Jovoy: A Paris Embassy for Independent Perfume Houses

Our ambition is to honour the perfumes themselves and the raw materials.
— François Hénin

On Rue de Castiglione, a short walk from Place Vendôme in Paris, Jovoy brings the work of many perfume makers together in one shop. It carries its own fragrances, but exists to do more than sell its own name. It has created a place where small brands can meet perfume lovers, considering both what to welcome onto its shelves and how visitors will experience the scents.

The history and creations of Jovoy as a perfume brand are covered in our existing article on Jovoy Paris. Here, we follow the work of the shops François Hénin established to introduce perfumes by other makers.

Key facts
François Hénin and the origins of the shop
How Jovoy chooses its perfumes
1. Rarity, without repeating the same scents
2. Giving new makers a chance
A shop for smelling and conversation
1. Old perfumery bottles and glass domes
2. Finding individual preferences, and private consultations today
Extending the shop experience online
1. Rethinking samples and logistics in 2021
2. TRY ME: connecting reading with smelling
References

Key facts

Retail business established: 2010, Paris
Founder: François Hénin
Paris shop: 4 rue de Castiglione, 75001 Paris, France
Opening hours: Monday–Saturday, 11 a.m.–7 p.m. (checked October 2026)
Official website: Jovoy Parfums Rares

1923 is the year Blanche Arvoy founded the original perfume brand. The brand’s revival in 2006 and the opening of the multi-brand shop in 2010 are separate events.

François Hénin and the origins of the shop

An idea for a shared shop, born in Cannes

The Jovoy shop began when Hénin, who was already releasing perfumes, sought to create a retail space together with fellow brands.

The idea took shape at a trade event in Cannes, which he attended at the invitation of his Ukrainian distributor. There, he overheard major industry figures complaining that niche perfume houses were receiving too much free media attention. The next morning, he proposed to makers he knew that they open a shared shop in Paris. Around ten brands gathered to discuss finding a location and drawing up a business plan.

But once he had found premises, his colleagues were reluctant to invest. Hénin turned to his parents for funding and, with his father’s support, opened the shop himself. A collective idea became a business for which he took responsibility. That is how the name Jovoy came to appear above the door.

The plan was to find a shop and turn it into an embassy.
— François Hénin

Hénin opened the shop alone, working six days a week. He had two children at the time. Earning a good reputation was not the same as sustaining a business; his family’s support made the beginning possible.

From a small shop in 2010 to the move in 2012

The first shop opened in 2010 on Rue Danielle-Casanova. A shop announcement from the following year gives the address as number 29. The initial selection centred on a dozen or so brands with which Hénin had personal ties. As more brands joined, the small retail space could no longer accommodate them.

In March 2012, the shop moved to Rue de Castiglione, taking larger premises beneath the arcades near Place Vendôme. In April 2012, France Today described the new shop as a spacious, welcoming place.

The move changed the clientele as well as the floor area. In 2015, Hénin explained that the new location had brought more visitors from Russia and the Middle East, greatly expanding the high-perfumery segment. The relationship between the people the shop welcomed and the perfumes it stocked had continued to evolve since its opening.

Expansion to London and through franchises

In 2017, a shop opened at 21 Conduit Street in London’s Mayfair. Like Paris, it was a directly operated store; its business model was not identical to that of the franchises in other locations.

Céline Lepeu, then manager of the Paris shop, said the Paris and London interiors were so similar that they were difficult to tell apart in photographs. Stone columns and arches, a palette of carmine red and black, and old wooden furniture used as display stands carried the design across. London also gained a glass-fronted display room for rare bottles and fragrance materials.

The expansion carried more than the shop’s name abroad. Its way of creating a space in which to introduce perfume became part of the identity of each location. Yet London did not simply reproduce the entire Paris range from the outset: at opening, it offered around 40 brands and 400 products.

The current official store directory lists Paris, Le Mans, London, several locations in Qatar, and Dubai. It also directs visitors to regional websites and selections, distinguishing the Paris online shop from stores in other countries.

Key dates in the retail business

Year	Event
2010	The first multi-brand shop opens on Rue Danielle-Casanova in Paris
March 2012	The shop moves to 4 Rue de Castiglione
2017	A shop opens in London’s Mayfair
2019	Hénin explains a more selective approach to the range as the number of brands grows
2021	He describes efforts to extend the shop experience through sampling, logistics and online guidance

How Jovoy chooses its perfumes

Rarity, without repeating the same scents

At first, the selection grew naturally out of personal relationships. As new brands proliferated, however, relationships alone could no longer determine what belonged on the shelves.

