The Mercantile London – Spitalfields Arts Market

Lamb Street
London
Gt Lon
E1 6EA

Stuck for Fashion, Stuck for Shopping

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02073778926

££

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For those who don’t know, tell us about Mercantile?

Mercantile is a contemporary women’s clothing store in Spitalfields, East London. The store, with its vintage vibe and relaxed feel showcases contemporary brands sourced from far and wide and locally. All with the same philosophy and aesthetic, a point of difference to what is on offer elsewhere, a genuine value for money mantra whatever the price level and a service that is friendly and welcoming to all.

Why should we shop with you?

The broad mix of product from tailoring and outerwear, a vast array of denim, cute little dresses and easy tops sit alongside stunning jewellery, accessories, footwear and apothecary. The heavy footfall and constant turnover of stock means there is always something fresh and new in store. Buying into bigger brands and smaller brands, low price and high price, the clothes are mixed together and appeal to a customer who herself is confident to mix designer with vintage, new and old. Each style is selected for its purpose, we have edited a range to present online but there is a whole lot more in store…

Why did you choose the name Mercantile?

We wanted a utilitarian name and see ourselves as traders of the East, what with all the history of textiles in the area.

When was Mercantile founded, and tell us a bit about the history?

We’ve been on Lamb Street for 6 years or more but underwent a little transformation two years ago. We’ve been fairly quiet, slowly building up a wonderful customer base and growing organically. We’re more slow fashion here, we like things crafted, beautiful, original, unique and independent.

Tell us about your current collection?

Winter is deeply rich in texture and colour. We have bought lots of chunky, furry, warm and cosy pieces, Fabulous Coats and Warm Boots. We love soft, textured comfort wear at Mercantile. We have some gorgeous See By Chloe dresses coming in, Baum Und Pfterdgarten never fail to impress with their collections and Dr Denim is such a great staple brand for Jeans. Gat Rimon is a personal favourite collection and then we have all the new brands..

When I walk into your Lamb Street store, it has the immediate WOW factor! How do you choose everything to be so different, breath-taking and must-have?

Point of difference is always the brief when we go buying. Most of our customers mix High Street and vintage with their new buys so we like to offer something to compliment this but also something that is different. Entry point product better priced and better made than the High Street, hand crafted product both ethically and locally sourced, contemporary design that is unique and fresh yet timeless and classic. We have a conscience!

Great Location! Who designed the interior of Mercantile here at your trendy Spitalfields store?

The interior has naturally evolved rather than being themed. Loads of vintage pieces found in markets, lots of pieces borrowed from friends, we wanted to keep the original feature of the beautiful greengrocer units at Spitalfields Market but added our own warm spirit and vibe. Tourists love our old-fashioned till which came out of a Victorian department store in Harrogate.

Not only is it wonderful that you use more natural models but you show us how we as woman really look, with no pretence. Tell us about your castings for the models you decide to use?

Our webstore is relatively new and all built buy ourselves, just a small team of creative people. We were bored with other sites lack of texture and spirit something which we had spent a long time developing in store that we wanted to recreate on the site. The first thing was to have very little white, we do love a good close up of the product, looking at details and feeling a bit of the texture through the screen. Models were hugely important, all the girls on the site are real people, friends, family, customers. Nothing is photo shopped, the stock doesn’t hang round long enough but also we don’t lie. We’re genuine and that applies to our shop floor selling, we don’t hard sell. Softly, slowly and we a genuine love for the product.