"Why the fashion world is Jogging to Marseille ?"

ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN FINANCIAL TIME ON 13 SEPTEMBER

"Olivier Amsellem is a cultural maître d’ for newcomers to Marseille. The concept store, garden restaurant, houses and art gallery that he runs in the city, which all sit under the moniker Jogging, have become a crash pad for the fashion jet-set, many of whom show up straight from the airport, suitcases in tow, and return multiple times over the course of their holiday. When Chanel staged its latest Cruise show in Marseille in May, Jogging was asked to host a tarot reading in one of its houses. Amsellem was called on to Radio Chanel as a “Marseillais and figure of the local scene”. Since opening as a retail space in 2014 in an old butcher’s shop on Rue Paradis, Jogging’s curation has drawn aesthetes the world over. “Jogging is basically the gateway between Marseille and the world,” says Guillaume Monnet, a local chef who recently completed his residency at Jogging’s restaurant (one of 18 residencies this summer). “Even when I was living in Paris, I knew that I would always find something cooler at Jogging,” agrees Taeri Grace, a creative strategist who’s been a customer for years. “The first thing all of my fashion influencer friends around the world want to do in Marseille is go to Jogging.”

They come for Amsellem’s selection. Jogging is probably the only place in the south of France where shoppers can find the likes of Jacquemus, Lemaire, District Vision and Courrèges sold alongside Astier de Villatte candles and sneakers from Asics and Salomon. Amsellem was a fashion photographer in Paris, assisting Paolo Roversi and Jean-Baptiste Mondino among others, before returning to his hometown in his early 40s. He says he buys “like a stylist. I don’t want to mix and match. I want the whole look.” 

It’s a confident edit. “Rabanne is not the easiest brand to sell,” believes Grace, “but Olivier has it in the line-up” – and, indeed, he finds it sells very well at Jogging. Inside, Helinox camping chairs (from €110) are presented next to a Jacquemus evening dress, which is near to holey MothTech T-shirts from the Paris running brand Satisfy (€120). The latest brightly coloured Wales Bonner Adidas drop (from €175) can be found opposite a display of Astier de Villatte’s white ceramic vases and candlesticks and near to the Vibram foot massage balls (€40). This summer, Amsellem is particularly hot on Puma, specifically its re-released SpeedCat trainer and a new square-toed collaboration with Coperni. “You won’t find this anywhere else in France,” he claims, “let alone the south.” 

Serving tourists has always been very much the plan. Jogging was born after Amsellem and his since-departed co-founder Charlotte Brunet worked together on Marseille’s campaign to be a European Capital of Culture for 2013. “When we opened, every other store in Marseille would close for August,” Amsellem remembers. “We were the first to say, ‘We are open.’” Today the summer months remain the best for business, though Amsellem, who has designed the official team scarves for the Olympique de Marseille football team since he was a teenager (his father ran the club shop), admits he’d love to have more local customers. 

Larger boutiques around the world are paying close attention to the moves that Jogging makes. In July, within days of Amsellem announcing on Instagram that Jogging was going to be the first retail stockist of Korean beauty brand PinkWonder, PinkWonder’s sales team received a call from Paris’s Le Bon Marché, the world’s oldest department store, requesting a meeting. “I am the mother shop of many brands,” Amsellem says with pride, citing the likes of Jacquemus, Anthony Vaccarello and Blumarine as brands he stocked when not many others would. 

Next, he wants to move on to the biggest fish. “I would like to jump into the premium market – Prada, Loewe and Miu Miu – and that’s another game.” But he is able to take stock of a plan realised. “My first vision was to make this city international. To invite the world to Marseille.” Ten years on, a week in the city as become a fixture for the fashion set and other aesthete-minded Marseille hangouts, such as Tuba Club, Épicerie l’Idéal and La Mercerie, have followed in his footsteps. “It’s working,” he jokes, “because people who are better than me with more money are doing it. And together we are a force.” "