Ercole Cellino, took over the historic luxury multibrand the Duomo di Novara 3 years ago, and today announces the opening of a new boutique in Chamonix.
The opportunity is great to have a chat with the entrepreneur to tell us about the new store and also the path that led him to this opening.
Hello Ercole. I see you don’t stop! Even in such a difficult period. Tell us about the new opening …
Hello Marco! And yes. Finally the Cathedral opens Chamonix too. I say finally, because we should have already opened last summer, but then due to Covid, we have postponed, until we inaugurated last month. A small time window, because then, as you well know, the situation linked to the pandemic has worsened again.
However, we are looking forward: all this was planned before the pandemic and our gaze is turned further, out of the storm.
Let’s take a step back. I take this opportunity to let us tell a little about you. Only 3 years ago you took over and relaunched the Novara Cathedral, today a new opening. What path has brought you here and where does your love for the fashion world come from?
My family has Sardinian origins: my father works in football: he was the owner of Cagliari and later of Leeds United and today of Brescia. It is precisely in the world of football that I started to have my first work experiences. I also worked in Milan, and then, later, in Infront.
The maternal side of my family, on the other hand, has its roots in the world of fashion, as my grandmother owned and managed some of the most prestigious luxury boutiques in Sardinia.
This side then prevailed with a Masters in fashion from Bocconi and a job at Armani. From there, the choice was born to enter the retail world directly at an entrepreneurial level and take over the Cathedral of Novara.
What activity did that of Novara involve?
It was a luxury boutique with an excellent positioning, but we intervened with important investments, through expansion and restyling works. Which were also accompanied by the launch of our e-commerce www.ilduomo.it.
Once the reality of Novara was consolidated, I started looking around to strengthen our retail structure.
It’s for sure a difficult period. But whoever stops is lost. Tell us about the new store. And why the choice of Chamonix.
There had been the desire to expand for some time and we began to look around with a focus on Italian holiday resorts, the most prestigious ones. We soon realized that they were too saturated, so we started to move our research between Switzerland and France and in the end the choice fell on Chamonix: a wonderful location and a strategic point between France, Italy and Switzerland.
I saw that the store has been taken care of in every detail. It certainly does not go unnoticed. A wonderful ‘wedding favor’.
The boutique is located on Rue Paccard, the main pedestrian street of the city which overlooks the summit of Mont Blanc.
It is a space of 100 square meters that is the result of the work of Studio Baciocchi which has paid great attention to details and materials.
We started with the woman but there is also a project for an enlargement on the man. The space already exists, and at this moment it is in the evaluation phase of the cultural heritage as we find ourselves within an extremely particular historical context.
Which brands are available in Chamonix?
As mentioned at the moment, the departure is only on the woman. The brand list is selected and of the highest profile .. to name a few: Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, Manolo Blahnik, Alexander McQueen.
First Novar now Chamonix … will the expansion continue?
I am young, there is a desire to grow and never stop. But there is also the need to consolidate what has been created and invested in. Surely the desire is great, but first we will have to ripen what we have sown.
Thank you so much for the chat Ercokle! In the mouth the wolf and to resent for the next news, which I’m sure will not miss.
Thanks to you Marco! Talk to you soon.
All the images of the new Chamonix boutique in the gallery below:
