If shopping is your passion, a visit to the grand department stores of Paris is a must. Parisiens are très chic and there are some really nice designer stuff to be had in the shops. However, outside of the sales period, haute couture is pretty outrageously priced, and one daren’t even walk into those expensive boutiques along rue du Faubourg St-Honoré and avenue Montaigne in the 8th arrondissement as everything looks so precious. In the department stores you can look to your heart’s content and not feel out of place.