The new place to shop

The question of whether shopping is ever guilt free is a question that most girls have probably wrestled with at one point or another. I know that in recent years, there has been a growing campaign for guilt free shopping. Let’s see, there’s the RED campaign led by Bono, which devotes a portion of sale proceeds from partner boutiques like Gap, Converse, Armani and Apple to the AIDS cause, then there is also a whole slew of boutiques now devoted to fair-trade. It’s a growing movement and I suppose it’s the easiest way to motivate people to do more to help the disenfranchised. After all, people are always going to shop.

Here in Paris there is a great new place to do guilt free shopping as I discovered happily this weekend. The new player on the scene is Merci, the brain child of Bernard and Marie-France Cohen of Bonpoint which opened its doors barely two weeks ago. The concept behind the store is simple. Merci acquires an exclusive selection of merchandise from different designers without the usual margin imposed by the designers. This enables the store in turn to sell their items at a much lower price than what they would normally retail in the big stores. Whatever margin Merci makes is turned over to their charity of choice, in this case, the children of Madagascar.

Believe me when I tell you that there is an immense range of choice available. Covering an area of 1600 square meters, the store is divided into different sections--there is a flower shop, a big section devoted to clothes, the mezzanine has children’s clothes and house furnishings while the basement covers kitchen ware and lighting. There are women and men’s fashion available from such names as Paul Smith, Stella McCartney, Isabel Marrant, Paul and Joe, and Azzaro. And that’s just the current designers. For their Vintage section, they had YSL, Chanel and Hermes. For accessories, they had delicate jewelry by Gas and covetable bags by Jerome Dreyfuss. And all of the items are at rather reasonable prices.

I shouldn’t forget to mention that there is also a used bookstore that doubles as an in-store café. There are a number of books by Gallimard but they likewise have books in English, Spanish and even German. Oh, and there is a perfume counter by Annick Goutal where you can bring your own bottle and fill it up with one of the Annick Goutal scents available at 40% less of the retail price. I had a lot of fun spritzing the perfumes on my wrists, trying to decide which one was the right one for me.

A selection of their fashion...

Houseware....

For the kitchen...

And shelves and shelves of books...
You can literally spend hours at Merci, perusing their stock, their books, and maybe having a cup of tea and a slice of cake. There’s literally something for everyone. Now this is what I call guilt free shopping!


Practical Details:

111 boulevard Beaumarchais

75003 Paris

Metro St. Sebastian Froissart
Open Mon to Sat from 10 am to 8pm