Paris certainly has a wealth of shopping opportunities: the Champs-Élysées, which I find to be the Paris equivalent of Fifth Avenue; the rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, which I liken to Madison Avenue in New York; charming boutiques in the Marais; and the vaunted department stores, to name a few. When I previously traveled to Paris, I didn’t have time to take advantage of the shopping; this time around, I wanted to make sure that I did.

I have many treasured childhood memories of shopping in a department store with my mother and even my maternal grandmother. Shopping in department stores is something we’ve been doing together all of my life. Although Printemps is considered by many to be the most prestigious department store in Paris and Le Bon Marche has its fair share of the praise, it’s Galeries Lafayette that holds a special place for us.

The last time my mother and I were in Europe together, we spent a happy afternoon in Nice browsing Galeries Lafayette. Our trip to Galeries Lafayette eight years ago yielded two great pieces that I still wear today. The first item is a Comptoir des Cotonniers black boucle jacket that I have worn with everything from cocktail dresses to jeans, and often with pearl necklaces. The second item is a silk scarf with a scene of Paris printed on it. I don’t remember the price of either item, but I do remember that they were both on sale and reasonably priced (another reason why we loved Galeries Lafayette). This experience was my first exposure to Comptoir des Cotonniers, a brand that wasn’t sold in the U.S. until years later. I loved having a piece that wasn’t available in the U.S. Now that Comptoir des Cotonniers is sold in New York, I always check out their merchandise at my neighborhood boutique and have managed to pick up a few more pieces.

Considering our previous experience at Galeries Lafayette in Nice, we hoped that we would be just as impressed with the store the second time around in Paris; we were definitely not disappointed. Galeries Lafayette has a number of quality restaurants, cafes, and snack bars, including an outpost of Salumeria Rosi, one of my favorite restaurants in New York! We started our trip with brunch at Angelina. The café wasn’t crowded, so we enjoyed a relaxing breakfast with the most delicious grapefruit juice and a fantastic quiche.

Galeries Lafayette is organized as a boutique experience. All of the major designers have their own areas, some separated from the other designers’ merchandise by walls. Galeries Lafayette carries a staggering number of designers and brands. The first couple of hours browsing at the store were not the easiest with a toddler in tow, but my mother tended to Baby Boy while I tried to run around the store, scan the merchandise as quickly as possible, and make mental notes of my favorite items. As I often do, I spotted one of my big purchases of the trip early on, which I’ll reveal in a later post.

When my best friend arrived to meet us, we had a lot of ground left to cover. My best friend kindly offered to have a play date with Baby Boy so my mother and I could finish our shopping expedition. So my mother and I had the gift of time to shop together, just the two of us. As always, I enjoyed spotting pretty things with her and discussing this piece and that. She’ll always be my favorite shopping companion.

I saw so many wonderful pieces at the store, and several that were reasonable enough to buy. My mom ended up purchasing my birthday and Christmas gifts at Galeries Lafayette, so I cannot share these finds with you until after I receive them. Even though we made a number of purchases, I still feel like I barely skimmed all of the wonderful merchandise at Galeries Lafayette. Everywhere I turned, I found another beautiful item. The selection was somewhat overwhelming, and I recommend spending an entire day at Galeries Lafayette if you can spare it, rather than the 4 hours or so that we spent browsing there. We didn’t even begin to cover the shoe, jewelry, or cosmetics departments!

Galeries Lafayette is truly one stop shopping. There’s no need to traipse all over Paris looking for Comptoir des Cotonneirs, APC, Sandro, and other fantastic French (and even American) brands, because they’re all under one roof at Galeries Lafayette! Shopping in one place also makes the process of obtaining a tax refund easier. At Galeries Lafayette, all receipts are taken to a central office where a single tax form is created, rather than having to deal with a number of forms. With the exception of a few freestanding boutiques, on future trips to Paris, I will shop exclusively at Galleries Lafayette (and perhaps some other department stores as well).

Aside from my gifts and my purchase that I’ll reveal later on, I found some lovely clothing and delightful toys for my son. The children’s merchandise at Galeries Lafayette is just as fabulous as the women’s merchandise.

One of the best parts of our trip to Galeries Lafayette was the little snack break that we had at the café serving Pierre Herme goodies. Pierre Herme is renowned for its macarons. We took the time to enjoy dessert and a glass of champagne while gazing at Galeries Lafayette’s multi-story Christmas tree. The dessert I selected was the exact dessert I had dreamed about having in Paris, cream and raspberries sandwiched in between two macarons. It was a beautiful delicacy and quite tasty too. Having a glass of champagne and dessert is certainly my ideal way of capping off a shopping trip! When in Paris…

Do you like to shop in department stores? Or do you prefer shopping in individual boutiques?
If you have traveled in France, have you experienced the French department stores? What do you think of them?
What would your ideal shopping experience be like?