Au Printemps

Printemps is a beautiful place to shop, but BUYER BEWARE if you are from the USA. We happened to have our French exchange student with us while shopping, so unbeknownst to a couple of clerks, we had a 'mole' that could speak their language. The clerks were unbelieveably rude and condescending, in French of course. They had no idea we understood what they said. This was our first real experience with Parisian attitude as everywhere else we were treated well. The layout of the store is difficult at best unless you are looking for a particular designer - each section is by designer only. For example, in the "Jeans" section you shop by Levis, Tommy Hilfiger, Union Bay, Ralph Lauren, etc... not by style. This is true for almost all sections of the store so unless you are looking for a particular designer (Gucci purse, Chanel shoes) it may be a frustrating and expensive (and also very rude) experience. I would not go back - it is much more fun on the Champs Elysees and same stuff! In fact, pretty much same stuff as at the local mall in my town, but more expensive and a lot more attitude.