The Next Door

Before The Next Door sold Comme des Garçons and Sacai, its founder Nicolas Ivars was outfitting Avignon's skate scene. He opened a skateboarding and streetwear shop in 1999, then used the space next door to launch the first The Next Door concept store in 2006 — a decade before the idea reached Paris. The Paris flagship, opened in 2019 on rue de Beaurepaire near the Canal Saint-Martin, is a joint venture with Olivier Migda and Antoine Floch, the duo behind the Man/Woman trade shows. Spread across four floors and roughly 800 square meters, the store is lit by neon and finished in pale wood and metal by local design studio Bonsoir Paris. The ground floor carries MM6 Maison Margiela, Comme des Garçons Shirt, Marni, Sacai, Alyx, and AMI alongside handbags, boots, and accessories like Marni's flasks. Downstairs is devoted to sneakers — Nike, Converse, Adidas — plus outdoor labels such as Nike x ACG and The North Face. The upper floors rotate as exhibition space; one summer, Bang & Olufsen used them to show its audio design objects. It's less a department store than a curated alternative to Paris's crowded grands magasins, built by someone who started out selling skateboards.