“We think of ourselves as post-luxury,” says the chief executive of the French boutique’s new lifestyle-shopping outpost.
Merci has introduced an encore.
Just before the start of Paris Fashion Week, the eclectic shopping emporium opened a second location on the Rue de Richelieu, in the heart of the French capital.
Inside, half of a red Fiat 500, split from front to rear bumpers, decorates a wall while the other half sits at floor level — a nod to the Instagram-famous car in the courtyard at the original shop. But what Merci 2 doesn’t want to create is a sense of déjà-vu.
When the original Merci opened in 2009 on Boulevard Beaumarchais, the store was positioned as something of a cabinet of curiosities with a feel-good vibe. Back then, before fast fashion had branched into home décor and vintage went mainstream, shoppers came for housewares, Annick Goutal perfumes and pre-loved clothes by Thierry Mugler, Chloé, Vanessa Bruno and Cacharel. There also was the vintage bookstore-cafe and restaurant.
The first store’s location in the not-quite-gentrified Upper Marais was not the usual Parisian shopping territory though. “At the time, there were only galleries, and it felt kind of far out,” said Lisa Chauveau, the associate director of Mafia Agency, a Paris business that helps brands develop retail concepts and experiences.
“They really pioneered the idea of a new destination for lifestyle shopping. All of a sudden, the area was exciting and it became the most bobo neighborhood in Paris,” she continued, using the popular contraction for “bourgeois bohemian.” In an unusual move at the time, Merci also had a giveback policy: a portion of its profit went to ABC Domino, an educational association in Madagascar. Sixteen years later, Merci has donated approximately 1 million euros ($1.05 million) to charities in Madagascar and in France, mostly for educational support, said Arthur Gerbi, the Merci chief executive.
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