Histoire de Felix Potin

Félix Potin opened his first shop at 28 rue Coquenard in Paris in 1844, at the age of just 24. The opening of numerous other shops operating under the same name soon followed. In 1860, he opened his first two-level, large-area retailer on the Boulevard de Sébastopol in Paris. The following year he constructed a Félix Potin factory in La Villette, in the northern outskirts of Paris.

The Félix Potin network experienced remarkable success during the late Second Empire and early Third Republic. In 1864 he expanded the Villette factory and opened a boutique on the Boulevard Malesherbes, and in 1870 he started a home-delivery service. The business continued to grow after its founder’s death, with a second factory in 1880 and a second large shop on Rue de Rennes in 1904. The Félix Potin factories employed 1,800 workers in 1906, growing to 8,000 by 1927. By 1923, the Félix Potin name counted 70 branches, 10 factories, 5 wine stores and 650 horses.

The business survived in more or less the same form until 1956, when the then 1,200 shops became minimarkets, which were purchased by a Greek-French entrepreneur named André Mentzelopoulos in 1958. After a period of poor management, this business collapsed and was liquidated in 1996, with the Promodès chain buying a few of the points of sale. In 2003, the Société Philippe Potin acquired the right to use the Félix Potin name for its distribution network in South-East France.

With this great history of the one and only Félix Potin, a carefully selected French Chocolatier came to life and became a true hit for chocolate lovers all over the world. With orders shipped to destinations around the globe, experiencing the French history of Félix Potin from the comfort of your own home is just a click away.