Merci, a Second Time Around

New York Times

06-03-2025

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.
Mr. Gerbi said he had been mulling a new project for years, and even considered opening a shop on a péniche, or barge, on the Seine. But if there were going to be another iteration of Merci, it had to be different.
'With a family business, you have to make a name,' he said, referring to his parents, Gérard and Danièle Gerbi, who founded the midprice fashion brand Gérard Darel in 1971. In 2013, the elder Gerbis bought Merci from its founders, Marie-France and Bernard Cohen, and entrusted its management to their younger son.
'After that, what you have to do is make a first name,' Arthur Gerbi continued. 'I'm 39. For me, this is a very personal project.'
Merci's next chapter opened in a former post office, just west of the Palais Royal gardens and up the street from the Louvre. Empty for more than a decade, the 600-square-meter (6,458-square-foot) shoebox of a space had low ceilings and no storefront. But it spanned a city block, offering entrances on both Rue de Richelieu and Rue Molière.
Having started his career in commercial real estate, Mr. Gerbi said he looked at neighboring buildings and decided something was above the drop ceiling. It turned out to be a vaulted ceiling of glass cubes, 26 feet high and dating to the 1930s.
'I felt like an archaeologist who discovered a treasure,' he said during a recent visit to the space. There was a pristine coat of white paint on the walls, but vestiges of its former use remained, including the original signage, the footprint of an old lunchroom and a door that, inexplicably, opened onto a wall.
Mr. Gerbi declined to disclose the cost of the lease and renovation, but described it as 'consequential.'
Like its elder sibling, Merci 2 is an unusual operation for a neighborhood better known for stylish restaurants than fashion. But it is within an easy walk of the Pinault Collection and the future site of Fondation Cartier. And come spring, its section of the street is scheduled to be replanted and pedestrianized.
Conceived like 'a loft in SoHo where a Parisian happens to live,' Mr. Gerbi said, the two-level space has an industrial vibe, with concrete floors, exposed ventilation ducts and a mix of custom and secondhand furniture.
Its offerings include clothing, accessories, design objects and linens. But where the Avenue Beaumarchais store leans feminine, Merci 2 offers a broader men's wear-and-unisex offering. Niche clothing brands take pride of place on the main floor, among them the Japanese labels The Real McCoy's, Ordinary Fits and the Corona Utility; the work wear brand Arpenteur, from Lyon, France; and the English haberdasher Drake's. Women's wear brands include fashion-insider favorites such as Dôen, Róhe and Cordera.
The former lunchroom space displays a selection of kitchen gadgets and linens; farther along, watches and fine jewelry keep company with what the in-house team calls 'Arthur-eries.' Those are the key rings, magnets, sweatshirts, T-shirts, bags and other curios that Mr. Gerbi develops with, for example, Erewhon market in Los Angeles or the New York artist Emma Jaeger. A smaller space is reserved for beauty products, leather goods and footwear.
Arty touches have been sprinkled throughout. A bookstore corner, for example, is anchored by a work in copper and steel by the Dutch designer Piet Hein Eek. And there is a lacquered farm table and jewelry by the Japanese architect Jo Nagasaka. The lone shop window, on the Rue Molière side, was to be dressed with a stained glass-pattern curtain by Adam Pogue, a textile artist in Los Angeles.
Mr. Gerbi characterized the product mix as 'ultra-curated' and yet anti-status and anti-snob. 'We think of ourselves as post-luxury,' he said.
He also sees it as its own entity. 'We're sort of like a traveling circus,' Mr. Gerbi said. 'We want to keep it very Parisian, but without taking ourselves too seriously. That's the fun part.'
And when it came time to choose a logo, he chose a four-leaf clover.