The brand created in the 1920s in Le Havre, located rue de Paris, specializing in interior decoration and original gifts, is definitely closing its doors with the retirement of its boss.
“A shop like this, there is no other in Le Havre. I always find something unique about it. What a pity ! “, comments a faithful. Gifts, original and refined interior decoration items. This is the credo of Porcelaines du Berry. An institution, since created in the 1920s, says his boss. Germain Latard, who took over the house in 2007, in the Rond-point district, before settling ten years later at 65, rue de Paris, opposite Notre-Dame cathedral, will put an end to it, moved, to this adventure.
“I was offered to buy my premises to set up a delicatessen”, he recounts. At one year of full retirement, at 61, he accepted this ” opportunity “. There will be no more successors to Mayoux, Gobet, Leroux or Latard. Les Porcelaines must definitively close on Tuesday, July 13, 2021. Perhaps earlier, because the liquidation started on June 14, saw the major part of the articles carried away in ten days.
Always out of the ordinary
Here is a cavern of Ali Baba from ” good taste “, describe his fans and his creator. “I have always sought to improve the quality of products”, explains the independent trader. At 138, rue Maréchal-Joffre, 14 years ago, he inherited a stronghold of tradition. To pour into porcelain, English Italian or French. The crystal, crockery, wedding lists and small gifts. In a boutique where 1950s-style babies and handcrafted teddy bears, for collectors, also make the identity.
However, consumer practices are changing and the Internet will shake up demand.. “I was selling Sèvres. All of that is gone. Today, young people find that a € 300 coin is expensive. While they are able to buy a phone for 1000 €. For weddings, they prefer that we give them money ”, Germain Latard formula. Who knows how to transform their offer. Turn to the contemporary, the decoration retaining historical products, such as beautiful glassware, and Baroque airs. Lamps, clocks, vases, candlesticks, mirrors and occasional furniture made the new reputation of the place. Rue de Paris, he added to the Porcelaines the name GL Décoration, inspired by his initials. He informs the regulars of arrivals, delivers them. Modernized, the ranges rejuvenate the clientele a little.
“A quality article can be looked at, touched, advised”
The boss wants to be demanding but keeps an offer at more modest prices. With a golden rule: never offer a product that is sold directly on the Net. “A quality article can be looked at, touched, and advised. “ The quest is increasingly being carried out with foreign suppliers. The price of the find is a journey. To private showrooms in Madrid, Seville, Venice. Or in Belgium. “
I was helped a lot by my companion to find all this. We were complementary ”, he slips in homage to Gérard Lecourt. Without forgetting Valérie, his saleswoman.
On social networks, in a guestbook and in the mouths of customers who have sometimes become friends, the messages follow one another, between thanks and regrets. “We can find some of our products in shops in Le Havre”, Germain announces. In particular in the Belaflora and Côté Déco stores, in Saint-Vincent.
www.auxporcelainesduberry.fr Phone. 02 35 42 34 58
The Fécampois of the “Norman Bouquet” for replacements
Another commercial institution, Fécampoise this one, will set up in September, after renovations, in place of the Porcelaines du Berry. The last family business of sea cured meats in Normandy, Sepoa-Delgove created its retail store in 2016 in the city of Terre-Neuvas, next to its seafood salting and smoking factory. C’est rue from Paris, to Le Havre, that it will open its second store “Le Bouquet normand”. Salmon, herring, trout and other salted and smoked fish, mackerel rillettes, salmon, homemade safate or haddock and other preserves, groceries, frozen products, caterer, sales on the net …: we will find the same services as those of the Fecampoise shop. And even more, “Since we will add a catering on site and to take away for lunch”, explains Matthieu Lagarde, brand manager. The grandson of the creator of Sepoa (who merged with Delgove in 2012), born in 1936, thus gives a new anchor to the company. Who will have premises here with a surface area of 250 m² spread over two levels.
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