The French capital has held onto its long reign as the global center for all things style related. Besides its renowned museums and monuments, shopping alone attracts millions of visitors to Paris every year. Shopping in Paris from fabulous chic boutiques to the famous flea markets is some of the best in the world. Luxury brands, haute couture fashion, concept shops, luxury perfumes, jewelry shops and a wide variety of fine wines, cheese and other gastronomic delights, the list of what is on offer is simply endless and its shopping districts are gold mines for discount hunters, designer divas, window shoppers and fashion victims alike. Whatever the product or budget, Paris has got it all.
a) Avenue Montaigne and The Champs Elysees: streets are located in the 8tharrondissement of Paris, form one of the city’s most coveted fashion junctures. Flagship boutiques of Saint Laurent Paris, Chanel, Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton, Swarowski, Hermes, Fendi, Eric Bompard, Guerlain, Emilio Pucci, Dior Homme, Emanuel Ungaro, Jil Sander, Zara, Giorgio Armani, Manoush, Disney store for kids and much more awaits the visitors.
b) Boulevard Haussmann: is 2.5 kilometers long stretching from 8thto 9tharrondissement of Paris city. It is a wide tree-lined boulevards created by Napoleon III under the direction of his prefect for the Seine – Baron Haussmann. The old Parisian department stores here are famous for being a world unto themselves ‘Galleries Lafayette and Au Printemps’ dominate this district with real ‘Belle Epoque’ grandeur having top designer collections for men and women, home design, jewelry, gourmet food shopping making them a labyrinth of consumer delights. In the winter months these ‘grand Magasins (grand shops)’ are decked out with lights and elaborately decorated for the holiday season.
c) ‘Les Arcades’ – Coveted Passageways: explore the old world elegance of covered arcades and are a must do shopping experiences for shopaholics. Some fine examples are ‘Galerie Vivienne’, located in the2nd arrondissement of Paris city - housing luxury boutiques from top designers, old fashioned artisan toy shops. Other arcades worth exploring are ‘Passage Jouffroy’ located in the 9th arrondissement with beautiful iron and glass architecture with some of the most original shops hark back to a bygone era, ‘Passage du Grand Cerf’ located in the 2ndarrondissement is well known for its intricate antiques, fine handmade jewelry, furniture and fashion.
d) The Marais: located within the 3rdarrondissement of Paris is a shopping district offering haute fashion, high quality chain stores, vintage stores, classic hats, glasses, handcrafted jewelry, antiques, fine art galleries, cosmetics, perfumeries and gourmet goods. Explore shops like ‘Diptyque’, ‘MAC’, ‘Mariage Freres’, ‘Joseph Vannier chocolatiers’ and ‘Merci’,’Fleux’, ‘Luc Moulins’, ‘Gaetan Aucher’, ‘Les Vignoles’ and not to be missed ‘Popelini Patisserie for a bite of the latest craze Choux Pastry to name a few.
e) St. Germain-des-Pres: is located in the 6tharrondissement, the heart of Paris Rive Gauche. Visitors looking for chic classic designer goods, home furnishings, rare books, unique French regional goods will find this area a treasure trove of such goods. Boutiques of brands such as ‘Paco Rabanne’, ‘Sonia Rykiel’, ‘Royal Marche’, ‘Cartier’, ‘Armani’, ‘Louis Vuitton’, ‘LeBon Marche’ and independent art galleries are also located here.
f) Louvre and Tuileries Dsitrict: located in the 1starrondissement of Paris. Visitorscan shop for Crème de la crème designer fashion, home furnishings and quality cosmetics. Its main streets ‘Rue du Faubourg Saint–Honore’, ‘Rue Saint-Honore’ ‘Rue de la Paix’ and ‘Place Vendome’. The Faubourg Saint-Honore is the pulse of Paris design and fashion while the Saint-Honore fashion district has flagship stores of designers like Versace, Hermes, Yves Saint Laurent, luxury perfumer ‘Serge Lutens’ in Palais Royal area, trendy boutiques and concept stores.
g) Montmartre: is located in the 18tharrondissement of Paris. This shopping district is known for jewelry, accessories, fantasy objects, ready to wear stores and chocolates. Visitors can stroll and shop in its little streets full of charm and hidden treasures. Find designer jewelry at ‘Emmanuel Zysman’, for fantasy objects visit ‘Gift Code’, for ready to wear stores there is ‘Kookai’, ‘Sandro’ and ‘Karl Marc John’. There are concept stores like ‘Spree’, at ‘Lulu et Brindille’ visitors can find soft toys and decorative objects for children, souvenir shops abound, visit ‘Tienda Esquipulas – takes the visitor to South America with masks, wax canvases in fiery colors and other bric-a-brac of interest and chocolate lovers will relish a visit to ‘Maison Georges Lamicol’.
h) Chatelet Les Halles: located in the 1starrondissement of Paris has been a historical place for shopping. From a large medieval outdoor market popular with Parisians to fashion brand boutiques like H&M, Zara, Muji, Mango and many more to the souvenir shops on ‘Rue de Rivoli’ are very popular with visitors.
i) Rue de-Passy and Beaugrenelle: the Rue de Passy is one of the bourgeois streets of Paris, typical of the posh 16tharrondissement – a good place for fancy shopping of classic French products and also big brands like Okaidi, Ekyog. Eleven Paris, Maje, Repetto and many more. On the other side of the River Seine lies the modern ‘Beaugrenelle’ shopping center which houses 110 different brands.
j) Rue du Commerce: is located in the 15tharrondissement, this place has an excellent array of stores ranging from popular brand shops to small boutiques. Visitors will find qualitative fashion wear, skin care products, make-up products and much more. There are also number of cafes and bakeries where visitors can rest their feet post shopping and treat their taste buds to the savories sold here.