On a grey day in March, FiveoaksBouquet and I went to visit a new address for perfume shopping in Montréal on very fashionable Laurier Street West. What attracted us to this particular women’s fashion store was that it has recently started selling a collection of curated niche perfumes. The store is called Henriette L. and its address is 1031 Laurier Street West, Montréal.
The owner, Louise Lamarre, had just left Montréal for Paris so we didn’t meet her but she, herself, is a perfume lover and when she goes to Paris to select women’s fashion she also picks out perfume to sell in her boutique. The houses we saw were:
Frapin
J.F. Schwarzlose
Jeroboam
BDK Parfums
Rania J
Berdoues
Goti
CB I Hate Perfume
Liquides Imaginaires
Parle Moi de Parfum
I don’t know that any of these perfumes were ever available before in Montréal (except for Frapin which used to be carried by Ogilvy’s at one time) so this was a real treat. Personally, I LOVE the way the perfumes are displayed. For the perfumista, it’s heaven. The perfumes can be accessed easily as they are displayed on a custom-made display case. You don’t have to ask for an SA to get the bottle from behind a counter. And the scent strips are there so you can try out what you like… no asking the SA for a scent strip. Ggggrrrrr.
I’ve said this before and I’ll repeat myself here. When visiting museums I LOVE to see retrospectives. The ability to see an artist’s view of beauty throughout their lifetime is a privilege which is why I love curated collections. This is what you will experience at Henriette L.
For tourists, Laurier Street West can be accessed by subway and bus (or by car, obviously). If it’s a beautiful day, I say take the subway to either Laurier or Outremont stations and then walk over to the shop which is about 20 minutes away. On a lovely spring or summer day, it could be just perfect! There are plenty of tea shops around so spraying scents on your skin, having a cup of tea and then deciding which perfume you would like to buy works out just fine. It did for us and I’ll tell you next week what I purchased.
P.S. I have since added Henriette L. to my post on perfume shopping in Montréal.
The Perfume Chronicles 
Saskia
/ March 4, 2018Ohhh, my favourite street! What a marvellous discovery and what a treat to look forward to in the summer!
Normand Cardella
/ March 4, 2018Hi Saskia!
If you’ve tired of the recent offering by the mainstream, niche might be a good alternative for awhile… or forever!
Normand
FiveoaksBouquet
/ March 4, 2018It was a very enjoyable outing. Good company and lovely store and I was impressed with the selection of niche brands. Definitely intend to go back for further exploration as there were too many scents to explore for one trip.
For those on or near the 80/435 Park /CDN or 51 Edouard-Montpetit bus lines, those buses go to within a block of the store, which is between Durocher and Hutchison, just west of Av du Parc.
Normand Cardella
/ March 4, 2018There you go! Thanks for the added information.
Andrea
/ March 4, 2018Great photos…. I love how the perfumes are displayed.
Normand Cardella
/ March 4, 2018You should drop in even just to get an idea of what the niche perfumers are up to.
Nathalie Boivin
/ March 6, 2018Bonjour Normand,
J’ai découvert par hasard que Henriette L. vendait des parfums en passant devant sa boutique à la fin de l’été dernier. J’ai été ravi par le choix, la présentation et l’accueil. J’ai bien aimé la maison BDK que je ne connaissait pas. J’ai failli craqué pour Wood Jasmin…
Normand Cardella
/ March 6, 2018Bonjour Nathalie,
Une amie m’a envoyé l’article qui a apparue dans La Presse Plus et je suis allé aussitôt que j’ai pu. Le choix est magnifique. Moi aussi, j’ai essayé le Wood Jasmin sur ma peau. Mais, je cherchais une alternative à Fracas. J’en parlerai dans mon prochain billet.
Merci pour le commentaire.
Normand
chez Marzipan
/ April 7, 2018I am a big fan of the Berdoues line and was thrilled to see them so beautifully displayed.
Normand Cardella
/ April 7, 2018I’m going to have to go back and focus just on Berdoues. There is a lot to discover!
FiveoaksBouquet
/ April 7, 2018Years ago I used to wear Violettes de Toulouse by Berdoues. It came in a small rounded purple bottle. They didn’t have so many fragrances then. I find the bottles they have today stunning.
Normand Cardella
/ April 7, 2018Yes. The bottles are gorgeous. We’ll have to go back soon!
chez Marzipan
/ April 8, 2018I have four bottles of the Berdoues Grand Cru in my house and they really are lovely….my desire to purchase them were as much for the bottles as for the perfume they contained…even the boxes that house the bottles are lovely.
Normand Cardella
/ April 8, 2018Yes, they are absolutely beautiful. Which Grand Cru do you have?
chez Marzipan
/ April 11, 2018I have Assam of India (which I bought blind because of the elephants on the bottle…my childhood friend of 50 years gave me a gift certificate for my birthday for perfume and since her animal is the elephant I bought Assam…I loved it so much I wore it for seven weeks straight two summers ago), Arz el Rab, Oud al Sahraa and Vanira Morrea.
Normand Cardella
/ April 11, 2018I’m totally intrigued. Thanks! I’ll look out for those perfumes!
Tara C
/ April 20, 2018I visited the shop yesterday and spent two hours chatting with the owner, who is a real perfumista. Lovely selection. My favourites were Jereboam Vespero and Schwartzlose Leder.
Normand Cardella
/ April 20, 2018Of course! Vespero… must be an incense-based perfume. I want to go back and try that Leder.