A boutique (French: [butik] ) is a retail shop that deals in high end fashionable clothing or accessories. [1] The word is French for "shop", which derives ultimately from the Ancient Greek ἀποθήκη (apothēkē) "storehouse". [2] [3]
The term boutique and also designer refer (with some differences) to both goods and services, [4] which are containing some element that is claimed to justify an extremely high price.
The term boutique entered common English parlance in the late 1960s.[ citation needed ]
Some multi-outlet businesses (Chain stores) can be referred to as boutiques if they target small, upscale niche markets. [5] Although some boutiques specialize in hand-made items and other unique products, others simply produce T-shirts, stickers, and other fashion accessories in artificially small runs and sell them at high prices.
 | This section may contain material not related to the topic of the article .(August 2023) |
In the late 1990s, some European retail traders developed the idea of tailoring a shop towards a lifestyle theme, in what they called "concept stores," [6] which specialized in cross-selling without using separate departments. One of the first concept stores was[ citation needed ] 10 Corso Como in Milan, Italy, founded in 1990, followed by Colette [7] in Paris and Quartier 206 in Berlin. [8] Several well-known American chains such as Tiffany & Co., Urban Outfitters, [9] [10] Dash, and The Gap, [11]
A convenience store, convenience shop, bodega, corner store, corner shop, or superette is a small retail store that stocks a range of everyday items such as tea, coffee, groceries, fruits, vegetables, snacks, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery tickets, over-the-counter drugs, toiletries, newspapers and magazines.
A grocery store (AE), grocery shop (BE) or simply grocery is a foodservice retail store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, and is not used to refer to other types of stores that sell groceries. In the UK, shops that sell food are distinguished as grocers or grocery shops
American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. is an American clothing and accessories retailer headquartered at SouthSide Works in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1977 by brothers Jerry and Mark Silverman as a subsidiary of Retail Ventures, Inc., a company that also owned and operated Silverman's Menswear. The Silvermans sold their ownership interests in 1991 to Jacob Price of Knoxville, Tennessee. American Eagle Outfitters is the parent company of Aerie, Unsubscribed and Todd Snyder.
Next plc, trading as Next (styled as NEXT) is a British multinational clothing, footwear and home products retailer, which has its headquarters in Enderby, England. It has around 700 stores, of which circa 500 are in the United Kingdom, and circa 200 across Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Next is the largest clothing retailer by sales in the United Kingdom, having overtaken Marks & Spencer in early 2012 and 2014. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
A discount store or discounter offers a retail format in which products are sold at prices that are in principle lower than an actual or supposed "full retail price". Discounters rely on bulk purchasing and efficient distribution to keep down costs.
A big-box store, a hyperstore, a supercenter, a superstore, or a megastore is a physically large retail establishment, usually part of a chain of stores. The term sometimes also refers, by extension, to the company that operates the store. The term "big-box" references the typical appearance of buildings occupied by such stores.
A store-within-a-store, also referred to as store-in-store or shop-in-shop, refers to a space within a larger retail store, designated for use by a specific brand to feature its products, clearly branded with signs and other branding elements like color, materials, layout, etc. Such a space may be a section of the main area of the store, or it may have the form of an enclosed store with "walls" an entrance, much like a store in a shopping mall.
A liquor store is a retail business that predominantly sells prepackaged alcoholic beverages, including liquors, wine or beer, usually intended to be consumed off the store's premises. Depending on region and local idiom, they may also be called an off-licence, off-sale, bottle shop, bottle store or, colloquially, bottle-o, liquor store or other similar terms. A very limited number of jurisdictions have an alcohol monopoly. In US states that are alcoholic beverage control (ABC) states, the term ABC store may be used.
Free People is an American bohemian apparel and lifestyle retail company that sells women’s clothing, accessories, shoes, intimates, and swimwear. It also has a beauty and wellness category, which includes products such as cosmetics, skin, and oral care, oral supplements, crystals, and books. Their headquarters is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Free People is a part of Urban Outfitters, Inc., along with Anthropologie, BHLDN, Terrain, and the Vetri family restaurant group.
Our Price was a British high Street chain of record stores in the United Kingdom and Ireland from 1971 until 2004. Ourprice.com reopened online on 30 April 2024 with new owners.
An outlet store, factory outlet or factory store is a brick and mortar or online store where manufacturers sell their merchandise directly to the public. Products at outlet stores are usually sold at reduced prices compared to regular stores due to being overstock, closeout, returned, factory seconds, or lower-quality versions manufactured specifically for outlets.
Anthropologie is an American retailer operating in the U.S., Canada, France, Germany and the UK that sells clothing, jewelry, home furniture, decorations, beauty products, and gifts.
A record shop or record store is a retail outlet that sells recorded music. Per the name, in the late 19th century and the early 20th century, record shops only sold gramophone records. But over the course of the 20th century, record shops sold the new formats that were developed, such as eight track tapes, compact cassettes and compact discs (CDs). Today, in the 21st century, record stores mainly sell CDs, vinyl records and, in some cases, DVDs of movies, TV shows, cartoons and concerts. Some record stores also sell music-related items such as posters of bands or singers, related clothing items and even merchandise such as bags and coffee mugs.
The ALDO Group branded and stylised as ALDO, is a Canadian multinational premium retailer specializing in shoes and accessories, established in 1972 in Montreal, Quebec. The company was founded by Aldo Bensadoun and its corporate headquarters are based in the Saint-Laurent, Quebec. A worldwide corporation, it has 3,000 stores across 100 countries. Stores in Canada, the U.S., the U.K., and Ireland are owned by the Group, while international stores are franchised.
Quartier DIX30 is a commercial lifestyle centre located in Brossard, Quebec. It is considered Canada's first lifestyle centre and occupies an area of 2,746,063 sq ft (255,117.6 m2) in the L section of Brossard. Quartier DIX30 was designed to emulate an urban or downtown shopping experience with boutiques and to meet the needs of suburban dwellers living on the South Shore of Montreal. Its name refers to its location: at the west corner of the intersection between Autoroute 10 and Autoroute 30.
Sanity is an online Australian music and entertainment retailer. The brand specialises in the sale of CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays and related merchandise and accessories. It is privately owned by Ray Itaoui. Previously operating through a chain of retail stores in Australia, it has been run as an online-only business since March 2023.
Colette was a French high fashion, streetwear, and accessory retailer. The three floor 8,000 square feet (740 m2) concept store was located in Paris and contained an exhibition space, bookshop, and a "water bar" serving more than 100 brands of bottled water. It closed permanently in December 2017. Colette's logo was two blue dots.
Søstrene Grene is a family-owned Danish multi-category retail chain. It was founded in Aarhus, Denmark in 1973 by married team Inger Grene and Knud Cresten Vaupell Olsen.
Retailing in South Korea consists of hypermarkets, department stores, flea markets, traditional markets, and underground shopping malls. Hypermarkets sell dry goods and groceries, similar to Western supercentres. Traditional markets are also popular throughout South Korea.
The retail format influences the consumer's store choice and addresses the consumer's expectations. At its most basic level, a retail format is a simple marketplace, that is; a location where goods and services are exchanged. In some parts of the world, the retail sector is still dominated by small family-run stores, but large retail chains are increasingly dominating the sector, because they can exert considerable buying power and pass on the savings in the form of lower prices. Many of these large retail chains also produce their own private labels which compete alongside manufacturer brands. Considerable consolidation of retail stores has changed the retail landscape, transferring power away from wholesalers and into the hands of the large retail chains.