SCENTIDO: A Perfume Shop Born from a Collector’s Passion

I soon had a desire to share my passion with the world.
Shishir Mehta

SCENTIDO is an Indian perfume retailer bringing together niche fragrances from around the world. The interest in perfume that founder Shishir Mehta cultivated on his travels eventually led him to open his first shop in an old Mumbai building. Its beginnings rest on two things: fragrances chosen by a collector, and a space in which to discover them at leisure.

Contents

How the Shops Began
1. From Collecting Perfume to a First Shop in Fort
2. Turning a Cigar Warehouse into a Perfumery
The Thinking Behind the Shops
1. Discovering Fragrance Across Brands
2. Making Fragrance Knowledge Part of the Conversation
A Shop to Visit
1. Mumbai: Phoenix Palladium
References

How the Shops Began

From Collecting Perfume to a First Shop in Fort

Mehta was an engineer who had spent many years running a metallurgical testing laboratory. While his daughter was living in New York and later London, he began buying perfumes for her and for himself. His interest in the fragrances he encountered abroad gradually grew into an ambition to open a different kind of perfume shop in India.

As he travelled, his search expanded from familiar scents to distinctive perfumes found in small boutiques. He collected bottles he loved, but also explored their history and the science of scent. He would eventually channel roughly a decade of passion for perfume into SCENTIDO.

The first shop opened in February 2018 in Fort, South Mumbai. Its shelves, selected by Mehta himself, included Roja Parfums and Ormonde Jayne from Britain, Jovoy from France, and Aedes de Venustas from New York. From the outset, it brought together houses from different countries, with histories of very different lengths, under one roof.

Turning a Cigar Warehouse into a Perfumery

The first shop occupied a space in Kermani Building that had once served as a cigar warehouse. Mehta conceived its Art Deco-inspired design, and architect Kavita Trivedi brought that vision to life.

I could not have done it alone. Architect Kavita Trivedi ensured my vision came to life, in spectacular fashion.
Shishir Mehta

The renovation removed partitions and suspended ceilings to reveal the full height of the space. The existing woodwork, stained glass and stone walls were restored, while accumulated grime was washed from the facade. Blue walls, brass-trimmed shelving and a black-and-white tiled floor were then introduced. The warm colour of teak remained in the doors, shelves and spiral staircase, making the old building’s details a backdrop for the perfumes.

The shop covered around 1,000 square feet, or 93 square metres. It had four large display windows and a high ceiling, with a wooden spiral staircase in one corner. This first address invited visitors to look beyond the shelves and take in the building itself.

Among those attending the opening was Chandler Burr, the former perfume critic for The New York Times. Inside the shop, he sprayed perfume into a small glass dome while explaining a fragrance by Aedes de Venustas. The sight of someone discussing perfume as an art form beside the shelves captures something of SCENTIDO’s beginnings.

The business expanded from Mumbai to Delhi, opening in Hyderabad in 2020. In 2025, its acquisition by Sawariya Group, whose businesses include distribution, was announced, marking a new chapter in the ownership of a shop born from its founder’s collection.

The Thinking Behind the Shops

Discovering Fragrance Across Brands

SCENTIDO’s interiors share a design language that recalls old European shops and traditional British perfumeries. Woodwork, stained glass, chandeliers and decorative tiles are layered with contemporary glamour. The restoration of the original Fort premises established a character that would carry through to later shops.

Our racks are democratized…
Surabhi Popli

Marketing manager Surabhi Popli described an approach that avoids dividing the shop into dedicated brand areas or promoting one name above the others. It leaves customers room to explore perfumes for themselves, bringing established names together with houses led by families or perfumers.

At the Fort shop, Mehta also encouraged visitors to spend time with fragrances and take home samples of those that stayed with them. Rather than being guided by labels for men or women, they could seek out a scent that spoke to them. Choosing a perfume meant trying it in everyday life, beyond a single impression at the counter.

Making Fragrance Knowledge Part of the Conversation

There has to be conversation, communication…
Surabhi Popli

In staff training, Popli placed importance on learning how to approach customers as well as acquiring product knowledge. The aim was to explain a house’s history and the value of its perfumes while taking an interest in the person in front of them. By recruiting both people with perfume expertise and those experienced in luxury service, SCENTIDO brought together an understanding of its products and its customers.

A Shop to Visit

Mumbai: Phoenix Palladium

For a visit to SCENTIDO in Mumbai today, there is the Phoenix Palladium shop in Lower Parel. It offers a glimpse of how the business has grown from its first address in Fort into a shopping-centre setting.

Illustration of SCENTIDO’s Palladium shop, with wooden perfume shelves, blue chairs, gold geometric detailing and chandeliers. — SCENTIDO’s Phoenix Palladium shop (illustration)

Lighting built into the polished wooden shelves along the walls picks out the small perfume bottles, tier by tier. Freestanding displays also occupy the centre, allowing visitors to walk around them and compare the shelves. Blue walls and two blue chairs, mirrored surfaces with gold geometric detailing, and chandeliers overhead bring colour and light to the wood-lined shop.

The shelves offer an overview of the perfumes, while a seating area gives visitors somewhere to pause within the same space. Even with so many bottles on display, the layout makes room for people to linger as they choose. It reflects the emphasis on exploration and conversation that has shaped SCENTIDO.