page_title: Marie-Louise Jaÿ
hierarchical_section_title: Marie-Louise Jaÿ
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Détail du portrait en pied de Marie-Louise Jay, 1903, huile sur toile par Jeanne-Madeleine Favier (1863-1904) - Musée Cognac-Jay, Paris - acquis en 1988, inv. n°188/6
context_page_description: Marie-Louise Jaÿ was a French businesswoman who started work as a shop girl.
  With her husband Ernest Cognacq she created the La Samaritaine store in Paris, which grew into a chain of large department stores.
  Innovations included good lighting, clearly marked fixed prices, and allowing customers to pick out their own clothes and try them on before buying.
  The couple were active in philanthropic work, and gave out bonuses for large families during the population crisis that followed World War I.
context_section_description: Marie-Louise Jaÿ (1 July 1838 – 27 December 1925) was a French businesswoman who started work as a shop girl. 
  With her husband Ernest Cognacq she created the La Samaritaine store in Paris, which grew into a chain of large department stores.
  Innovations included good lighting, clearly marked fixed prices, and allowing customers to pick out their own clothes and try them on before buying.
  The couple were active in philanthropic work, and gave out bonuses for large families during the population crisis that followed World War I (1914–18).
caption: Marie-Louise Jay in 1903 by Jeanne-Madeleine Favier (1863–1904)
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