67 Best Places to Shop in Paris, France

The world's oldest perfumer has a gorgeous Parisian flagship store, just blocks from its very first shop founded by Pierre-François Guerlain in 1828. This outpost is a sumptuous affair, offering more personalized services and customization than ever before. A tablet helps you define your olfactory profile, and experts are on-hand to guide you through a private consultation in a special room decked out in blushing velvets. You can also have a private consultation with a house "nose" to design your own fragrance. If those options are out of your price range (as they are for most mortals), you can still personalize any of the perfumer's 110 fragrances from the "perfume bar," choosing from several crystal bottles and selecting the color of your label and ribbons.

The go-to for those who prefer their logo discreet yet still crave instant recognition, Hermès was established as a saddlery in 1837, then went on to create the eternally chic Kelly (named for Grace Kelly) and Birkin (named for Jane Birkin) handbags. The silk scarves are legendary, known for their rich colors and intricate designs, which change yearly. Other accessories are also extremely covetable: enamel bracelets, dashing silk-twill ties, and small leather goods. The sought-after clothing line sometimes hits the mark and sometimes doesn't, but you can always expect lots of leather. During semiannual sales, in January and July, prices are slashed by up to 50%, and the crowds line up for blocks.

Ever the statement maker, luxury brand Hermès has reopened its Left Bank store in an Art Deco former swimming pool. Their signature silk scarves, jewelry, home furnishings, and fragrances are arrayed around the tastefully decorated cavernous space with hand-painted walls by Matthieu Cossé. There is also a small café.

Artist and glassworker Jean Perzel started his company over a century ago and quickly became a leading creator of top-quality Art Deco lamps. Three generations later, it is still a family-run business, housed in a magnificent 1931 building commissioned by Michel Roux-Spitz and home to the workshop and a multistory showroom. If you want to take a useful and lasting souvenir home from Paris, this is the place to shop. There is a huge selection of lamps, each one handmade on-site by expert glass and metal workers, and each a collector's item which you, too, can pass on to future generations. It's adjacent to the beautiful Parc Montsouris, so you can combine a visit to the park with a stop at this unique shop.

At this concept store, complete with an adorable café and a section for vintage treasures, you'll find all your wardrobe essentials, from carefully chosen French and European fashions to a great selection of accessories, plus Paris-made jewelry and a curated collection of designer vintage by the likes of Lanvin, Hermès, and Dolce & Gabbana.

Craftsmanship and style that won't wreck your budget—that's the trademark of this artisan bootmaker from the Camargue, a wild area of Provence where cowboys require durable boots to rustle the wild horses. That doesn't mean the boutique is short on chic. La Botte Gardiane has impeccably designed and beautifully classic full-length boots, slouchy booties, chukkas, espadrilles, and strappy sandals in suede, python, shearling, and the supplest calf leather from the tanner that supplies Hermès. Look for styles for men, women, and kids.

This inviting cave (literally wine store or wine cellar) focuses on wines by small French producers. Each is handpicked by the owner, along with a choice selection of estate Champagnes, Armagnac, and the classic Vieille Prune (plum brandy). The friendly and knowledgeable English-speaking staff makes browsing a pleasure. Check the schedule for classes and tastings.

Founded in 1852, Le Bon Marché has emerged as the city's chicest department store. The fact that it isn't nearly as crowded as the department stores on the Right Bank is an added bonus. On the ground floor of the main building, look for makeup, perfume, and accessories; this is where celebs duck in for essentials while everyone pretends not to notice. On the floor above, you can do laps through dozens of glamorous and überhip labels. The next floor up is home to streetwise designers and edgy secondary lines. Under the restored glass ceiling, the gleaming Le Soulier shoe department assembles the crème de la crème of European shoes. Meanwhile, the menswear department has consumed the entire basement level and has even added a barbershop. Across the street, the home-goods store in the sister building is a great place to browse the latest designer furniture, stock up on French linens, porcelain, cookware, and luggage, or just relax over tea or a gourmet lunch in the soaring atrium restaurant. Before leaving, be sure to visit the spectacular La Grande Épicerie and cave (wineshop) on the ground floor of the main building; it's the haute couture of grocery stores. Artisanal jams, olive oils, and much more make great gifts, and the luscious pastries, fruit, and huge selection of prepared foods beg to be chosen for a meal or snack.

