A boutique (French: [butik]) is a retail shop that deals in high end fashionable clothing or accessories. [1] The word is French for "shop", which derives ultimately from the Ancient Greek ἀποθήκη (apothēkē) "storehouse". [2] [3]
The term boutique and also designer refer (with some differences) to both goods and services, [4] which are containing some element that is claimed to justify an extremely high price.
The term boutique entered common English parlance in the late 1960s.[ citation needed]
Some multi-outlet businesses ( Chain stores) can be referred to as boutiques if they target small, upscale niche markets. [5] Although some boutiques specialize in hand-made items and other unique products, others simply produce T-shirts, stickers, and other fashion accessories in artificially small runs and sell them at high prices.
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In the late 1990s, some European retail traders developed the idea of tailoring a shop towards a lifestyle theme, in what they called "concept stores," [6] which specialized in cross-selling without using separate departments. One of the first concept stores was[ citation needed] 10 Corso Como in Milan, Italy, founded in 1990, followed by Colette [7] in Paris and Quartier 206 [8] in Berlin. Several well-known American chains such as Tiffany & Co., Urban Outfitters, [9] [10] Dash, and The Gap, [11] Australian chain Billabong and, though less common, Lord & Taylor, adapted to the concept store trend after 2000.