Treesa

I'm planning to do some shopping on my next trip to Paris. What has been your experience? In the past I found some rather snotty salesladies. Has it changed?

suzy

We went to the Samartaine Dept. Store to buy my husband a hat. I asked the salesclerk if he spoke English. "Yes," he responded but said he wouldn't because "they don't pay me to speak English."
My husband responded, "I tell you what. I'll ask you questions and you just nod your head yes or no."
This appealed to the clerk's sense of humor. He laughed and proceeded to be very helpful and chatted with us in English.
Other than this experience, we didn't find sales people "snotty" - no different from stores in the U.S.

francophile03

The clerk in the men's dept. at La Samaritane was a very helpful guy who spoke to us in English. He wasn't fluent but we don't know French so I thought he's very nice to communicate to us in our language. Other clerks at La Samaritane were ok, just like you find at home-not overly friendly, just courteous. At Galeries Lafayette the ladies in the handbag dept. are pretty helpful and friendly, most of them at least.

Katherine

Treesa I am giving another vote for La Samaritaine. I bought all of my crystal there since at Neimans it was so much more expensive. The saleslady was very helpful. It also seemed like they did not get the volumes of tourists that Galeries and Printemps get. Everytime I have been there locals seem to permeate the store.
Suzy really hit the nail on the head. Handle a sticky situation with humor and you will win over (most) people. I hope you have a wonderful trip to Paris!! I am so jealous!!! Happy Shopping!!

_Julie_

I also was impressed with the staff at Galeries Lafayette - I was there in the middle of the July sale and expected to be ignored or treated abruptly (there were line ups 15 deep at the VAT exemption desk!). I was looking at perfume and a sales lady came over and chatted for about ten minutes and helped me pick out a fragrance for my sister. I thought she must be on commission but she wasn't. Apparently they have staff there whose sole job it is to help visitors which I thought was wonderful. (Being in my 20's sales staff usually look at me with that 'I know she doesn't have money to spend' look...)
Maybe I just caught someone on a good day, but it was nice nonetheless!

hanl

From my experience, if you are well dressed and look like you're going to spend lots of money, the salespeople will be very attentive. If you are wearing plain old jeans and a t-shirt (especially if you are young-ish), expect to be ignored, or at least, treated with enormous disdain.
That said, if I had to choose, I'd say that La Samaritaine probably has the most pleasant sales staff.

Ursula

Personally, I've always encountered friendly staff. As Hanl says, a lot depends also on your behaviour.
I happened to find some of the sales staff in upscale boutiques a little snotty.
But times have changed, I'd say, and not only in Paris.

I usually shop at Le Bon Marche. It's often less crowded than the large stores on the Right Bank and it's conveniently located to walk back to our hotel.

SiobhanP

I never felt ignored or treated badly by staff anywhere in Paris. Probably the oppsite. We went to shop in December and bought a lot of clothes and things for the house that we can't get in Ireland. I found the sales people quite friendly and I always used French first and once they heard me and my partner speak English they would usually speak to us in English...I wanted to practice my French!

I saw an outfit in the window of a shop and went in later that day. The sales lady was so nice and kept bringing me similar things and looking for the outfit in my size (God I am not big at all but the sizes were tiny!) She did not speak English and we chatted in French. I never enjoyed shopping so much, I felt spoiled for the day. I also think you get back what you give out to people. I like Suzy's story, it's something We would do just to make them laugh and lighten up. It's a tough job.

I was buying jeans at the gap and trying to convince a 19yr old boy that I could not possibly fit into the small size he brought me he was so insistant and serious and did not speak English so I explained in my broken French I am small at the knees and bigger in the middle and small again so they would not fit me and they looked like boys jeans and I'm a girl! he looked at me strange and we both started laughing.

Byrd

I haven't done a lot of shopping in Paris, but I have had two very good experiences in Galleries Lafayette. Several years ago we went there to look for extra napkins to match a tablecloth our daughter had brought us almost a year earlier. Several good-natured clerks helped us, and were as delighted as we when we found them, practically hidden. On another trip, the sales ladies in the children's department were very helpful with sizes, etc. when I bought a coat and hat for our granddaughter (in the style of "Madeline", one of her favorite characters).

grandmere

Byrd, do they actually have the little blue Madeline coat in GL? I guess what I'm asking is if it looks enough like Madeline's to be recognized as such. Do you remember how small the sizes began? Tnx!

Treesa

Thanks, one and all, for your input. We'll be staying close to La Samaritaine so they'll get my business. I also love their rooftop cafe...