French photographer Franck Delautre has spent over a decade cycling across France to capture the forgotten storefronts and abandoned shop windows that tell the story of a bygone era. Since 2014, Delautre has been documenting what he calls "orphaned windows" - the last remaining traces of small neighborhood businesses that once formed the backbone of French towns and villages.
Delautre has now published his extensive work in a book titled "Vitrines orphelines : le rideau est tombé" (Orphaned Windows: The Curtain Has Fallen), which features 360 photographs collected during his bicycle journeys throughout France. The book serves as both an artistic documentation and a preservation effort for what the photographer considers fragile cultural heritage.
One of the striking images in the collection shows an old hardware store in Franconville, located in Val-d'Oise in the Paris region. The shop's facade features distinctive green and beige mosaic tiles that stand out dramatically against the gray street surroundings. The ceramic tiles still display faded text reading "vernis, menuiserie et bois" (varnish, carpentry and wood), offering a glimpse into the specialized services once provided by neighborhood craftsmen.
Local residents who pass by these remnants express mixed feelings of nostalgia and sadness. "It reminds us of another era that we see in old television films," one local resident observed. Another passerby added, "It's sad to see all these little shops closed." The abandoned storefronts evoke powerful memories for those who remember when these businesses were thriving parts of community life.
For Delautre, these forgotten shop windows represent much more than mere architectural curiosities. "It's all our youth, all our history. It's a piece of the Trente Glorieuses," he explains, referring to the thirty-year period of economic prosperity in France from 1945 to 1975. The photographer's mission extends beyond simple documentation - he aims to denounce the death of local commerce while simultaneously immortalizing traditional craftsmanship and design techniques.
The artistic and cultural value of these abandoned storefronts lies in their authentic materials and typography. "All these typefaces, the mosaics, the wood, the tin, the aluminum, the copper," Delautre describes with evident appreciation. He laments that these noble materials have often been replaced by plastic in modern commercial design, representing a loss of both aesthetic quality and traditional craftsmanship skills.
Through his photographic work, Delautre raises broader questions about the decline of activity and dynamism in city centers, and more generally about changing consumption patterns in French society. His images serve as visual evidence of the transformation of French commercial landscapes, documenting the shift from small, specialized local businesses to larger commercial chains and online shopping.
The photographer's work provides valuable insight into urban evolution and the social implications of changing retail patterns. These abandoned shop windows serve as silent witnesses to economic and social transformations that have reshaped French communities over the past several decades.
Viewers can experience Delautre's complete photographic documentation through a special exhibition running until December 30, 2025, at the Museum of History of Daily Life and the City of Petit-Caux in Seine-Maritime, Normandy. The exhibition offers visitors an opportunity to engage with this disappearing aspect of French cultural heritage and reflect on the ongoing changes in urban commercial life.
