Owner Lisa Lori

The Perfect Provenance: Experiential Shopping at its Best

By Caitlin Brown

 

The culmination of 25 years in public relations in the luxury, lifestyle goods arena — marketing for big brands like the Body Shop, Absolute Vodka, International Flavors and Fragrances, and then, eventually starting her own PR firm — gave Lisa Lori an invaluable education and springboard to make her dream of creating her own retail store a reality.

 

Her vision: a store that feels more like a home away from home, celebrating what she’s passionate about — art, travel, food, fashion, home décor… charity —, the aptly named Perfect Provenance stands at 47 Arch Street in Greenwich, neatly tucked away from the bustle of Greenwich Avenue.

 

“Perfect Provenance speaks to the origin of things: where they are made and the craftsmanship behind them,” says Lori. “I want our customers to take with them a vacation feel, a retail experience that encompasses all the senses: the company, the food, the special finds.”

 

Lori doesn’t just want you to shop like you would any other store. Perfect Provenance is, essentially, a re-purposed house. She and her husband bought it, after looking for a long time, and completely renovated it. It was important to them for people to feel welcome, as if into their home. Visitors see art or home décor displayed in a setting that helps them envision it in their own home.

 

Café 47, headed by chef Duane Shand, is worth a visit, even if shopping isn’t on the agenda. The menu is ideal if you just feeling like noshing, but…

after a few minutes of sitting and sipping a <perfect> cappuccino, I was called across the room to the fun coffee-table books sitting at eye level. From there, to the cheeky coasters, upstairs to the arousing scent of perfumes calling me…and then to the sparkly jewelry and the étagère filled with treasures in the hallway. And then the vintage French poster ads framed on the wall… and finally…back to my table with a lovely lunch waiting and a lunch date, who disappeared to circulate. And after that, we sat eating, talking about it all. This seems to be Lori’s goal. It is an experience, and a fun and tasty one at that.

 

 

The store is set around a theme. “We try to do three or four themes a year: one lifestyle, one travel, and one cultural. It’s inspiring and creative and we buy merchandise to fit the event, create events, and inspire the menu around it.”

 

The latest event, Sustainable-Upcycling-Perfect, opened March 1, the first day of Greenwich restaurant week. It was brought together with the help of several Greenwich partners, including The Local Vault, stylist Maria Turkel, Sue Bodson of Emboss LLC, and Kids in Crisis.

 

All month long, Perfect Provenance invites customers to participate in its new or gently used clothing and children’s games drive to benefit Kids in Crisis, a counseling and temporary emergency shelter and prevention program in Connecticut.

 

For more information, call 203-900-1133 or visit

www.theperfectprovenance.com.