Chanel Fragrances and Beauty is a rocky construction site in Paris

Since its creation, patience and rarity have been traditions at Chanel. It was not until 1924 that Chanel allowed its customers to buy N°5 anywhere other than rue Cambon in Paris. In Passy, the story continues, with a few delays and cracks. Why did this happen?

For several months now, workmen have been busy on the site of the former Cyrillus shop, close to the Rue de Passy, which has once again become a No. 1 shopping street. The name of the next occupant appeared recently: Chanel Parfums Beauté.

Led partially by ORY architecture, who had already completed the head office and the restructuring of 39-41 Rue Cambon, the conversion of the shop on Chaussée de la Muette has... took its time. Owned by a non-trading property company called Passysimple, the premises were aptly named and have long been the talk of residents and pedestrians in an area accustomed to luxurious, and therefore slow, conversions: on Rue de la Pompe, Marallex, the brand that supplied children's shoes and coats to the whole of Gerson and La Providence (schools), has become yet another estate agency with prestigious premises: Breteuil Immobilier. Superb screens in the windows attract shoppers. The work lasted over ten months. For La Grande Epicerie, which took the place of Franck et Fils in November 2017, the renovation of the building took fifteen months and was noisy and messy. The chain then took just as long to find the right mix of prices and products, which now seems to be a proven fact. The sales teams there are very attentive and trained in customer experience and a warm welcome, regardless of how long they have been there. 

But Chanel beats all records. It's not clear how long ago the premises were vacated by former occupier Cyrillus. Why was this ? It is said that the holes dug to install a lift shook the structure of the neighbouring buildings. Did the tremors spread as far as 14 rue Maublanc, the headquarters of ORY Architecture, to the point of disrupting telephone reception? In any case, it was impossible to reach the agency on 01 44 30 88 88.

This morning, as for the past few weeks, at the corner of rue de Boulainvilliers and Chaussée de la Muette, the flow of passers-by had to take a diversion, despite the dangerous nature of the crossroads where many pedestrians have been knocked down. José, the caretaker of a building in the area and probably one of the best informed people in Passy, sums up the situation: they took their time. 

Knowing how to be patient and wait, N°5 and. Simona Cattaneo.
Sabrina Albou, Property Director at Chanel Parfums Beauté, is in charge of the project within Passysimple, an SCI which she took over in the spring. A perusal of the company's articles of association, which are rather secretive by nature, reveals a wealth of information about the internal processes for validating expenditure: we learn that Ms Albou has authorisation and delegation of expenditure, limited to a certain amount, provided that the expenditure has been validated, via a procedure known as the Boutique Capital Expenditure Request. Completion of the work will probably coincide with the arrival of the new president of this division, Simona Cattaneo, who joins from Tod's, in January 2025.  Connoisseurs and fans of the brand know that with Chanel, patience is an established requirement: it was not until 1924 that the N°5 perfume was available anywhere other than rue Cambon, and not until 2015 that the first boutique, exclusively reserved for the world of beauty and perfume, was opened in the Marais district.

The En-Contact editorial team.  

To find out more, read Elisabeth de Forsanz's 2016 article on the installation of click-and-collect at retailers.