| Paris is a fashionista mecca, so if you’re looking for the snazzy-chic name brands, everything along the Champs Elysées, in the Louvre/Tuileries area, and in the attractive and gentrified neighborhood of St. Germain des Prés is likely to catch your eye: Versace, Christian Dior, Yves St. Laurent, and Armani among them.
Department stores such as Printemps, Galeries Lafayette, Le Bon Marché, or La Samaritaine are an interesting stop, especially if you’ve got a lot on your Paris wish-list. The Beaubourg/les Halles area is also crammed with big-name clothing and home décor stores, as well as a mall, the Forum des Halles.
Good places for cute boutiques and hole-in-the wall shops are in the Marais (where clothing and bookstores as well as finely designed furniture shops pepper the windy streets; try the funky fresh women’s clothing store, Zadig & Voltaire, or Food, a bookstore and gallery devoted to, but not actually selling, gourme cuisine) and off the main drag in St. Germain des Prés, where you’ll find art supply stores and galleries, antique shops, and books.
If you want to capture more of a French paysan sort of feel, Paris never lacks for open-air markets, be them of food, trinkets, or fetching artwork. The Marché aux Puces St. Ouen is a now-massive flea market on the north end of Paris, stretching for over a square mile; you’ll find antiques, odds-and-ends, and used books galore, but be sure you know how to barter to get the most bang for your buck. The Marché de la Création Paris-Montparnasse, going on for eleven years, is an artists’ rendezvous around la Tour Montparnasse that explodes every Sunday with painting, sculpture, jewelery, and crafts of all descriptions.
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| Le Bon Marché was founded in 1852 as a home accessories store and has now blossomed into the very latest in fashion. |
| La Samaritaine, at the north end of Pont Neuf, occupies four buildings and is the largest department store in Paris, with an excellent panorama from the roof terrace café. |
| A massive department store north of Champs Elysee, and other locations throughout France. If you want to indulge your self shopping, this is the place. |
| Galeries Lafayette is more than a department store, it's a dazzling ten-story universe of perfumes, edibles, clothing and more. |
| Marché de la Création Paris-Montparnasse, going on for eleven years, is an artists’ rendezvous around la Tour Montparnasse that explodes every Sunday with painting, sculpture, jewelery, and crafts of all descriptions. |
| Printemps is a department store with clothing for men, women, and teeny-boppers as well as beauty products and free fashion shows on the seventh floor every Tuesday and Friday. |
| Food is a bookstore and gallery devoted to, but not actually selling, gourmet cuisine. It's off the main drag in St. Germain des Prés, where you’ll find art supply stores and galleries, antique shops, and books. |
| Marché aux Puces St. Ouen is a now-massive flea market on the north end of Paris, stretching for over a square mile; you’ll find antiques, odds-and-ends, and used books galore, but be sure you know how to barter to get the most bang for your buck. |
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