27 Best Shopping in Provence, France

Ex-fashion designer Laure Traverso (Marc Jacobs, Paul & Joe) escaped the Paris treadmill to open her own wildly creative concept store that spotlights all things French that are also sustainable, ethical, design-conscious, and just plain cool. Discoveries abound: look for chic emerging fashion labels, beautiful leather and straw bags, shoes, belts, avant-garde jewelry, lingerie, handmade home furnishings, and organic cosmetics made in Provence. There's even a grocery corner with local microbrews, chocolates, and teas.

This popular shop has been mixing herbal treatments on the same premises since 1805. At the laboratoire, trained herbalists use dried local and exotic herbs or plant extracts to customize a concoction for whatever ails you—from sleep issues to digestive troubles. At the contemporary tearoom across the street, you can sip an infusion and purchase packaged herbal teas, loose herbs, spices, coffee, honey, beauty products, books, and traditional candies.

In addition to chic men’s and women’s sportswear and casual attire by a small but choice selection of crème de la crème European designers, this beautifully conceived boutique sells lingerie, shoes, hats, books, linens, ceramics, photographs and graphic art, and Aesop skin care. Everything is handpicked by the charming owner, who is also a well-known French fashion photographer. The shop's cozy courtyard café is the perfect place to recharge your shopping batteries.

Aix's most famous purveyor of calissons offers an assortment of the delicate almond pastries in gourmet flavors and enticing colors along with the white-frosted classic. The Rue Gaston de Saporta location is the flagship, but its wonderful museum just outside the city center ( 5380 Rte. d’Avignon) delves into the history and making of this sweet and is well worth a visit. The shop also sells fruit syrups, biscuits, cakes, nougats, and a variety of other beautifully packaged candies that are perfect for gifts.

If "made in France" sounds good to you, head to this 190-year-old Marseille institution, which sells all things French. The main store carries everything from housewares and hardware to timeless perfumes, classic toys, and true Savon de Marseille. A second shop across the street ( 8 rue des Recolettes) has irresistible clothing and accessories for women, men, and kids, including wool or sheepskin slippers, rakish straw hats, cashmere capes, chunky wool sweaters, and cotton work shirts.

This cozy bookshop near Cours Mirabeau is not only a great place to buy and read English-language books, but also to meet other English speakers.

The French chain Catimini offers an imaginative, jazzy stock of kids' sweaters, jackets, and dresses.

This famous bakery, up the street from Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde, has made orange-spice, shuttle-shape navettes in the same oven since it opened in 1781. These cookies are modeled on the little boat that, it is said, carried Lazarus and the Three Marys (Mary Magdalene, Mary Salome, and Mary Jacobe) to the nearby shore.

Since 1926, the Riviera-based perfumer has been bottling the sun, sea, and all the luscious scents of Provence in colorful vials. Its popular fragrances—orange flower, rose-lavender, verbena, jasmine, vetiver, the signature Coeur du Soleil, and so many more—come in perfumes, candles, soaps, shower gels, and home fragrances. You'll also find gifts, stylish Mediterranean clothing, and fashion accessories.

Particularly noteworthy on the fashion front is Gago, which sells stylish designer wear for women including Céline, Balanciaga, and Comme des Garçons.

This midrange department store anchors a corner that's one block from the port and the tourist office.

Contemporary fashions with an emphasis on classic French tailoring, Gérard Darel is known for chic day-to-evening dresses and sleek trench coats. It sells accessories, too.

The selection of pastis, anisettes, and absinthes in this smart little shop is dizzying, but to really savor these unique liqueurs, sign up online for one of the 90-minute tastings.

Near the train station, Leonard Parli offers a lovely selection of calissons.

One of La Joliette's three new quayside shopping centers, Les Docks Village consists of six massive shipping warehouses, each restored by a notable architect, to create stylish, upbeat commercial spaces. The one-of-a-kind shops here sell everything from beauty products, jewelry, clothes, and accessories to housewares, art, and sporting goods—all with a focus on great design. Picturesque cafés and restaurants, several with outdoor terraces, round out the offerings.

A modern, three-story, glass-and-steel structure—one of three shopping centers along the restored harbor in La Joliette—houses 160 of the best-loved French clothing chains, such as Petit Bâteau, Comptoir des Cotonniers, and the Marseille-based American Vintage, as well as a branch of Le Printemps department store. Refuel in one of the cafés, or head to the rooftop terrace, where you can have a drink or meal while watching cruise ships sail off to Corsica.

Under these graceful vaulted arches, built in the 1850s as part of the Sainte Marie de la Major cathedral and now incorporated into one of La Joliette's three new shopping complexes, you'll find lovely cafés and shops, including the design giant Habitat; French perfumer Fragonard; and chocolatier L'Espérantine, specializing in chocolates made with olive oil. The superb Les Halles de la Major gourmet food court has a tempting variety of foods for snacks, meals, or coffee breaks, which you can enjoy indoors or on the wide outdoor terrace with superb views of the J4 Pier and the harbor. Check the website for details on the weekly program of arts events.

The most picturesque shop specializing in calissons is the venerable bakery Béchard, founded in 1870.

If your home is your castle you'll flip at the sheer magnitude of housewares here. Since 1827 this picturesque shop has gathered the best in everything for the home, from French (and other European) kitchenware to hardware—including hard-to-find reproductions of classic French door pulls, handles, and light fixtures—Staub pots, handmade brushes, savon de Marseille, even artisanal perfumes, chic scarves and an excellent selection of old-fashioned toys.

This Aix institution since 1954 is chock-full of sweets that look good enough to immortalize in a still life, let alone eat. Its version of the iconic Provençal calisson is hands down the best around.

A curated selection of sophisticated, superchic European-designed clothes, shoes, scarves, jewelry, and accessories for women is displayed in a soaring 18th-century space.

A veritable Ali Baba's cave in the heart of the souklike Arab market, this colorful shop brims with eye-popping mounds of dried fruit and nuts, exotic condiments, grains, and every spice under the sun.

Aix's most celebrated santon (miniature statue) maker was established in 1936.

One of Marseille's oldest manufacturers sells fragrant soap in blocks, ovals, or fanciful shapes—all of it made using the highest olive oil content possible (72%) and natural essential oils from Provence. Call ahead for a guided tour (in English) of this atmospheric factory to see the whole process done on traditional machines.

This Marseille-based chain sells reliably chic sportswear in luscious colors. Mix-and-match separates include everything from sexy pencil skirts to jaunty peacoats and those long French scarves.