Succursales partout en Belgique. Delhaize Le Lion: Belgium’s First Food Chain Store, its Architecture and Brand Identity, 1867–1940

Abstract

This paper explores the extent to which Delhaize Le Lion Belgium’s first and largest food chain store, exploited the semiotic potential of architecture to construct a brand identity and to ensure visibility and recognition in a modern urban context. By using photographs and building plans as primary sources, the article analyzes the store front design in order to gain insight in the social values and cultural categories that are embedded therein and the clientele at which they were aimed.