marry me merci.

if i could marry a store it would have to be merci – its smart, multi-faceted, talented, collaborative, super-stylish, extremely good-looking, rough around the edges, a little bit older ( merci is now 1 year old – so not new to the retail game but photos from my previous visit were somehow lost in cyberspace), conscious of the environment and with a huge heart. a benicio del toro of stores if you like. this huge heart conveys itself by the fact that the owners and founders of merci, marie-france and bernard cohen ( the couple behind luxury children’s brand bonpoint), give all profits of the business to helping children worldwide especially in madagascar. this is truly charitable retail at its heart-felt best. collaboration with favourite designers such as stella mccartney and ysl amongst others allow sizable discount on whats on the racks – another good reason to get there. what i specifically like about what they do here at merci from a retail perspective, is the product mix. the buy is cohesive and broad, innovative and basic, expensive and frugal, luxurious and unpretentious, modern and primitive. the smart layout allows wandering, sitting, reading and eating over hours and as any retailer knows the longer you customer wants to stay and play in-store the more likely they are to buy. a real-time retail experience. merci’s own brand of colour-wonder textiles is what i came home on the eurostar with. thankyou and merci again.