Every year, Serge Lutens dreams up two new fragrances, which are then sold exclusively in this boutique. Each is compellingly original, from the strong somptueux scents often with musk and amber notes to the intense florals like Rose de Nuit. Bottles can be etched and personalized for gifts. The shop itself boasts a beautiful spiral staircase.

The Paris-based luxury leather goods and fashion house par excellence is resplendent in an 18th-century mansion on the elegant Place Vendôme. Part fashion boutique and part art gallery, this impeccably restored locale retains the original woodwork, gilding, and stone, adding contemporary chrome, glass, and colorful works from more than 30 contemporary artists and sculptors. Covering three floors, the grand Place Vendôme store offers the entire Vuitton collection, including high-end jewelry and watches, bags and accessories, fashion, luggage, and some fabulous home furnishings on the top floor.

Louis Vuitton has spawned a voracious fan base from Texas to Tokyo with its mix of classic leather goods and saucy revamped versions orchestrated by Marc Jacobs. His 2013 exit left tall boots to fill, but Nicholas Ghesquière—a daring designer who single-handedly resurrected the Balenciaga label—has done an admirable job. Melding his signature edgy modernism with vintage touches and colors, Ghesquière is taking the legendary luxe label to a glorious new level.

Specializing in chocolate sculptures, pastries, and other sinful delights, this enchanting boutique is any chocolate lover's dream. Maverick chocolatier Michel Chaudun was a legend around Paris. Trained at the Maison du Chocolat, the master confectioner was the very first to strike out on his own, long before Paris became a chocolate mecca. He was also the first to introduce granules of cocoa bean into his chocolates to achieve a rich intensity. In 2015, Chaudun passed the baton to Gilles Marchal, who has more than upheld the standard.

Come here to learn the secrets of Paris's chicest apartments and upscale boutique hotels, brought to you by the sought-after Parisian designer herself. The boutique carries everything from textiles, throw pillows, tableware, and accessories to furnishings and lighting, all in Lavoine's signature jewel colors and luxe textures and shapes.

One of Paris's oldest and most colorful market streets, with its roots in the 12th century, still harbors addresses that hark back to the 18th century. To get the full effect, start at Rue Réaumur, and walk this cobbled pedestrian street all the way to the Forum des Halles, past shops displaying every French delicacy, from cheese and chocolate to oysters and pastry, interspersed with bustling cafés. Stop in at Société des Huîtres d'Étretat (1777), at Nos. 61–63, purveyors of oysters to Marie-Antoinette, or grab a divine pastry at Stohrer (1730) at No. 51.

Artist and illustrator Marin Montagut's whimsical boutique near the Luxembourg Gardens is filled with hand-painted porcelain, glasses, paper boxes, globes, notebooks, and just about anything that is decorative and useful. His tea towels and silk scarves, which feature original illustrations in cheerful pastel colors of the gardens' famous green chairs, or a map of the gardens themselves, are perfect souvenirs for lovers of the Left Bank.

Paris's favorite concept store assembles top fashions for men and women, home furnishings (including those irresistible French bed and bath linens), vintage, jewelry, and housewares all plucked straight from top-tier French, European, and American designers. Every two months the store features a new design concept in the main entrance, with themes that range from Merci en Rose (featuring all things pink) to American Surf & Skate. The store's three cafés make lingering among Paris's fashion elite a pleasure.

Off the bustling Rue Montmartre, this unique concept store is Paris's perfume and skincare central—a must for seekers of that elusive perfect fragrance. After you're installed at the bar (with refreshment), you'll be given a detailed questionnaire on the in-house iPad to pinpoint 5 or 10 scents from 500 niche perfumes that correspond to your deepest self. There's also a super range of European skin-care products, scented candles, and other delicious surprises.

This elegant little "pharmacy" could have been here for a hundred years, thanks to the genteel ambience of the shop featuring a line of irresistible all-natural fragrances and luscious beauty concoctions for the face and body. Choose from a range of lotions in delicate scents like tuberose, orange blossom, and damask rose, or create your own according to skin type. The charming tea and coffee bar, where you can sit for a snack or drink, was imported straight from Italy.

Although it only opened in 2014, you can be forgiven for thinking Officine Universelle Buly 1803 is an antique apothecary—those jars overflowing with exotic herbs, powders, and elixirs are used to re-create 200-year-old recipes for the all-natural skin-care line. Delicious-smelling hand, body, and face products come in scents like rose and Scottish moss. All the products are organic, beautifully packaged, and impossibly chic.

