It’s no secret that retail has been under a barrage from digital fulfillment. One of the ways to combat that trend has been to turn shopping into an experience. It turns out that art has become a tool for creating exciting and attractive places that lure shoppers. Turns out that this trend has a long history.

The New York Times explains:

The focus on art is part of the change in retail and the continuing move to digital transactions. “The product isn’t enough now, it’s the experience,” said Rob Ronen, an owner of Material Good, a watch and jewelry store in SoHo that displays art including work from Damian Hirst, Andy Warhol’s Brillo boxes and Marilyn Minter’s color-drenched prints. “Because if the shop is just about the product people go online.” […]

Art historically has a strong track record drawing people into stores. Take the Paris department store Bon Marché, which became the fashionable place to be in 1875 when it opened an art gallery, showing works by artists rejected from the Salons, the official art exhibitions of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

In 1935 Elsa Schiaparelli filled her Place Vendôme boutique with works given to her by equally anti-establishment artist friends like the Surrealist Salvador Dalí. The work helped her woo clients like Mae West and Wallis Simpson and allowed her to create an edgy reputation that helped sell her work

Have Some Art With Your Handbag (The New York Times)