The family-run boutique Riccardi turns 45.
Riccardo and Anna Maria Dallai’s story reads like the script for a rom-com. A Boston-bred lady attends the University of Florence, and on her daily walks through the Palazzo Medici, Riccardi, she meets a young Italian man. The two fall in love, and Riccardo leaves Italy and his family business to follow his heart back to Boston. Here they decide to take advantage of Riccardo’s connections to the fashion industry in northern Italy and open a small upscale boutique on the storied Newbury Street. The name of that boutique? Riccardi.
After 45 years, Riccardi (riccardiboston.com) remains the spot in the city to find high-end fashion, from well-established designers like Givenchy to up-and-comers like CDG Play. Over the years, the store has seen an evolution, but at the core, little has changed. The space has moved a couple of doors down from its original location, the menswear selection has become more vast and certainly, the names on the labels are different now. But what has remained the same is the beating heart from where the store was born. Riccardo Sr. has finally retired after working six days a week for most of his life. Now at the helm is his son, also named Riccardo, who literally grew up in the store. “I was folding jeans or working in the stockroom every summer since I was like 13,” he says.
Bruce Springsteen and Riccardo Jr. at Riccardi by Michael Demeo
As a young man, Riccardo Jr. never felt compelled to carry on the family’s legacy. He had a brief career playing soccer and then was well on his way to becoming a doctor. It was a family trip to California that finally changed his mind. “There wasn’t supposed to be any work involved, but somehow my father convinced me and my mother to drive to Los Angeles, and the next thing you know, we’re touring a denim factory. I realized he loved what he did so much, and it just clicked for me - how can I not let this business continue on?” Riccardo Jr. says.
These days Riccardo Jr. is all in and does everything from cleaning the bathroom to the buying. He’s been able to put his own stamp on the business. For seven years, he ran a smaller boutique below Riccardi called Relic, which carried a selection of under-the-radar designers. Today he continues incorporating the newer names in fashion with the established houses.
RRR123 Riccardi exclusive items by Rivington
Many of these brands, from the entrenched to the emerging, will be helping the store celebrate its 45th year. Designers such as Amiri, Sacai, Who Decides War, RRR123 and Nahmias will create limited edition capsule collections to begin rolling out online this month. Look for new collections to be announced throughout the rest of the year. Riccardi will also launch a new website showcasing pieces from their archive, called “Riccardi Relics,” paying homage to the former store.
Father and son on a buying trip in Paris
Up until now the business has been mostly an in-store, brick-and-mortar model, which seems unbelievable today. But it’s working. What is in the special sauce for their success throughout the last four decades? Clearly, the base is a loyal clientele. Riccardi attracts their clients with consistent dedication to the best selection of designers. And they keep those clients by always thinking of them when they curate the store. “We’re so lucky to have such a vast client demographic - from Beacon Hill residents to international students at BU,” says Riccardo Jr. “My mom and dad saw an opportunity to open something a little more fashion-forward in Boston. They were selling progressive streetwear brands in the 1980s. That foundation allowed the store to feature emerging designers who needed the specialty store for exposure. It really paid off for us in so many ways,” he continues. It’s not unusual to hear of a college student coming in to buy a piece from the new designer gaining traction online, and becoming a regular, eventually setting aside the cutting edge for quality Tom Ford button-ups. Much of the staff has been at Riccardi for many years as well, shepherding their shoppers through all of their sartorial stages.
There’s no exact recipe. If there was, all of the stores that have come and gone on Newbury Street would certainly have followed it. Perhaps what Riccardi brings to the block and has always brought is heart. “The grind is real, but we love it,” says Riccardo Jr.
Photography by: DAVID LAUREN
