While we were in Paris a few weeks ago we went in search of Paul Smith’s new shop that we had only heard good things about since it opened in March this year. The shop on rue de Grenelle (just round the corner from his much larger flagship store) had been empty since the 1980s and the condition it was found in has been embraced as the shop still sits with original Tourrette signage and interior features.
It is an awesome example of old and new coming together and working perfectly and as Sir Paul Smith explained on his blog when it opened, “The very exciting point about the Grenelle shop is that it is in premises that have been empty since the 1980’s and is in a very ‘interesting’ state of decay! The walls are unpainted for many years, the floor tiles are the original, 80 year old shelves, everything dates back to the 1930’s when La Tourrette was opened by Monsieur Tourrette as a ‘Bougnat’; the left side of the shop selling coal, the right side selling wine. The business was run by Monsieur Tourrette and continued through the generations, including his daughter and then later other members of the family. In the early 1960’s it was opened as a little cafe and from then until its closure was a famous haunt of many intellectuals including Jacques Prevert and his brother who were regular visitors along with actresses and writers.”
Paul Smith, 70 rue de Grenelle, 75007 Paris.
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Will founded It’s Nice That in 2007 and is now director of the company. Once one of the main contributors to the site, he has stepped back from writing as the business has expanded to become The HudsonBec Group.