Livy Store

The project in brief.

Refresh renovation of the Livy boutique, a brand of the Etam group, in Paris. A 300 m² floor treated in one month with a team of four craftsmen: a tightly scoped intervention, calibrated to bring the showcase back up to the level of the brand's image without undertaking a heavy redesign of the store.

The craftsmanship involved.

In retail, a refresh generally calls on finishing trades — painting, plaster and floor repairs, lighting, minor joinery work — with one overriding constraint: time. For a retail brand, every day of closure is measured in turnover; the works must therefore be prepared with absolute precision, supplies secured in advance and interventions run back to back without downtime. That is where the value of a general contractor lies on this type of operation: holding a firm opening date while delivering a level of finish worthy of a premium brand.

Working for the banner of a major group also means working within the brand's universe: every detail of the store contributes to the client experience the brand intends. The contractor's role is then to execute that framework with precision, delivering a consistent level of finish, up to what the brand's clientele expects in store.

Holding the opening date.

For a brand in operation, the deadline comes before every other question. A 300 m² store in Paris represents a daily volume of trade that cannot be made up: every day without customers is turnover lost for good, while rent and charges keep running. The programme of a retail project is not an adjustment variable, it is the parameter around which everything else is organised.

Two strategies are then open to a brand. Close, and concentrate the works into a short window, accepting a brief but clear-cut loss of trading. Or work in an occupied space — outside opening hours, or zone by zone, isolated from the public — at the cost of a heavier organisation and lower site productivity. In both cases, the reopening date is fixed and is not renegotiated.

One month for 300 m² calls for preparation that begins well before the first day. Supplies secured in advance — a misjudged supplier lead time immobilises an entire team —, zones divided and allocated, four craftsmen progressing according to a defined sequence rather than as things come. It is this preparatory work, invisible in the photographs, that makes a short deadline tenable, and it is the essence of our role as general contractor in Paris.

Choosing a refresh rather than a full redesign is also an economic trade-off. As an order of magnitude, a refresh sits at €1,000–1,200/m², a complete renovation at €1,800–2,500/m². For a brand operating a portfolio of stores, that gap dictates the rate at which it can maintain them.

What the store says to the client.

A retail unit speaks to the visitor before any salesperson does. From the pavement, the shopfront sets the perceived level of the offer; the first few metres decide whether they stay; the layout of the furniture then draws the circulation, directs the eye and creates points where people stop. These are not decorative questions but the very work of an interior architect: they determine the time spent in store and the number of items actually seen.

Lighting is the trade that transforms a selling space most visibly: an ambient light that gives the place its temperature, accents that pick out the products being promoted, faithful colour rendering so that the material seen in store is the one the client will find at home. A refresh often runs through it — reworking the light and the finishes, without touching the structure.

Display furniture, for its part, must stage the offer and withstand intensive use: daily handling, restocking, cleaning. To this is added the framework applicable to public-access premises (ERP): escape routes and exits sized for the occupancy accommodated, fire behaviour of fit-out materials, safety installations, accessibility — level entrance or ramp, circulation widths, absence of steps. Across 300 m², these rules structure the layout as much as the aesthetic stance does.

Preparing the opening or renovation of a retail space? Discover our approach to boutique and retail renovation in Paris, or get an estimate right away.