This toy shop has anything you can imagine for the French home (and garden) in miniature, such as Lilliputian croissants, wine decanters, and minuscule instruments in their cases. Build-it-yourself dollhouses include a 17th-century town house and a boulangerie storefront. Upstairs are do-it-yourself teddy-bear kits and classic toys.

This beloved clothing store, originally for kids, provides a fundamental part of the classic French wardrobe from cradle to teen and beyond. The signature T-shirt—cut close to the body, with smallish shoulders—works equally well with school uniforms or vintage Chanel. Thanks to timeless designs, the high-grade cotton clothes remain wardrobe staples year after year; however, lines in cotton-silk or cotton-cashmere and popular collaborations with chic designers like Christian Lacroix or Inès de la Fressange mean there's now even more in store. There are boutiques in all the major shopping neighborhoods. Stock up: if you can find this brand back home, the prices are sure to be higher.

By turns bold and dainty, these exquisitely constructed vintage-inspired bags are some of the yummiest in Paris. A python-and-calf tote is demure in storm gray: in ice blue it's a statement. Day bags in myriad shapes and sizes are always stylish; for evening, ingenious faceted clutches come in a range of colors and skins, with a sexy signature version chained to a python wristband. Other leather accessories (like iPad cases and wallets) and whimsical Polaroid-print silk scarves are also available.

This sophisticated concession shop specializes in antique housewares, small furniture, tableware, decorative items, linen, jewelry, and a small selection of clothing. The housewares include silver sets, ceramics and porcelain, candelabras, artwork, lamps, vases, and baskets, all carefully chosen and artfully displayed. If you're a collector or just looking for something different, you'll be sure to find something precious and useful here.

If you're looking for a good book to read and love independent bookshops, stop by this Left Bank institution, with its enormous inventory of English (and French) -language books for adults and children. It's the perfect place to get some reading recommendations and discuss literature, poetry, art, cooking, and politics. Across the street from the Luxembourg Gardens, it also happens to be in an ideal location.

An absolute favorite address for the kind of beautifully designed, offbeat yet sexy wardrobe staples we've come to expect from Paris designers. First carried only in top boutiques and concept stores, this sought-after label opened its own boutique only recently. You'll find tons here to love that you won't see on anyone else, including shoes and accessories.

Open since 1977, this family-owned boutique specializes in high-end traditional board games such as chess and backgammon, but also two- and three-dimensional puzzles, games made of wood, and ones you’ve never heard of like Nain Jaune ("Yellow Dwarf," a very old French game) and other ancient card games. With over 2,000 items in stock, many made by French artisans, the game-passionate staff has an endless number of suggestions and advice to help you find the perfect original gift that no one else will have back home.

Once a sordid spot where grifters convened to count the daily take, this minuscule street, tucked away in the up-and-coming Sentier neighborhood in arrondissement 2e, is now foodie central. It all began with the Frenchie empire—takeout, wine bar, and gastronomic restaurant—then their suppliers followed. Now, the cobbled street is lined with chic eateries and purveyors of everything from fresh fish and fruits to tempting breads and pastries, and boasts one of Paris's best gourmet coffee shops (L'Arbre à Café, No. 10).

One could easily walk straight past this discreet, boudoir-like boutique. It is, however, one of the world's finest lingerie stores and the place where actresses Catherine Deneuve and Isabelle Adjani (among many others) buy superb French underthings.

After standing empty for 16 years, the Samaritaine department store finally reopened in 2021 following an ambitious renovation by new owners LVMH. The space dating to 1870 retains many of its Art Deco details, including its beautiful facade overlooking the Seine, and is also now home to the city's Cheval Blanc hotel. You can enter the store via Rue de la Monnaie, encountering labels from more than 600 fashion brands like Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Stella McCartney, and Moschino. The new Samaritaine is also home to a spa and several eateries, including a gorgeous fifth-floor restaurant, Voyage, where you can dine on seasonal, international dishes beneath the department store's beautiful glass roof.

This institution opened in 1730, thanks to Louis XV's Polish bride, who couldn't bear to part with her pastry chef and thus brought Nicholas Stohrer along with her to Paris. Today, it has all the to-die-for pastries that made the bakery's name, including the famous baba au rhum that originated here, as well as a tantalizing range of other sweets, breads, and savory prepared foods to go.