Bonton: Clothes, Candy & Cartoons

The vast new Bonton flagship store welcomes kids (and their accompanying parents) to three immense floors packed with fashion, furniture, interior accessories, toys, books, candy and cupcakes galore. Bonton, launched in 2001, is the “little brother” of luxury French childrenswear label Bonpoint, whose cute contemporary looks for girls and boys aged newborn to 12 have acquired an international following. The new emporium, at the northernmost tip of the Marais, was designed by Valérie Mazerat, the architect behind the nearby superchic concept store Merci (part of the profit is earmarked for charity) owned by the same family. The big new Bonton’s light, airy interior combines a bohemian loft atmosphere with old-fashioned Parisian charm, including parquet floors, 19th-century fireplaces and original moldings. Mazerat has indulged her inner child to the max here, adding a cozy candy store- cum-café with floor-to-ceiling shelves stacked with giant glass jars of gumdrops, striped candy canes and Eiffel Tower lollipops. After a visit to the in-house hairdresser—a retro-style barbershop complete with miniature flea-market barber chairs—the little darlings can disguise themselves with stick-on moustaches and crazy wigs to pose for snapshots in a photo booth. While parents linger amid gorgeous baby-bed linens and organic baby products in the basement, pint-sized shoppers might prefer to curl up with a book on the library sofa or make a beeline for the cinema corner to watch excerpts of slapstick movies and vintage cartoons.

5 blvd des Filles du Calvaire, 3rd, 01.42.72.34.69

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