Paris Shopping Tips
 

Hi All! Preparing for my first trip to Paris in March. One of my favorite things about traveling is picking up little somethings, usually at a drugstore or grocery. I'm not asking about LV bags or Longchamp totes - more a great French face cream, or small food item. Maybe a handy gadget we don't see much in the US. Or the perfect layering tshirt. Things that are inexpensive, useful and French :D
Thanks for your suggestions!

Ha! I realize I never actually asked the question! Do you have any suggestions along these lines for me?

I love to get these little insulated bags at Maison du Chocolat (in the Louvre and around town, also at CDG). I got them last year and think they cost about 6 E. They’re a bronzy color with a little rope handle, very chic, fold flat. I give them as gifts, and use mine to carry lunch, wine or cheese.

You can see a photo on eBay if you google Maison du Chocolat insulated bag.

Go to any Monoprix or Franprix or Dia or Vaissailerie or any pharmacy. Really, you don't need to be directed to places to get these sorts of things - they will be everywhere you look, all day long, every day.

Anything around the wine looks typical French.
A system to close the bottle after opening or a corkscrew or ...
I also like these foldable aluminum foils that you ploy and insert in the bottle so that you do not spill a single drop of the wine.

My French friends always send Creme de Marrons in their Xmas package - never seen here at least in ordinary stores - Chestnut cream in strong metal packages. Available in France in any grocery or supermarket. Great on French bread.

http://www.e-dehillerin.fr/ I want to bring something home that was made in France not China so go here and buy gifts for myself and others. I love the Eiffel tower cookie cutters, wood utensils, pastry molds and other items. My husband bought an excellent kitchen knife one trip.
I also like to buy small prints or museum items. Go to Shakespeare and Company for books and ask for the stamp. They have great bags also.
I hit the small sample area in drugstores because I don't bring much but buy once there.

Shakespeare and Cy is unknown to French.
Like rue cler.
You see those mentioned only by tourists on US forums.

The Goop Website has some great suggestions on what to buy at the Pharmacy. I got the BEST dry shampoo, picked up three bottles last trip cant buy in the US.

I bought a whimsical whisk at Pylones on one trip, and every time I see it in the drawer it makes me smile. I also bought demitasse spoons at Printemps and loved them so much I went back on another trip and bought more of them.

mms, thought I was the only one into demitasse spoons. I love kitchen and cooking stores. A. Simon is another, 48 rue Montmartre.

I am a tourist and the writers living in Paris have always be an interest with many Americans. That little bookstore and now cafe are doing well.
Midnight in Paris help a bit with tourism in Paris also.

Avène products are very good for your skin.

The only store I religiously devote time in every visit to Paris is the BHV basement. Generally one might call it a home improvement store (the basement, not the whole store) but it's so much more. I'm usually on a quest for something in particular, last time it was the blue enamel house numbers. But I end up wandering for hours, it seems, looking mostly at hardware like knobs and drawer pulls, on & on. Take a list with how many knobs you might need to dress up a piece of furniture or a door or your kitchen...you get the drift. The beauty of these sorts of items is they take up next to no space in your luggage. I like kitchen gadgets too and you think of the place every time you use them.

BHV, 52 Rue de Rivoli, in the 4th.

Such good tips! Thanks for the store names - that is super helpful. mms and Macross I love kitchen stores too, I worked at a kitchen/gourmet store through college :D
CaliGurl - great tip on the Goop article. Is that the dry shampoo you bought? I have very dark hair and have yet to find one that doesn't make my hair look grey so I'd love your thoughts.
Woinparis I will look for the foil spouts. We have a group of friends that we do a weekly Wine Wednesday get together with, so that may be the perfect souvenir for them!
Keep them coming friends!

Iwan2go those bags are cute! What great gifts.

PalenQ - like a chestnut flavored Nutella? Is it as sweet as Nutella?

MmePerdu we moved into a new house so this is a great suggestion!

Shaya, wine discs are quite common in the US. Amazon has them, Total Wine carries them...they're not particularly French. Just FYI.

<i>The only store I religiously devote time in every visit to Paris is the BHV basement.</i>

I used to feel this way about the BHV basement but much has changed there and I no longer find it as interesting as it once was. Most of the little curiosities that were so wonderful to discover have been replaced with much more common or ordinary merchandise that will turnover and sell quickly.

Leroy Merlin has several very large stores which can be reached within Paris and it is there I find interesting hardware solutions at prices which are far lower than what one pays at the BHV basement.

https://www.leroymerlin.fr/

Macross--I have only been into e-dehillerin once, and for some reason we got sidetracked shortly after we entered and left and never made it back. Thanks for the reminder to go back:)

Shaya--Look for kitchen dish/tea towels. They can be inexpensive, and using them daily is a fun reminder of the trip. I buy those and tablecloths, but of course those take up more room etc.

Last time I looked, BHV had two hardware departments, the one in the basement and the one on the 3rd or 4th floor. The basement store was more utilitarian, the upstairs section more elegant as far as things like cabinet knobs and trim. The blue numbers sell out quickly and I can't always get what I want. They have great " curb your dog" and other signs too.

Last time I was there (summer, 2015) I bought a bleu de travail work jacket just like the late Bill Cunningham wore. I wear it out in the evening in tribute to him.

Back in the day, you could buy everything you needed to make a pair of shoes from scratch if you happened to know how to cut and fit a pair of shoes from scratch.