a person who sells expensive fabrics
Dealer in well-made woven, knitted, and other fabrics; some mercers specialized in a particular cloth, such as silk or wool
A mercer is a merchant who deals in textiles
A dealer in textile fabrics, especially silk and other costly materials.
The term Mercer for a kind of trader is now largely obsolete. Mercers were formerly merchants or traders who dealt in cloth, typically fine cloth that was not produced locally. However inventories of mercers in small towns suggest that many were shopkeepers who dealt in various other dry commodities, not only cloth.