La Boutique de Cara — Local services in Paris

In the world of resale and consignment, we have nothing without trust, integrity, accountability and diligence. Sylvie was the employee 4/19. I believed in her integrity and that she represented the integrity of the store, believed the store would hold accountability should it turn out that they were selling counterfeit items. She assured us (my friend Cara and I) that we would have no problem returning if there were any issues whatsoever, but reiterated that everything was authentic. I took very detailed pictures of a handful of CC items including 4 camellia brooches, a CC vintage belt and CC silk scarf. I sent these pics to a 3rd party authenticator who specializes in CC and who has assisted me with hundreds of authentications just in the past year. I felt confident purchasing the items because should they come back as counterfeit, I would be able to return without hassle per Sylvie’s words. Later, my authenticator gave me the disheartening info that the items were counterfeit and 1 (the belt) did not look promising but she needed more pics to be sure. When we tried to return the fakes, it ensued an hour-long discussion/argument with the store owner’s grandmother who got her granddaughter and store owner, Sara(h), on the phone to speak with us. First of all, this grandmother should not have had to deal with her granddaughters lack of accountability. This is not only unprofessional but shows a general lack of respect toward elders and family and shame on the store owner, Sara, for passing this onto her. The grandmother refunded me in full with cash from her own pocketbook for the counterfeit CC scarf. That was 170€ out of the 509€. Keep in mind, 35€ approx was the cost of a non-designer scarf that I kept, no issues there, no refund needed. I take no issue with either of these scarves as they were either non-problematic or issue has been resolved properly. As we had Sara (store-owner) on the phone, Sylvie (original salesperson ) on chat via WhatsApp and speaking in person to the grandmother, they all denied/refused the return of these items with various excuses ranging from “they know and trust the person they got them from” , “they know the person who consigned to them purchased directly from the boutique “ , and “our authenticator must be wrong”. What baffles me the most is that these are supposedly pros in the industry , and yet they had the audacity and ignorance to suggest that we go to a Chanel boutique to have these authenticated (when everyone in the industry KNOWS that Chanel boutiques do not and will not authenticate for you). This poses another question. Where are if even are they authenticating their items that they receive ? While I could go on, with respect to your time as a reader, 4 fake camellia brooches were returned to the store; the store has them in their possession and we have video to prove that we left the store with no items. We were not refunded for the four camellia brooches which totaled approximately 300-304€. We initially paid via card. We gave them the option of refunding to the card which would be the proper way to do it, or we would accept cash, bank wire transfer, or third party money transfer ie PayPal or Wise (to make it easier for them). We left the store, I sent over my payment information. Instead, Sara the store owner, said she would only refund if I opened a French bank account (knowing that it’s impossible for a U.S. national and non-EU resident to open a bank account in France). I have not been refunded, they have stolen my money. it only strengthens my resolve as a reseller do right by my clients by authenticating properly, standing by my word, for taking accountability for every single item I sell. This is how businesses live and die. ETA: They are claiming it is the same person writing duplicate reviews when we are each our own person and each have a right to share our own personal experience with the public. They hired a lawyer to try and take down bad reviews (shady!). Let’s all remember that selling counterfeit items is a...

While this has always been a go-to for me in Paris, I have to warn everyone that the shop owner has zero integrity and deals in COUNTERFEITS, embarrassing for them and terrible for clientele who trust them to provide authentic goods when they don't. As a vintage luxury seller in America I source in Paris often and always get everything authenticated because I stand by what I sell. When I was in the shop on Saturday 4/19/25 we were looking at a belt, 4 Camelia brooches and a scarf. We sent the belt to be authenticated immediately (paid for authentication). It was Sylvie who was working, she assured us that everything we were looking at was authentic, but she knew we would be authenticating and she said that if there were any issues we could return what we'd purchased.

There were issues, the belt (which we didn't purchase), and everything else that we did purchase (4 Camelia's, scarf) all came back as COUNTERFEIT from our trusted authenticator (we pay for each authentication, as well). Sylvie had shared her WhatsApp with us and so we immediately sent her the authentication results with screen shots, she did not respond but it was Easter so we figured we would just go into the shop today, Tuesday 4/22/25 to return the PROVEN COUNTERFEIT items AS SYLVIE had told us we could.

When we came back in today they downright rudely refused to refund us for the fake products they sold us, despite assurances that they would, and just kept saying they 'trusted their consignors'. You can trust whoever you want, but you are selling fake products as real and we have the authentication results to prove it. Not only is it illegal to deal in COUNTERFEITS, it's bad business and says a lot about the ethics of the shop owner Sarah. Sarah was downright belligerent on the phone, telling us she was 'nice' to consider offering exchange, that we obviously must have 'changed our minds' (gaslighting in full effect) and all while leaving her elderly grandmother who was working to tell us that they absolutely would not offer us a refund for the €509 worth of fake goods purchased that they were selling as real. Disgraceful.

Eventually Sarah's grandmother refunded us for the scarf as it came from one of her clients. She pulled money from her own purse because she stands by what she brings into the store. Sarah just kept gaslighting and refusing to refund us, and Sylvie just kept saying how nice she was to have spent so much time with us in the shop, as if that makes it ok to sell fakes and try to pass them off as authentics.

We intend to fight this in all of the ways possible, but that being said, SKIP this spot, don't risk it. Sometimes fakes slip through, it's the nature of the beast, but if you don't stand by what you sell then you shouldn't be in business. THIS PLACE IS A HARD NO.

**Edited to add the correspondence with Sylvie from the store this afternoon for transparency and to demonstrate just how unnaceptable and...

I’ve visited several vintage stores around Paris, all of which have wonderful collections but the real difference here is the store owner! The lady (I’m so bummed I did not catch her name) was so warm, wonderful, kind-hearted and gave very good feedback on the pieces I chose. 100% recommend visiting La Boutique de Cara and have a deep dive into their clothes for absolute gems. I promise you won’t leave...