What is a concept store? Definition, origins and examples

A concept store is a shop that brings together a curated selection of designers and several worlds, fashion, jewelry, objects, sometimes a café or a gallery, under one point of view. You will not find a brand’s entire range or a whole department, but pieces that a person or a small team has chosen one by one. The format was born in Milan in 1990 and became a Paris institution with Colette from 1997.

What defines a concept store?

Three traits come up in every concept store that has mattered.

• A selection rather than a range. A concept store does not try to have everything. It chooses designer by designer and piece by piece, along a line it stands by. That selection is where its value lies, far more than in the rarity of its labels.
• Several worlds under one roof. Clothing, jewelry, shoes, bags, homeware, beauty, books, and often a table or a counter. The worlds answer each other instead of sitting side by side.
• A place with an identity. The layout, the light and the way pieces are displayed are part of the offer. You go there to spend time, not just to buy.

Where does the concept store come from?

10 Corso Como, Milan, 1990

The founding model is Milanese. In 1990, Carla Sozzani, a former fashion editor, opened a gallery in a former garage at 10 Corso Como. The space later grew to include a bookshop, a fashion and design store and a café. The idea was simple and new at the time, bringing together, under one point of view, what department stores kept apart.

Colette, Paris, 1997 to 2017

In Paris, the concept store became an institution with Colette, opened on March 20, 1997 at 213 rue Saint-Honoré by Colette Roussaux and her daughter Sarah Andelman. Fashion, perfume, design, music, publishing, beauty and technology shared several floors. For twenty years, being stocked at Colette could launch a designer. The store closed for good on December 20, 2017.

Merci, Paris, since 2009

Merci opened in March 2009 at 111 boulevard Beaumarchais, in the upper Marais, founded by Bernard and Marie-France Cohen, the founders of the children’s label Bonpoint. It fills 1,500 square meters over three floors of a 19th-century former industrial building and mixes fashion, home, stationery and a place to eat. It is the Parisian example still in business that is cited most often.

Concept store, department store, brand store: what is the difference?

Concept stores beyond the capitals

The format is not limited to Paris or Milan. Most large French cities have their own concept stores, often closely tied to their neighborhood and clientele.

In the south-east of France, Lulli sur la Toile is an example on a larger scale. Founded in Marseille by Anne Vouland, the fashion and lifestyle concept store runs about fifteen stores, including in Marseille, Avignon and Annecy, plus an online store and an app, with nearly 220 labels according to the company. It carries designer ready-to-wear, shoes, bags and jewelry, and runs a café in Marseille. It shows that a concept store can grow into a network while keeping a selection conceived as a whole.

How to spot a good concept store

A few signs are reliable:

1. The selection is coherent. Within minutes you understand what the store loves and what it turns down.
2. Designers are named and explained. Staff can tell you who designed a piece, where it was made and why it is there.
3. The worlds talk to each other. A piece of jewelry is shown with a garment, a bag with a pair of shoes. The store suggests pairings, not just products.
4. The selection moves. New designers appear season after season, next to the ones the store has followed for years.

Why the format lasts

Online retail offers breadth and convenience. A concept store offers what a catalog cannot, a selection with a face, advice, and discovery with the piece in hand. That is also why independent designers value it. A concept store gives them a place next to more established names, in front of customers who come precisely to discover.

To go further, our guide to designer ready-to-wear explains what the word designer means in clothing, and our piece on gold plated, vermeil or solid gold gives the benchmarks for choosing jewelry. All our addresses live in the Concept stores section.