NEW YORK — L’Artisan Parfumeur will open its first freestanding U.S. store here Monday as part of an aggressive international retail growth strategy that will also include store openings in the U.K., Canada and Mexico.
The 400-square-foot shop, located at 68 Thompson Street in SoHo, could generate $500,000 in sales during its first year, according to industry sources. It will showcase roughly 200 scents, soaps, body creams and home fragrances — and it will likely not be the last L’Artisan boutique in Gotham.
“We estimate there is the potential for 10 stores in the U.S.,” said François Duquesne, president of the Parisian brand. He added as many as three more L’Artisan shops could be opened in New York. While the U.S. generates about 15 percent of L’Artisan’s business today, Duquesne would like to see that figure rise to 25 percent by yearend. According to estimates, L’Artisan is a $40 million business worldwide at retail.
Duquesne, who joined L’Artisan seven months ago after leaving Lanvin as executive vice president when Inter Parfums bought its fragrance business, feels right at home when discussing the location of the New York site. “There are a few artisan companies on this street,” he noted, “[including] a chocolatier, a flower shop and a lamp maker.” He compared L’Artisan’s heritage — one of handcrafted products — to the nature of those businesses. “Artisans [in general] equal something special — craftsmanship. L’Artisan is a craftsman’s perfumer.”
L’Artisan is now a market share leader in France as a niche perfumer, according to Duquesne, and therefore the company sees viability in international growth. “It’s very important in our strategy to be a leader in our own market before expanding aggressively outside it,” he said. Duquesne views brands like Creed, Annick Goutal, Frederic Malle and Serge Lutens as L’Artisan’s biggest competitors.
“The U.S. is a priority but there are other countries as well,” said Duquesne. He noted that a L’Artisan boutique will open in Montreal March 25. London’s third L’Artisan shop is slated to open later this year, as is a location in Mexico City.
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While Cradle Holdings Inc. acquired L’Artisan in January 2003, the brand was spun off two months ago by controlling shareholder Fox Paine & Co., a San Francisco-based private equity firm. The move was in the interest of keeping the brand true to its French heritage.
L’Artisan has five boutiques in Paris and plans to open two more stores in the City of Light this year. Elsewhere in France, the company has slated the opening of three boutiques, which will bring the total number of freestanding L’Artisan stores in that country to 13 by yearend. L’Artisan markets 100 or so items and nearly three-quarters of those are permanent, or core products, and the rest are seasonal items.
L’Artisan has roughly 500 wholesale doors worldwide, 10 percent of which are in the U.S., including Barneys New York, Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue. The emphasis, according to Duquesne, is building the business in existing doors rather than “doubling [wholesale] distribution by next year.”
As growth is the main concern for L’Artisan, some retrenching in the U.S. has been necessary. The brand has reduced the number of Saks doors in its distribution base and has pulled out of Nordstrom as well.
Duquesne noted that L’Artisan, which was founded in 1976, was a retailer from the beginning and didn’t get into the wholesale business until much later. Now, Duquesne observed, half of global revenues are generated by the company’s retail operations, while the wholesale business generates the balance of sales.