EPERNAY (51) - JUNE 3, 1929, CONGRES DE LA "MAISON FELIX POT - Lot 622

EPERNAY (51) - JUNE 3, 1929, CONGRES DE LA "MAISON FELIX POTIN" ( * ) - Complete collection of 24 postcard-format photo bromides in commemorative covers, tied together with a blue silk cord - one photo at the head, trombinoscope of the 7 executive committee members, 23 other photos of regional groups taking part in the congress - Signed by photographer J. Poyet. ( * ) - FELIX POTIN - it's hard to imagine today what this brand meant to French people in the 19th and 1st half of the 20th century. A highly innovative food retailer founded in Paris in 1844 by the grocer Felix Potin, it disappeared in 1995, no longer able to compete with the new big names. 2 stores in 1864 in Paris, 60 stores in 1918 and several thousand stockists across France, 1300 own stores in 1980 - Felix Potin, with his slogan "Felix Potin on y revient", innovated in the 19th century by displaying fixed prices "bon poids, bon prix", selling more for less profit, even selling basic necessities at cost price. He eliminated wholesalers by going direct to producers, thanks to the emerging railroads. He bought farmland in the Lot et Garonne region, purchased Château Malakoff in EPERNAY to produce his own Champagne, and 100 hectares of vineyards in Montpellier and Tunisia... by 1920, he was producing 1.5 million bottles... he owned his own processing and canning plant, with 2,000 workers by 1880 - and developed mail-order sales with a catalog... For the record, in 1870, during the siege of Paris, CASTOR bought the elephant from the Jardin d' Acclimatation to slice it up for its stores and thus combat the famine caused by the blockade of Paris by Prussian troops... PRECURRENT IN COMMERCE, PRECURRENT IN ADVERTISING - Felix Potin promoted his chocolate by offering stamps, three different stamps per 500 g package - ATTACHED 3 stamps on their FELIX POTIN advertising medium.