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Volcom opens Paris flagship, eyes Amsterdam and Prague
After a thorough location scout of Paris, Volcom has finally opted for the Bastille area in the French capital to open its Paris flagship.
Covering 230 square metres, the American skate brand has made its mark on 5 rue Saint-Antoine. On the ceiling of the shop's ground floor, a massive canvas displays all the areas of Paris, while on the ground, the furniture is a mix of basic pieces from Volcom, as well as customised furnishings for the new flagship.
"We called upon an master craftsman to create a number of pieces. Most were created with this idea of being 'skatable'," explained Gaëtan Le Guennec, retail director at Volcom.
"He also created chandeliers and elements integrating the Volcom Stone. As with each key store, we have a localised offering of t-shirts in the colours of the city. We have enriched it here, It's 18 square metres but we offer more products than other stores."
The brand has also decided to put its key product categories on the top floor. Products on the ground floor, made up of capsule and limited-edition collections, are expected to be renewed almost monthly. Upstairs, t-shirts, jeans and womenswear are attract customers, said Volcom.
"We are very happy as we have been opened for two weeks now, and 80% of our sales have been made upstairs," said Le Guennec.
In store, Volcom is testing a new compact and mobile point-of-sale system, much like a tablet, which allows the sales team to sell to customers throughout the shop.
An innovative sales technique, which could be developed across Volcom's entire store network. Today, Volcom has 18 stores in Europe, with 12 in France, and two each in Spain, Germany and Switzerland.
"We have branches, commission-affiliation and partnerships in markets where we work with our distributors," outlined Le Guennec. "In the coming days, we are also opening a shop in the Amsterdam hyper-centre measuring around 100 square metres."
Volcom is currently preparing to open its first store in Prague, Czech Republic, in September too, and is eyeing its first Italy location for the end of 2017.
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