PARIS — Parisian men have a new place to be pampered.
Bazar de l’Hôtel de Ville Homme, the male-oriented offshoot of the landmark BHV department store, boasts a 1,400-square-foot beauty floor complete with treatment rooms and a hairdressing corner. Located off the Rue de Rivoli here, the 40,000-square-foot store opened its doors last month.
The ground-floor beauty space, adjacent to the store’s fashion accessories department, is divided into grooming services, skin care, fragrance and makeup sections and carries more than 100 brands.
“The aim is that customers feel at home, that they feel comfortable,” explained Isabelle Pecenicic, divisional merchandise beauty manager at Galeries Lafayette, which owns BHV. Concrete floors, gray walls and wooden counters give the area a no-fuss, practical look.
While Pecenicic declined to discuss sales forecasts, industry sources estimate the space will generate 1 million euros, or $1.3 million at current exchange, in first-year sales.
A promotions counter, currently featuring Viktor & Rolf’s Antidote scent, is located at the entrance to the space and will be regularly updated to showcase the floor’s latest novelties. To the right, a hairdressing and barber service is provided by Les Mauvais Garçons (or The Bad Boys, in English). It’s the Parisian hair salon’s first such concession in a department store. Services start at 3 euros, or $4, for a moustache trim, up to 24 euros, or $32, for a haircut. Hair care accessories by Planete Rasoir take up adjacent shelving.
Tucked away to the rear of the store is an Isseo Homme two-room spa. The Paris-based brand, which has seven skin care items, also is sold at Paris-based Marc Delacre men’s treatment salon. Isseo’s menu features 16 treatments, ranging from a detoxifying face massage to a hot-stone body massage. Prices start at 85 euros, or $113, for a one-hour treatment.
Niche skin care brands, including Tom Robinn, Nickel and Task Essential, occupy a central space. “We wanted to sell brands that are not necessarily well known,” explained Pecenicic, adding the store’s lineup also offers brands exclusive to the Galerie Lafayette group. They include Alan Ross, a French marine beauty brand produced without colorings or parabens, which ranges in price from 23 euros, or $31, to 37 euros, or $49, and Biomatrix, an antiaging shaving gel retailing for 29.90 euros, or $40.
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More mainstream skin care lines, such as Biotherm Homme, Clarins Men and Shiseido Men, occupy wall units. Consultations with a team of male and female sales advisers are available at an adjacent counter, or shoppers can use an interactive computer screen at a Nivea Men merchandising unit.
In the perfumery section, located to the rear of the beauty floor, familiar names such as Hugo Boss and Azzaro are sold next to niche brands including Serge Lutens, The Different Company and Annick Goutal.
An area dedicated to toiletries stocks brands such as Molton Brown, Harnn & Thann, L’Occitane and organic brand Cattier. Jean Paul Gaultier’s Tout Beau Tout Propre makeup and a color cosmetics line from Spanish brand Raout complete the offer.