The Art of Selling

Sharon Stone donned a pointy black witch's hat, Pharrell Williams piled on the pave diamonds and Karl Lagerfeld slipped on a pair of silver gloves. The occasion was none other than the opening of Louis Vuitton's Paris's Champs-Elysees store. With a temple-like 1930s façade, seven floors and 1,900 square feet of selling space, the place is home to what looks like a lifetime supply of monograms and made-to-order trunks. "We want luxury to be cool," says Vuitton president, Yves Carcelle, "not something that is sad and untouchable."

To that end, customers can sit down at a "bag bar,"...