Frances May

What Frances May does

Frances May is an independently owned, private multi-brand fashion retailer founded in 2007 and headquartered in Portland, Oregon. The company operates a single physical flagship store at 521 SW 10th Ave. and a Shopify-powered e-commerce storefront that ships domestically and internationally. It curates and sells apparel, footwear, accessories, jewelry, homewares, and apothecary products across men's and women's categories, drawing from a portfolio of more than 80 international designer brands including A.P.C., Comme Des Garçons, Maison Margiela, Lemaire, Our Legacy, Bode, Simone Rocha, Wales Bonner, and Toteme. The company also sells a proprietary private-label line called Frances May Houseline and an anniversary merchandise line called FM Souvenirs.

The business model is direct-to-consumer retail with no subscription, wholesale, or franchise components. Revenue is generated through unit-priced individual transactions across a wide price band — from $4 accessories and snacks up to $1,805 outerwear — with men's assortment alone spanning 250+ SKUs across seven product pages. The flagship store is differentiated by experiential retail elements, including a dedicated A.P.C. shop-in-shop, a Colibri Flowers & Plants shop-in-shop, and a resident tarot reader (Auburn Intuitive). The company employs between 11 and 50 people and has no disclosed institutional investors, parent company, or external funding.

Frances May's go-to-market relies on the curated boutique experience, organic SEO through its Shopify site, and an email newsletter offering a 10% first-purchase incentive. The company markets itself as "Portland's Most Everything Department Store," positioning around depth of curation in a single physical destination and a tightly edited online assortment rather than scale or breadth across multiple locations. There is no evidence of AI, automation, or proprietary technology investment; the operating model is fundamentally traditional specialty retail augmented by a competent e-commerce platform.

Name

Frances May

Legal name

Frances May

Website

https://francesmay.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Frances May is an independently owned Portland, Oregon multi-brand fashion boutique curating apparel, accessories, homewares, jewelry, and apothecary from over 80 international designers through a single flagship store and a Shopify e-commerce site serving individual consumers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Specialty Apparel Retail

NAICS

Clothing and Clothing Accessories Retailers (45811), General Merchandise Retailers (455)

SIC

Retail-Department Stores (5311), Retail-Apparel & Accessory Stores (5600)

akta.pro primary industry

Luxury Fashion & Designer Department Stores (CRAGADAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Contemporary Women’s Specialty Department Stores (CRAGAGAB), Luxury Beauty & Fragrance Department Stores (CRAGADAD)

Keywords

• Designer apparel retail
• Curated fashion boutique
• Multi-brand clothing store
• Independent designer fashion
• Specialty retail apparel

Headquarters

HQ city

Portland

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Retail Sales - Apparel & Accessories: Revenue from selling curated men's and women's fashion, accessories, jewelry, and homewares through brick-and-mortar retail and e-commerce channels.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Frances May operates a brick-and-mortar and e-commerce multi-brand fashion department store based in Portland, Oregon, curating and selling men's and women's designer apparel, footwear, accessories, jewelry, homewares, and apothecary products from over 80 international and independent designer labels (including A.P.C., Comme Des Garçons, Lemaire, Our Legacy, Bode, Simone Rocha, and Maison Margiela), alongside its own proprietary "Frances May Houseline" private label. The store also features shop-in-shop installations (A.P.C., Colibri Flowers & Plants) and experiential retail elements such as a resident tarot reader.

Product overview

Frances May is a multi-brand fashion department store based in Portland, Oregon, offering a curated selection of contemporary clothing, accessories, homewares, apothecary, and jewelry. The store operates primarily as a multi-brand retailer featuring its own proprietary houseline (Frances May Houseline) alongside over 80 international designer brands. Product categories span women's and men's clothing across all major apparel types (tees, shirts, sweaters, outerwear, bottoms, shoes, accessories), complemented by home goods, beauty products, and fine jewelry. The business functions as a platform-plus-inventory model where Frances May curates and sells products from designer labels directly to consumers, both online and at their brick-and-mortar location on SW 10th Avenue in Portland.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Frances May Houseline: The store's own private label clothing line sold under the Frances May brand.
• FM Souvenirs

Products and services

• Men's Apparel
• Women's Apparel
• Homewares
• Apothecary
• Jewelry
• Frances May Houseline
• FM Souvenirs

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Colibri Flowers & PlantsminorOthersIn-store shop-in-shop partnership featuring curated flowers and plants within the Frances May retail space, enhancing the lifestyle shopping experience.
• A.P.C.coreOthersDedicated A.P.C. shop-in-shop within Frances May featuring curated selections from the French fashion house, including denim, basics, and accessories.
• Auburn Intuitive (Tarot Reader)minorOthersResident tarot reader offering intuitive services in-store, creating a unique experiential retail element.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• NET-A-PORTER: Global multi-brand women's luxury e-commerce retailer. Directly comparable to Frances May's women's designer assortment, content-led merchandising, and international shipping model.
• H. Lorenzo: Los Angeles-based luxury multi-brand boutique carrying an overlapping set of avant-garde and contemporary designers (Comme Des Garçons, Simone Rocha, Lemaire). Comparable as a curated designer specialty store with both physical and e-commerce presence.
• Mr Porter: Global multi-brand men's luxury e-commerce retailer offering premium designer brands with editorial content. Directly comparable to Frances May's men's assortment and DTC positioning, though at significantly larger scale.
• SSENSE: Montreal-based multi-brand luxury retailer carrying many of the same emerging and established designers (Comme Des Garçons, Bode, Lemaire, Wales Bonner). Closest comparable in terms of curated designer assortment and DTC e-commerce model.
• Mohawk General Store: Los Angeles-based curated multi-brand boutique carrying many of the same independent designers. Comparable in physical-boutique-plus-DTC model and contemporary/designer positioning.
• The Folklore: Multi-brand retailer focused on Black and independent designers, blending e-commerce with a curated marketplace model. Comparable in curated-discovery positioning and DTC-first approach to independent designer brands.
• Totokaelo: Seattle-based curated multi-brand boutique historically carrying many of the same avant-garde and emerging designers as Frances May. Closely comparable in independent-designer curation and Pacific Northwest/regional positioning.

Broad incumbents

• Farfetch: Global luxury marketplace and multi-brand platform offering an enormous assortment of designer brands. Overlaps with Frances May's designer portfolio but operates at vastly greater scale and as a marketplace rather than a curated boutique.
• Nordstrom: Established multi-category department store and e-commerce retailer carrying designer and contemporary apparel brands. Overlaps with Frances May's assortment breadth and apparel-led department store format but at much larger scale and broader price range.
• Shopbop: Amazon-owned online retailer offering contemporary and designer apparel and accessories. Comparable in multi-brand apparel e-commerce and broad price ladder, though less curated and more mass-market in positioning.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/frances-may

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Frances May