In 2015, Hénin named limited distribution and originality of scent as selection criteria, to avoid offering the same olfactory ideas repeatedly. He also considered longevity and development, citing the example of evaluating a fragrance’s drydown over two days.

The aim is not to have as many brands as possible.
— François Hénin, 2015

Introducing makers that visitors would be unlikely to encounter elsewhere mattered more than the sheer number of brands. That approach could coexist with the expansion of the shop.

By 2020, Hénin was giving greater weight to how easily a story could be communicated, alongside the fragrance itself. Even a compelling story would not reach a busy customer if it required a lengthy explanation. There also had to be consistency between a brand’s message and the person behind it.

We choose brands with a story that is both strong and easy to tell
— François Hénin, 2020

He identified one of the major mistakes independent brands could make as simply reworking mainstream bestsellers for the niche market. Being a small company does not guarantee an original scent. His selection process asked what a perfume would add to the shop, beyond the size of its maker or the rarity of its bottle.

Giving new makers a chance

In 2019, Hénin revealed that Jovoy had parted ways with around 20 brands that had failed to find an audience in its shops. He also stressed that this was not a judgement on their intrinsic worth. Whether a perfume suits the clientele of a particular shop is not determined by the quality of the work alone.

At this point, he was interested in proposals he described as a new wave or a new school. He cited L’Orchestre Parfum, which connects music and scent, and Australia’s Goldfield & Banks. A shop whose early selection had prominently featured revived old houses and stories of heritage was also turning towards fresh ideas that could surprise younger customers.

Welcoming new brands was not simply a matter of following trends. In 2021, Hénin explained that he wanted to give other makers a chance, just as others had once done for him. His example was Hubert Maes of Soleil d’Or in Lille, who had introduced Jovoy in France. A shop selects creations, but it can also help their makers enter the market.

A shop for smelling and conversation

Old perfumery bottles and glass domes

At Jovoy, the objects used to display perfume and those used to smell it have helped shape the shop’s character. At the time of the 2012 move, amber glass bottles drawn from old perfumery equipment allowed visitors to smell fragrance from their stoppers. Hénin explained that this conveyed the heart and drydown without filling the nose with alcohol.

In 2011, the shop also presented candles from Élisabeth de Feydeau’s Versailles en Parfums collection beneath glass domes, where visitors could smell them. The domes were more than decoration: they helped bring customers closer to the scent.

The same perfume reveals different facets when smelled immediately after spraying or once only its lingering scent remains. Alongside displays that draw attention to a bottle, the shop has considered how to present fragrance at different stages of its development.

Finding individual preferences, and private consultations today

In 2015, Hénin described his approach to serving customers as a game. The aim was to find a scent pleasing both to the wearer’s nose and to those around them. Although he did not disclose every technique, he clearly saw selling as a dialogue guided by the customer’s responses rather than a one-way explanation.

The Paris website still offers a way to book a private in-store consultation. The Rue de Castiglione shop opens Monday to Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Setting aside time for individual advice is another part of helping customers find their preferences within a wide selection.

Extending the shop experience online

Rethinking samples and logistics in 2021

The pandemic forced changes to the work of helping customers take their time over a choice. In 2021, Jovoy accommodated longer consultations with small groups while also using sample boxes and individually prepared scent strips to let discovery continue at home. Setting up its own warehouse and directly managing shipments to individual customers were also part of its response during this period.

If you cannot come to Jovoy, Jovoy will come to you.
— François Hénin, 2021

Hénin’s challenge was to extend in-store guidance to the web without relying on algorithms designed to push particular products. Since scent cannot be sent through a screen, words and samples need to work together. The aim was to create a path towards smelling a perfume, rather than simply substitute an online shop for a physical one.

TRY ME: connecting reading with smelling

The current official website offers several ways to explore perfumes, including by ingredient, perfumer, fragrance family and brand. Readers can encounter the words of creators and art directors as well as descriptions of a fragrance’s composition, adding another dimension to discovering the shop’s selection.

The TRY ME sampling service connects that guidance with the experience of smelling. Selected samples come with card-shaped scent strips describing the composition, allowing repeated testing at home. According to the official description, the service covers almost the entire catalogue.

The service also allows the sample cost to be deducted when the full-size version of the same perfume is purchased online within one month, subject to its conditions. It does not automatically apply to in-store purchases. More interesting than the discount is the opportunity to take a scent home and spend time with it before choosing a bottle.

Without travelling to Paris, readers can move from the words of an unfamiliar perfumer to a fragrance, then compare its development on skin with its description. The embassy Jovoy has built has grown beyond a place that gathers rare bottles. It creates routes between makers and perfume lovers through reading, smelling and conversation.