Anthropologie Lands in Paris With Two New Stores

PARIS — Embarking on an expansion drive in Europe, Anthropologie has opened two stores in Paris in a week, in the Marais and in the center near the Palais Garnier, the city’s historic opera house. “The plan was always to go across Europe very quickly,” said Peter Ruis, managing director of Anthropologie International, noting that the brand had arrived about 10 years ago in Europe with a store in London. “It didn’t happen, so my job’s been to get that expansion quickly,” added the London-based executive, speaking from a sofa with a patchwork rug motif that sat in a nook of the store. Ruis expressed confidence about the brand’s potential with French customers. “The brand has a very French, Parisian sensibility — in our stores in London a significant amount of our customers are French and, by nature, Parisian tourists,” he said. Finding the right property was a challenge. Prime real estate in Paris is fetching ever higher prices as brands adapt to shifting consumption habits by opting for fewer but more spectacular stores, in choice locations to ensure foot traffic. “Originally we were looking for a big flagship on one of the big streets, but increasingly, as the way retail has changed, we felt

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