399 Best Places to Shop in France

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.

This fourth-generation winemaker's organic reds, whites, and rosés are served in gastronomic restaurants countrywide, so what better place to taste and buy these award-winning wines than at the source? How is it that they're allowed to reproduce a Van Gogh painting on their labels? Well, because the family mas is featured in the work!

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.

Here you can purchase top-quality, AOC (controlled origin) olive oils and learn how they're made, from picking and pressing to blending and bottling. Free tours and tastings (in English) demonstrate why these regional oils—most made from green olives and some made from fermented black olives—end up on tables in some of the best restaurants in France.

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.

In the heart of the Notre-Dame neighborhood, a few steps from the fabulous market, the Quartier des Antiquaires is a warren of streets, passages, and squares beginning at the northwest corner of the market square and extending along the cobbled streets to the charming Passage de la Geôle. You'll find scores of elegant antiques shops brimming with eye-popping objects, paintings, furniture, china, and bibelots from every epoch.

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.

This elegant cooperative features the best of the legendary Beaumes-de-Venise wines, made exclusively from the muscat grape, as well as the appellation's lesser-known but equally worthy reds, whites, and rosés. There are also options from neighboring Gigondas and Vacqueyras. All can be tasted in the degustation room, as can local olive oil, fruit juices, and more. Wines can be shipped worldwide.

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.

This shop has been at the heart of the Parisian locavore movement since 2008, when it began uniting innovative chefs with small local producers. Today, Terroirs d'Avenir also caters to individuals, with no fewer than five shops on the tiny Rue du Nil: a bakery (No. 3), butcher shop (No. 6), cheesemonger (No. 8), greengrocer (No. 7), and fishmonger (No. 8). Even if you're not planning a purchase, the picturesque cobbled street is worth a stop for a photo op.

If you don't find something you absolutely love among the color-coordinated racks jam-packed with vintage designer and simply fabulous clothing here, we'll eat our cashmere beret. Look for Hermès, Courrèges, Vivian Westwood, Yves Saint Laurent, and so much more for both men and women. Check out the new arrivals of the week on the website, but don't get there too early, as the boutique is open from 2 pm to 8 pm, Monday through Saturday.

Le Passage des Princes—one of the city’s historic covered passages—is home to Paris’s most comprehensive toy store. Part of a large French chain, the two-level Village JouéClub carries all the usual suspects (Barbie, Disney, Hello Kitty, and the like) plus the better traditional European brands, including Vilac, Moulin Roty, and L'Atelier du Bois. It’s made up of more than 10 “shops,” each of which is dedicated to a different age group or toy genre. Virtually every kind of plaything is here, so be prepared to linger.

The official ambassadors of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Vinadéa is the town's, and the world's, most knowledgeable retailer. Choose from more than 250 bottles from 150 estates, including many biodynamic bottles and the appellation's sublime whites. If you want to sample the wines before purchase, head to the Vinothèque tasting cellar just below. The boutique also carries wines from other Rhône regions, including Gigondas, Cairanne, IGP Vaucluse, and Côtes-du-Rhone. Wines can be shipped internationally—keep in mind that shipping rates are offset by the fact that you're getting "cellar door" prices with no markup.

Irresistible is the word for this shop's scintillating collection of jewels—from an assemblage of top-echelon international designers—that ranges from the daintiest of diamond rings, bracelets, and necklaces to brilliantly colored stones in edgy settings. This spare boutique, a stone's throw from concept store Merci, may be tiny, but it's had a big impact on fashion jewelry in Paris. If you're looking for a piece to be worn every day or a statement piece that goes from day to night, this is your place. Trunk shows and openings are held at WHITE bIRD's first and larger boutique at  38 rue du Mont Thabor, just off the Rue St-Honoré.

Yamamoto's voluminous, draped, and highly coveted Y's label fully expresses itself in this sleek backdrop of white and chrome. Don't expect a varied palette; the clothing comes mostly in his signature black, with splashes of red, beige, and white. But do expect sophisticated, classic clothes for women and men that never go out of style.

With a knack for pairing gems of varying sizes, brilliance, and texture, Yves Gratas allows each stone to influence the design. Whether it's a spectacular necklace of sapphire beads to be worn long or doubled, or a simple agate sphere tipped in gold and dangling like a tiny planet, these stellar jewels feel like one organic whole.

Located between the Bourse and the Palais-Royal, Galerie Vivienne is the most glorious glass-capped arcade in Paris. The 19th-century beauty is home to an array of interesting boutiques as well as a lovely tearoom (A Priori Thé) and a terrific wineshop (Cave Legrand Filles et Fils).