17 March 2003

Shopping in Paris

Shopping in France is an adventure.  I bet you’ve heard that before. What you didn’t know is that shopping here comes in four dimensions, and for someone who doesn’t speak French there is plenty of adventure.

Shopping actually comes in four different levels from what I can see.  The first level, which is for the rich or those of us who just want to see how the rich live takes place in the heart of Paris.   Of course the center of this level of shopping takes place at Galeries Lafayette, a shopping place like you’ve never seen before. 

The only thing I can compare Galeries Lafayette with (and this is stretching things considerably) is when I was a kid and we went at Christmas time to Lazarus in downtown Columbus.   There weren’t any shopping malls in those days and people still went to downtown Zanesville to buy their gifts.

At Christmas time the Lazarus storefront had amazing holiday scenes.  There was a shopping  floor just for toys and it was decorated with magical things that made kids tingle at the site.  When I was 11 I had my first serious visit to this Christmas land with my grandfather.  He patiently waited in line for an hour so that I could talk to Santa, and then I chickened out at the last minute because I thought I was too old to do such a childish thing as sit on Santa’s lap.  Shopping in Paris has the same effect, including the chickening out part.  I will try to explain.

When you land at Charles DeGaulle Airport in Paris one of the first things you see upon leaving the security of immigration is an information desk. The most popular free map I have seen says Plan de Paris/Map of Paris (it’s in English to entice us folks that can’t figure out that Plan de Paris is a map). 

The Paris map has a picture of a skinny woman with slicked back hair who is trying to see past a giant red heart that seems to be sticking right out of the top of her head. The bottom of the heart travels between her eyes and is supposed to make her look enticing. I am assuming this is some sort of a hat, but no one I have ever known would wear such a thing so I must use my imagination as to its purpose. 

The skinny young woman is dressed in a long black shiny dress with long black gloves that go up to her shoulders.  The top of the dress is covered in black ostrich feathers that look incredibly uncomfortable.  They have to tickle her neck.  I don’t think she could be in a hurry to go to the girl’s room or have a serious conversation because it just ain’t going to happen.    You get the picture.

The woman on the map is supposed to convey that shopping in Paris and at this particular place will make you sophisticated in a French sort of way.  There are no bargains at Galeries Lafayette, I can assure you.

It is a huge place filled with everything imaginable.  I must confess that I’ve never gone inside.  I was tempted to go inside once but my husband, who hates to shop was much more intent on getting to our appointment and racing back to the train so we would avoid rush hour.

The next level of shopping occurs in the small shops that make up every downtown of every city and town.  These places are expensive as well.  However, they are much more manageable then a huge department store.  The shops in the small town where I live carry everything from clothing, shoes, books, flowers, etc.  Each shop generally handles only one of these items.  In order to shop for several things you must go from shop to shop.

That brings me to another important thing to know.  You must, I repeat must have something to put your purchases inside of.  In some areas of Europe you will be required to purchase a plastic bag, or even a cloth bag if you don’t have anything to put your purchases into.  In Senlis all the women shop with wicker or straw bags. Some of the bags look like the type of thing we would take to the beach loaded up with sandals and toys, while others look like they could be used to hold plastic fruit on the coffee table.

After my first couple of trips of carrying groceries for six blocks, I bought myself a bag on wheels.   My mother didn’t raise any fool.  Now I can buy a weeks worth of groceries and drag them all home without my muscles feeling like I’ve just chopped wood all day.

The third level of shopping is the street market that occurs every Tuesday and Friday in our town.   This type of shopping is closer to my style.  There isn’t a woman alive in southeast Ohio who wouldn’t appreciate the Senlis market.  The vendors line up right in front of the downtown shops out on the cobblestones and the street is blocked off to traffic.  This competing with the town’s shops seems so un-American, but everyone seems friendly enough about it.

The market vendors have fresh produce, meat, fish, shoes, clothing and anything else you can imagine.  Unlike the US, there is no pressure to buy and everything is displayed for browsing.  The prices are obvious and after I learned that the prices weren’t per pound but by the kilo (about two pounds) I stopped thinking everything was too expensive.

The fourth level for shopping is the brocante and consignment shops.  Brocantes are little flea markets (yards sales that are all located in one spot) and they begin in the spring.  Imagine giant yard sales in various towns around southeast Ohio, and you will get the picture. 

The local magazine shop carries a little booklet that lists each brocante and how many people will participate.  As soon as I found out what “brocante” meant I could hardly wait until the first one was held near our town.  It rained that Sunday and I didn’t have the energy to negotiate in French so I skipped it. 

Last Sunday I went to one in Chantilly (pronounced shawn tee ee) which is a ritzy town near Senlis.  I was in heaven.  The brocante is the first place I’ve seen anything with reasonable prices and the vendors had everything you can imagine.  Brocantes are much better then consignment shops.  I was informed that the reason the prices in consignment shops are so high is that they only accept designer clothing.  Senlis has two of these types of shops and I must apologize because I don’t think GAP is a designer label.  Of course many of the other labels were French so I can’t speak for them.  Since I’ve never shopped at Galeries Lafayette I am blissfully ignorant.

I must be going on far too long about shopping, but trying to even minimally furnish a house has required me to take on the shopping as a vocation.  Plus I came here without my clothes.  Needless to say the house is almost complete, but my wardrobe is still meager.  But now that I’ve discovered the weekend brocantes I a plan to be the best dressed woman around, and all for a few meager Euros.  My grandma would be proud.