Inspiration
Petit Bailly, Pharmacy for Tiny Tots
We’re already familiar with the Grande Pharmacie Bailly, and its incredible range of products that foreign visitors to Paris love to take home with them. Always innovative, the Parisian establishment has sprung another surprise on us by opening a branch specially for children: Petit Bailly. You can’t miss this new offspring of the huge main pharmacy; it is sited just opposite, in the Saint-Lazare quarter. A real temple for tiny tots of 0 to 3 years, designed by the Clement sisters. Both Mathilde and Constance became mothers less than a year ago, and they dreamed of opening this boutique. It has an amazing children’s slide right in the middle of the shop, a spacious sales area with graphic design features created with the help of the DOD architecture studio, and baskets brimming over with brightly coloured packages. But above all, it has very carefully-chosen products. Only those of the highest standard are are accepted. At Petit Bailly, you will find all in one place the very best that France and other countries can produce, in fields as varied as hygiene, food, well-being products and baby-care. There are the firm best-sellers like the Yoyo pushchair, and also lesser-known makes, and of course those you know well like The Socialite Family. We are delighted to be able to participate in Petit Bailly‘s development, and to this end our design studio has created a special edition, in seven new colourways, of our signature Copertina throws. On sale only at 41 rue Pasquier and on the shop’s very comprehensive website, the soft square throw is perfect for a new baby present, a playmat or a comfort blanket. It is a natural addition to this fabulous shop which aims to make parents’ lives easier. We meet the co-founder Constance Clement to find out all about this fluid space, midway between playground and laboratory.
Petit Bailly, 41 rue Pasquier – 75008 Paris. Opening: Monday to Friday, from 8am to 8pm. Saturday, from 10am to 7pm. Phone: + 33 (0) 1 88 32 79 21.
Location
Paris
Author
Caroline Balvay
Photos and videos
Valerio Geraci
TSF
Constance, what is your background?
Constance
After a period in law at Panthéon-Assas, I turned to the clothing sector by taking classes at Studio Berçot, but my fashion education took place at Loulou de la Falaise. I went there when I was 20 years old as a house model. It was my chance to discover the most joyful, poetic and spiritual aspects of this environment. When Loulou de la Falaise closed her business, I retired to the countryside to live the simple life and read all day, and only emerged from the woods because of a chance phone call from a lady I adore, Francoise Auguet, the undisputed queen of vintage, who rang me to tell me about a Lebanese woman who was looking for a Frenchwoman to establish her fashion house in Paris. I decided that this classified ad, worthy of the best sort of national newspaper, deserved to be followed up, and that’s how I joined Rabih Kayrouz to set up and run Maison Rabih Kayrouz in Paris for 8-9 years. Then I resumed my studies at Sciences Po in 2016 and left the business in early 2018. It’s important to know when to move on! At the same time, my partner Sylvain Oger and I set up a micro artistic management business, Persona Editions, where we support our clients throughout all their image and development issues. And then we had our wonderful child, Ada.
TSF
Where did your desire to create Petit Bailly come from? With whom did you plan it?
Constance
My sister and I are very, very close and both had babies in 2017. When the opportunity to take over premises close to Saint-Lazare came up, we immediately wanted to set up a space reserved for the very young. The principle is simple: to bring together in a single space the entire universe of 0-3 year-olds. The idea was to simplify the lives of parents as we would have liked ours simplified when our children were born. In addition to the physical shop, we have created an online shop to offer ever more practical and innovative services for overworked but loving parents (like us).
TSF
What were the key milestones for this new project?
Constance
Of course, at the beginning, there was the building and everything we had planned there with our architect David Olivier Descombes and Sylvain Oger, my partner, for the artistic direction. Then came the time for the work, where the project took shape. The installation of the slide that we had been dreaming of, the first orders… In reality, the stages were carried out in such a short time that we worked instinctively and relentlessly for six months to bring this new concept out of the ground and out of our heads.
TSF
What does Petit Bailly have to offer? How do you choose your products?
Constance
Dedicated to children from 0 to 3 years old, Petit Bailly offers a quality service with specialist advice to make parents’ daily lives easier and save them time. Petit Bailly offers an extensive range of classic products, natural or even quite cutting-edge products at unbeatable prices including hygiene, care, food, childcare, toys and decor. As for the selection, it was our expertise as mothers that contributed as well as the recommendations of our friends who loved certain products that were not available in France. Petit Bailly‘s idea is to be part of families’ daily lives. We are working hard on our prices and our offer to become a trusted source for parents.
TSF
Which items are the most popular at Petit Bailly?
Constance
Everything goes well at Petit Bailly! Our clientele is quite varied and might as easily come to pick up a box of baby milk at 7:59 p.m. when they realise that baby has nothing left to eat or a Yoyo stroller that we assemble and deliver free of charge. It’s all about simplifying parents’ lives!
TSF
Why did you contact The Socialite Family to create your unique Petit Bailly throw?
Constance
My sister and I are very positively nostalgic for our childhood. We attach great importance to objects, books and toys that last. They carry stories and memories for our children and for us. These values of inheritance also seem to me to be present when I look around The Socialite Family website. The worlds, tastes and stories of everyone on there lift me from my everyday life, sometimes make me dream. When, moreover, The Socialite Family launched its Copertina throws, they released a powerful sub-conscious memory. These large, very thick, luxurious shawls, with their subtle colours, immediately make you want to wrap your little ones in them… they’re a dream. Then one day, the team contacted me to do a story about our family. In addition to being very touched, I jumped at the opportunity and asked you if we could, by chance, introduce these beautiful throws in our shop. I’d like to thank The Socialite Family for the trust they placed in me at a time when the Petit Bailly project was just beginning!
TSF
Will you often engage in collaborations like this?
Constance
We work on instinct and encounters. There are sure to be others who will offer different and attractive items. Among other things, we are thinking of children’s furniture, linen and small, precious objects to mark a baby’s birth.
TSF
What does The Socialite Family mean to you? Do you have a favourite product from the TSF collection?
Constance
The Socialite Family is the online magazine where you can find beautiful decorating inspirations and discover the careers of cool creative people. I like the modernity of the tone and the selection of interviewees who are not show-offs, but who do not apologise for their success either. It’s thoughtful and interesting. On the collection side, I particularly like the Nonna sofa, whose proportions I love, and the birth set, which reminds me of my entire childhood. By the way, I may be fishing slightly here, but you were talking about collaboration, and at Petit Bailly we love Molli!
