The iconic Colette Paris flagship store is to close on the 20th anniversary of its opening.

The news came as a shock as the retail brand has continued to flourish in the internet era, and continues to work with brands on collections – the most recent with Swedish fast-fashion brand H&M announced this week.

“As all good things must come to an end, after 20 wonderful years, Colette [will] be closing its doors on December 20th of this year,” the company said in an Instagram post.

“Until our last day, nothing will change. Colette will continue to renew itself each week with exclusive collaborations and offerings, also available on our website colette.fr We thank you for your support and see you soon at Colette – until December 20,” the post concluded.

The reason for the closure is that founder Colette Roussaux has decided to step back from an active retail management role, and “Colette cannot exist without Colette”.

The 8000 sqft, three-storey store in trendy Rue Saint Honoré, is likely to be taken over by Saint Laurent.

“We would be proud to have a brand with such history, with whom we have frequently collaborated, taking over our address.” Employees may transfer to the luxury fashion brand.

Roussaux has largely left the day-to-day running of the store to her daughter Sarah Andelman during the past few years.

The Business of Fashion said the store’s success was down to its “discerning fashion edits and quirky mix of lifestyle products that have turned the store into one of Paris’ premiere fashion pit-stops”.

Among its fans is fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld who once declared it was the only store he ever shopped at “because they have things no one else has”.

“I buy watches, telephones, jewellery there – everything really! They have invented a formula that you can’t copy easily, because there is only one Colette and her and Sarah are 200 per cent involved.”

This story first appeared on sister site, Inside Retail Asia.