In 1852, an unprecedented sales system began in Paris. The newly opened dep artment stores offered fixed prices, free entry, and the option to return or exchange goods on dissatisfaction--all convenient conditions for the consumer. Like Japan in the old days, Parisian shops had traditionally been high-handed, making it difficult for someone to enter and browse without definite intentions to buy something particular. Before the advent of the department store, covered-roof arcade malls were quite popular for shoppers, especially on rainy days. Nevertheless, you were expected to buy something if you entered a store. A small hat and clothes shop of 30 square meters and annual turnover of 450,000 francstransformed into a department store with an annual turnover of 21 million francs and area of 25,000 square meters over 30 years of business by the Boucicaut couple. The name of the store Au Bon Marché means "warehouse of cheap prices"--indeed the idea was a large-scale store seeking small profit margin on a large sales volume. People were now able to browse through the shop; they didn't have to negotiate prices; they could take their time looking at the merchandise; if they changed their minds after purchasing, they could always exchange it with something else or get their money back. For the growing Parisian middle class, this was exactly the shopping paradise they were waiting for. After "Bon Marché" followed "Le Louvre" and "La Belle JardiniÅre," each department store trying hard to please the shoppers with fashionable Art Nouveau decorations, boutiques, elevators, elaborate well-hole style entrance halls. The department stores were successful in creating a social gathering place for the common people. Champion of the Industrial Revolution and forerunner in World Expos, Great Britain set an example for the Paris Exposition, which attempted to change the life-style of modern society with an industry and science flavored in the arts and crafts. Products exhibited at the Expo were found in the department store windows, and thus began the unprecedented mass-consumer age. The department store was indeed an important palace of entertainment for the people in the year 1900.