Dover Street Market to open first concept store in Paris

Dover Street Market is finally about to open a genuine concept store in Paris. After staging several initiatives in the French capital in recent years, the renowned retailer founded by Rei Kawakubo and Adrian Joffe will open its first fully fledged concept store in the hip Marais district, at 35-37 rue des Francs-Bourgeois, where Dover Street Market (DSM) has had offices and a venue since 2021. The retailer’s new flagship is set to be inaugurated on April 27.

In 2021, DSM moved into the 3,500-square-metre Marais premises with a showroom and its Parisian offices. The building is also home to DSM’s Brand Development division, which distributes and supports several emerging labels: Airei, ERL, Honey F-king Dijon, Liberal Youth Ministry, Olly Shinder, Phileo, Random Identities, Rassvet, Sky High Farm Workwear, Vaquera, Weinsanto, Zomer, and Irish label Róisín Pierce, the last to join the ranks.

While waiting to transform the historic building into a concept store, DSM’s co-founders, CEO Adrian Joffe and Comme des Garçons designer Rei Kawakubo, have decided to utilise the building, known simply as 35-37, as “a venue for forums and shared initiatives.” In the last two years, 35-37 has been home to pop-up stores, runway shows, events, workshops by artists and emerging designers, and the 1909 bookshop.

Since 2022, 35-37 has been home to Dover Street Little Market, a small multibrand store entirely dedicated to emerging designers, which was first opened a year earlier at 54 rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré, and will close at the same time as 35-37. In 2019, DSM also opened a beauty store in the Marais district, the Dover Street Parfums Market, at 11 bis rue Elzévir.

Meanwhile, in autumn 2023, Comme des Garçons relocated its Parisian flagship store from 54 to 56 rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré, moving from an understated courtyard location to a 700-square-metre street-front address.

DSM was founded in London in 2004, and is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Including the new Parisian flagship, DSM operates seven concept stores worldwide (the others are in London, Tokyo, New York, Los Angeles, Beijing and Singapore), plus the Parisian beauty store.

Like the other DSM branches, the new address is expected to feature the avant-garde collections by Japanese label Comme des Garçons, alongside a directional selection of emerging labels and more established luxury names. Among the select few, British designer Charles Jeffrey with his Loverboy label, which will present for the occasion a new take on some of its suits, chosen from the archives by Kawakubo.