Merci indeed ...

What would a Friday morning in Paris be without a visit to your local neighbourhood so-hip-it-hurts, uber-groovy design-concept-fashion-homeware store?

The creative brains trust behind the French children's clothing range, Bonpoint, have recently opened a vast new space which I think I can confidently predict will become the Paris shopping destination du jour for 2009.

Located on Boulevard Beaumarchais, just down the rue from our apartment, the store occupies an impressive 1500m2 - a fact only hinted at by the modest entrance and street exterior. From the decidedly New York-esque library space (selling all manner of fantastic second hand books for dirt cheap prices), to the Annick Goutal perfume lab, to the underground cafeteria space that gives onto a herb garden courtyard and the groovy men's and women's fashion departments, there's a little something for everyone at Merci.


And as if to prove that being de rigeur on the Paris shopping scene and having a social conscience are not necessarily mutually exclusive, a percentage of all sales at Merci go towards charitable causes in Madagascar (the country, not the DreamWorks animated film).

Together with our friend, photographer extraordinaire Carla Coulson, we lingered for a pleasant hour in the library-cum-cafe. One member of our party used the occasion to gurn in the shop window. For the life of us, his mother and I cannot work out where he gets his exhibitionist streak from.

To see what I mean, allow me to re-direct you to Carla's blog. Her photos do much greater justice to the Merci shopping experience, and capture the impromptu street performance turned on by the smallest member of the Corbett clan.