Soldes by Paris – Paris Sales

Well the January 2009 sales in Paris is in top gear.  At boutiques and large department stores one can find the season’s collection at discounted prices.  As mentioned in previous blogs, the sales seasons in France are regulated and sales only occur in January and July. 

The sales go on for about five weeks and you can find reductions of between 20% and 50% on the original prices, increasing to as much as 70% on their final offers.  Visitors from non-EU countries can also benefit from a tax refund of 12%.  So whilst the Euro is currently extremely strong, all the discounts will help greatly in making your purchases a bargain.

Direction to the Grand Magazins

Direction to the Grand Magazins

Apparently about 60% of visitors to Paris have indicated that shopping is one of the main reasons for visiting Paris.  So the people at the French tourist authority and Chamber of Commerce have taken heed of this and are pretty serious about making it easier for visitors to shop.  For the third consecutive year, the world capital of fashion is once again presenting Soldes by Paris, an initiative co-promoted by the Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry Delegation of Paris, the Paris City Council, and Maison de la France. From the start of the Paris winter sales and for the first four days, visitors can take advantage of practical advice, gifts, reductions, services and information to make their shopping break in Paris even more pleasurable.

These are some of the initiatives introduced:

  • Five shopping stations have been set up in the key shopping districts.  These shopping stations are manned by students from the Institut de Conciergerie Internationale to provide shopping assistance to visitors, such as giving directions from your hotel to the shopping itineraries of your choice.
  • You can also reserve a handy GPS device which will guide you through Paris! These can be book through www.parisinfo.com.
  • Cyclobulles are also available at the shopping stations.  You can enjoy a 30-minute ride in one of these electrically-assisted tricycles with chauffeur! Starting from the shopping stations, these environmentally friendly Cyclobulles will take you along the shopping itineraries.

These are pretty impressive initiatives to me and demonstrate that the French are serious about attracting shoppers to Paris.  More about Paris shopping in next blog.

Helen

http://www.travelsignposts.com/wordpress/france/paris-shopping-les-grands-magasins-of-paris-france

3 Comments

  1. Comment by Eurostar Tickets

    Quite agree with your statement about the French government encouraging and facilitating shopping in Paris. You just have to walk down Champs Eleeyses on a gloomy and rather cold winter evening to enjoy all the shops on both sides.

  2. Comment by paris hostels

    great tips. I enjoyed reading this

  3. Comment by Gavin

    Well it’s now February, but I look back to the January sales and wonder how I made it out alive. Between the crowds of pushy people and the cars looking to plough you down, Paris is a deathtrap! It’s the one time Parisians can pick up a bargain, because it’s so darn expensive any other time of the year.

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.