OUR STORY
I Love Paris was born in Dunedin in 1989 when Ava, frustrated with having to travel to find edgy and fashionable footwear decided to set up her own boutique bringing an injection of European style and quality to Dunedin’s beige footwear scene.
Our first ever store was located under The Savoy (where Jizo is now) We then moved down to the Edinburgh way. When the 90’s hit, trends changed and the people wanted Doc Martens! I Love Paris answered the call and set up "The Doc Shop” in which stocked one of New Zealand’s largest selections of Doc Martens, from the classic 1460 to "8-ups” to "10-ups” in every colour and pattern you can imagine… if you were a student in the 90’s your first stop when arriving in Dunedin was I Love Paris where you would pick up a pair of Docs. But in the world of fashion, what goes up must come down, and Ava’s instincts told her Doc’s were about to be over, and she decided it was time to move back to ILP’s roots of fashion forward and eclectic European footwear. ILP moved to the corner site of the Golden Centre Mall where they remain to this day.
In 2003, Ava’s daughter Samara who was living in Wellington, noticed a real gap in the market for a store like ILP and decided to open an I Love Paris in Wellington’s premier fashion arcade The Old Bank. With Ava running the Dunedin store, Samara running the Wellington store and Tony (T.C) the marketing and admin brains behind the scenes, I Love Paris is a real family business still staying true to our original mission of providing our customers the most exciting shoes from around the world, with a focus on the leading edge designs of Europe.
