ABSTRACT
‘Believe you me,’ the reporter of L’Indépendance Belge exclaimed, ‘the Begum’s fortune has been eaten into quite vigorously yesterday!’ 1 ‘Yesterday’ was 14 April 1910, and the millions referred to were spent in the Rue Neuve, at the Grands Magasins Leonhard Tietz, Brussels’ latest shopping paradise. Its opening was quite the event, attended by all of Brussels and beyond. All day and night long, an immeasurable crowd swarmed the floors, marveling at what was before them.
