It started 37 years ago.
Long before Banella became the colourful concept store you see today, there was another Banella.
37 years ago, my mother opened a lingerie store in Alexandroupoli, Greece, before I was even born.
Its name was inspired by the Italian word balena, meaning whale, a reference to the whalebone historically used to give structure to corsets and bras.
I grew up with that name, with the rhythm of a shop, and with all the little details that make a store feel like more than just a place to buy things.
I didn’t know it then, but years later, Banella would become part of my own story.
Years later, Banella became mine too.
After a trip to the Netherlands, the idea of creating something of my own started to take shape.
The first Banella Concept Store opened in Alexandroupoli, in a space where my father had run his own shop for many years. The name came from my mother’s store, the space carried my father’s history, and somehow, both became the beginning of something new.
And we started small. Really small.
My mother and I chose a handful of brands we loved and put the shop together ourselves. We painted, reused old shelves and brought in furniture and pieces from our family home. There was no big investment, no fancy interior designer and definitely no perfect business plan.
Just a space we had, things we loved and an idea we really wanted to try.
Over time, that little experiment started becoming the colourful world I had imagined one new brand, one new idea and one little change at a time.
And little by little, it grew.
Banella became more colourful, more playful and more us. We discovered new designers, filled the shop with things that made us smile and watched this little idea grow into something we could never have planned from the beginning.
And then, life took us somewhere completely new.
And then came Santorini.
A few years later, life brought us to Santorini.
What I thought might mean leaving Banella behind unexpectedly became a new beginning.
So Banella packed its colors, its favorite things and a little bit of everything it had become and moved to the island.
We arrived with very little, mostly what was left from the previous shop. And once again, we made the space ourselves. We brought old furniture from our grandmothers’ homes, reused what we already had and made only the changes we really needed.
There was no big renovation or perfectly designed interior. Banella simply started taking shape again, piece by piece.
And that’s really how it has always grown: slowly, naturally, adding something here, changing something there, and becoming a little more Banella with every step.
Banella today.
Today, from our colourful corner of Santorini, we welcome people from all over the world.
It’s very different from Alexandroupoli, where we were part of a local community that already knew us. Here, every day brings new faces, new countries and new stories and we love that.
But the feeling behind Banella remains the same.
Our shelves and rails are filled with clothing, accessories, homeware, stationery, candles, gifts, souvenirs and all sorts of unexpected little finds carefully selected from independent designers and brands, mainly from Greece and across Europe.
And because we’re in Santorini, souvenirs have naturally become part of our story too just not always the kind you might expect. We love finding pieces that capture a little bit of Greece or the island in a fresh, playful way; things you’ll actually want to keep long after the holiday is over.
Many of the things you’ll find here also come with a story. Over the years, we’ve built personal relationships with many of the designers and people behind the brands we carry. Knowing who made something, where it came from and the story behind it makes choosing what comes into Banella even more special.
Still a family story.
Banella may look very different today, but at heart, it’s still very much a family story.
It carries a little bit of my mother, a little bit of where I grew up, and so many pieces of everything we’ve collected, discovered and loved along the way.
Even after all these years, one of my favourite parts is still discovering something new and immediately thinking, “This has to be in Banella.”
Maybe that’s the simplest way to explain this place — a collection of things, people, stories and little discoveries that somehow found their way here.
Come and say hello.
If you ever find yourself in Santorini, come and visit us in Kamari.
Take your time, look around, discover something unexpected and hopefully leave with a little piece of Banella to take home with you.
We’d love to welcome you into our colourful little world.