A woman's paradise on earth became the department store in 1838 in Paris. The department store became a refuge where wealthy middle-class women and middle-class people could spend their free time and feel safe, much like in church. This also became an expansion of the female sphere, both in her professional and public life. But since the construction of the department store, a burning question has arisen: why would Parisian women feel safe in department stores? Why would lower middle class girls work in department stores where the hours were long and the pay was minimal? Department stores changed the way women were perceived both in society and among themselves, as they became "modern women" rather than "traditional women" as before. In his novel Le Paradis des Dames d'Emile Zola published in 1883, Zola said that the department store was "a giant fairground exhibition, as if the store burst and threw its surplus into the street" (Zola and Nelson 5). The department store in Zola's novel was based on Le Bon Marché, founded by Aristide Boucicaut in 1838 and became the most famous department store in Paris. In 1852, Le Bon Marché or “the good market” offered under one roof a wide variety of products sold at fixed prices, with low markups and an exchange and refund guarantee. The department store was known for selling products at affordable prices. fixed prices and even store employees received a "percentage on the smallest piece of fabric, the smallest item they sold: a system which had brought about a revolution in the drapery trade by creating among the employees a struggle for survival from which employers reaped the benefits” (Zola and Nelson 35). The managers...... middle of paper ......e consumed everything in their path, this also sparked a revolution among women in Paris. Women began to see themselves as queens in a kingdom that catered only to them – a kingdom of cheap goods. Parisians were seduced by the department stores and this launched a new wave on the population both for costume designers and for the young girls who worked in the department stores. Women began to become more modern, which would launch stores into the future, where there would be a department store in every city in the world that would cater to people of all classes and genders. The department store “burned like a beacon, it alone seemed to be the light and the life of the city” according to Zola in his novel (Zola and Nelson 28). Works Cited Zola, Emile and Brian Nelson. Ladies' Paradise. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc., 1995. Print.