Warm up your credit cards
Tomorrow will start the summer sales all over the country and they will last one month! With a lousy spring no doubt ther will be a lot of great opportunities to seize in the many stores and department stores of Paris. A chance to purchase what makes Paris famous all over the world: fashion and style! Get ready for fighting over the best bargains and the rare items but 50% off the normal retail price will turn you into a fashion warrior.
It’s also an opportunity to discover the beautiful architecture of the Paris department stores. Most of them are now registered as historical landmarks. You need to know that department stores are a French invention. In 1838, the Videau brothers opened a general store on the left bank of Paris, called Le Bon Marché. An immediate success! They will later partner with Aristide and Marguerite Boucicaut to developp the business. The result will be this chic and beautiful department store, the only one on the left bank and its adjacent grocery store, la Grand Epicerie. Later, its the newly opened Boulevard Haussmann that will see the opening of Printemps with its elaborate facades of steel, mosaics and marble coverd with 24 carats golden domes and its competitor, Galeries Lafayette and its stained glass dome unvailed 100 years ago, the only one still owned by the same family. As well the Cognac Jay family will have the fabulous Samaritaine building built along the river by the Pont Neuf. Unfortunately closed, it will reopen soon as a 5***** hotel.
Fell good, shopping in Paris is also discovering heritage and history of the city and remember to ask for the tax refund form as soon as you spend more than 170€ in one store. A cast-iron alibi for spending a little money!
Printemps
64 boulevard Haussmann 75009 Paris
Galeries Lafayette
40 boulevard Haussmann 75009 Paris
Le bon Marché
24 rue de Sèvres 75007 Paris
