com/annualreport/2010/html/9.html (accessed 03.07.14.).

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presentations at the 2009 and 2010 Paris fashion shows. Inter-personal rituals also involve the heritage location. For instance,salespeople stress the proximity with the creative workshops, andthe emblematic decorative features of the place, etc. In theseheritage stores, they have more opportunities to emphasize thesale ritual than in other brand outlets.

Finally, it is important to define accessibility to preserve themystery that is part of the sacred aura (Table 1). Brand managershave to specify areas that are inaccessible to public and manageconditions of access to them: who will be authorized, on whatconditions, at which times or periods, and according to whichritual.

4.3. Avenues for future research

Future research could explore practices of sacralization in moredetail. This might include investigating how brands can also buildon a place without any symbolic or historical significance. Oneexample is Prada's current strategy. Each store is designed to be anepicenter (Prada Epicenter is in fact the name of the stores in NewYork and Tokyo) and provides the opportunity to develop a uniquestore concept. Since the Prada flagship store opened in New Yorkin 2001, each outlet is now conceived as a large-scale architecturalproject employing star architects. The race for originality, and theimportance of architectural budgets managed by the brand, allowsthe realization of increasingly atypical concepts, which are com-mercially very attractive and become the brand's new sacredplaces. Prada has created a pilgrimage circuit across the planetwith four key places: its stores in Milan, Tokyo, New York, and LosAngeles. Future research could explore this mode of sacralizationand investigate how brands integrate these locations into theirown myths. It would also be interesting to understand how brandsembed the figure of the architect within their mythology.

Our findings analyze the management of heritage stores. Futureresearch could study how consumers experience these places andthe impact of their experience on luxury consumption. This wouldallow us to figure out more clearly the state of liminality thatdistances the shopping experience from everyday experiences andhow consumers navigate different layers of ambiguity. Further, thesacralization process requires consumers to behave in a certainway in heritage stores; this is visible in customers' behavioralchanges (not running, speaking quietly, respecting forbiddenzones, etc.). In this way, luxury brands exert a form of power overthe client (Cervellon, 2013; Kapferer and Bastien, 2008). Therefore,future research could study how consumers experience theseconstraints and forms of domination. Some retail places createemotional attachment with their consumers in a variety of ways,including familiarity, authenticity, homeliness, informality,behind-the-scenes access, confidentiality, and activities knownonly to a small group (Debenedetti et al., 2014; Visconti, 2008).In luxury stores, we did not notice any feelings of homeliness orfamiliarity. In contrast, we noticed the opposite: behind-the-scenes access is denied except for extraordinary events, access todifferent areas of the store is controlled, and customers changetheir behavior when entering the store. Future research couldexplore the specific nature of attachment to these places.

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