Paris Shopping Guide

Many shoppers on a Paris vacation look for “that certain something” that makes them feel as if they’ve come home more beautiful than when they left. (Just picture Audrey Hepburn at the beginning of the film Sabrina when she arrives home a beautiful lady after having left for Paris a mere child two years earlier.) Each arrondissement offers a bevy of boutiques, shops and stores, and through careful ambling it is easy to stumble across a window that calls your name.

To cut down on time, however, there are certain spots worth checking out. Paris is renowned for its haute couture, luxury brands and boutiques, however its second-hand scene includes expansive brocante markets and petit vintage shops. And of course, for those with champagne taste on a beer budget, there are a few choice locations that make it possible not to go home empty-handed.

Paris Budget Shopping 

Shopping in Paris can be expensive, and of course H&M and Zara are good options to keep to a budget. Here, these stores tend to be super-sized and overwhelming, and hold the same merchandise as in their other locations around the world. Kookaï,which has locations all over Paris, is a good place to find staple clothing and the latest trends at better prices. www.kookai.fr

More reasonable is COS or Collection of Style (4 rue des Rosiers), a branch of H&M that carries a more sophisticated line of clothing and fabrics, with accessories starting at €12 (about US$17) and most other articles hovering at the €30 to €50 (about US$42 to $70) range.

 

• Kookaï offers great wardrobe staples for Paris shoppers.

Courtesy of Kookaï

Finally, a little boutique I happened upon near Les Halles called Territoire (8 rue Montmartre), is good place to sift through. There, I’ve found sweaters for €30 (about US$42) and cotton blouses for under €20 (about US$28). It draws from various collections and often follows the line of latest trends in Paris.

Paris Vintage Shopping 

The Marais has been dubbed the “haut-lieu du vintage,” or the high place of vintage in Paris. Almost every main artery has at least one window display artfully laid-out with the stuff of various decades past. One shop I’m repeatedly drawn back to is Mamz’Elle Swing Vintage Shop (35 bis, rue du Roi de Sicile). There’s no obvious signage, excepting a leaf of paper taped to the front door, but there is sometimes swing-era music wafting out from a mock antique radio near the entrance. Although Mamz’Elle’s doesn’t air on the side of unilaterally cheap vintage, it does contain well-intact pieces that have survived the 1900s to 1960s.

The haut-lieu du vintage, however, has bled into neighboring arrondissements. If you wander north of the Marais into the 3rd arrondissement, pop into Violette & Léonie (27 rue de Poitou). It’s a dépôt vente concept store, meaning one can drop clothes off, which will then be put on the racks; if the item sells, the store splits 50 percent of the profits with you. How do you keep track? Online. The collection ranges from last year to many years ago, and it is just as possible to pick out an Yves Saint Laurent linen skirt as an old H&M tank top.    

 

• The Montmartre vintage shop Chinemachine specializes in unusual second-hand clothing.

Courtesy of Chinemachine

Snaking a little northwest of there, one winds up in Montmartre, a stone’s throw away from the Sacré-Coeur Basilica. A personal favorite here is Chinemachine (100 rue des Martyrs). It clings to the idea that vintage should be an inexpensive diamond in the rough experience. American-run, it buys clothes in exchange for credit, cash or exchange.

Next: Brocante, Boutique and Haute Couture