67 Best Shopping in Provence, France

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.

A former inn built in the 17th century is the perfect setting for an emporium of roughly 30 antiques galleries selling art, furniture, and decorative objets from the 16th to the 20th centuries.

Although he's known for his creamy ganaches, Joël Durand also offers a range of gourmet chocolates, nut creams, and toffees, as well as marmalades made in Provence from tree-ripened fruit.

The more luxurious shops along Rue Joseph-Vernet and St-Agricol in the Joseph Vernet quarter merit some lèche-vitrine (window licking, as the French say).

Also known as Passage du Point, this is another of L'Isle's emporiums of vintage and antique wares. Here you'll find about 40 dealers under one roof.

The products of this world-renowned fragrance and skin care company are still made in nearby Manosque using regional ingredients. Make sure to sniff Jasmine Immortelle Neroli, the newest women's fragrance, and Arlésienne, a floral tribute to the women of the South of France.

You might just be lucky enough to arrive at this Old Town artisanal chocolaterie on a day when you can watch the confections being made by hand. Specialties include delicately perfumed ganache-filled chocolates, calissons, and chocolate bars laden with dried fruit and nuts.

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.

This boutique specializes in a huge range of pure, plant-based cosmetics from Le Château du Bois, one of Provence's oldest and most venerable producers of fine lavender oil. The range includes face creams, hand and body lotions, toning gels, massage oil, bath milk, hydrosols, and much more.

If you're shopping for a gift or souvenirs, you'll find tasteful Provençal tableware at Le Jardin, which also has a charming tearoom in its leafy courtyard garden.

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

For those with a taste for all things Provençal, this gourmet épicerie sells many of the delicacies found in the region's best local markets, all neatly packaged and suitcase ready—if they make it that far. Shop for olive oils, tapenades, herbs, preserves, bottled soups, fruit jams, honey, pastries, lavender-based sweets or cosmetics, and so much more.

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.

This permanent covered market is at the heart of the city and puts on a mouthwatering show of olives, fresh fish, cheeses, and produce.

This deeply Provençal boutique, known for its beautiful cotton textiles and smart tailoring, has been dressing elegant men and women, kids, and cowboys, since 1938. The colorful prints are original 18th- and 19th-century designs from the manufacturer's archives. You'll also find a range of quality accessories, home goods, and fabrics sold by the meter.

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.

The longtime local favorite boulangerie–patisserie is the best place to buy yet another of Nîmes's many specialties: the jaw-breaking croquant, a confection made with roasted almonds and caramelized sugar.

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.

This shop has a cornucopia of old-fashioned, old-world, and marvelously eccentric hats in a jewel-box setting.

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.

The soaps, cosmetics, and products for the home sold here are of exceptional artisanal quality. Marius Fabre is one of only six soap makers in France that still produce "le vrai" savon de Marseille the traditional way: cooked in giant vats with at least 72% pure olive oil, no fragrances (or only natural essential oils added later), and air-aged on wooden slats. 

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.