CLOTHES LINES:The most talked-about place in Paris at the moment is a charity shop called Merci, which has just opened on the Boulevard Beaumarchais on the edge of the Marais, a street otherwise filled with motorbike and cycle shops.
The brainchild of Marie France Cohen, who founded the luxury children’s wear brand Bonpoint with her husband Bernard in 1975, all its profits go to benefit humanitarian projects in places such as Madagascar. I joined hundreds of curious visitors entering its courtyard past a parked red Bambino car stuffed with furniture and toys. Located in an old wallpaper factory, it is a vast emporium spread out over three floors with clothes, flowers, books, furniture, perfume, stuffed birds, chandeliers, bedlinen and bolts of fabric among the hundreds of items on offer – nothing second-hand or discarded about them.
Many top designer brands such as YSL and Stella McCartney have collaborated on the project, with items selling below their usual prices – Annik Goutal fragrances (the late Goutal was a sister of Marie France) are for sale at a 50 per cent discount. Quality and aesthetics govern every item chosen by Marie France, and reluctant shoppers can rest in the library cafe or browse in the lovely flower shop, all part of the experience. Best to go early and not on Saturday.
Merci, 111 Boulevard Beaumarchais, 75003, Paris 00331-42770033
