399 Best Places to Shop in France

Justly famous for its sexy, derriere-shaping jeans, this Swedish label daringly mixes genders and genres in body-hugging or oversize, asymmetrical styles that rival some of the best catwalk looks. Standout shoes, boots, and accessories—all exhibiting the brand's underplayed cool—are sold here, too.

Elbé has been selling rare, original serigraphs, lithographs, and vintage posters since 1976, specializing in artists such as Roger Broders and Keith Haring. Air France's graphic posters featuring exotic destinations, a Brigitte Bardot movie classic, or Sean Connery in the French version of one of his roles as 007 are just a few examples of the large, frameable affiches (posters) sold here.

The late McQueen's hallmarks—tons of lace, gossamer fabrics, tartans, death's heads, and voluminous silhouettes—are all lavishly on display at this two-story boutique. Sarah Burton's dramatic gowns were the brand's signature for her 13 years as creative director; now, it's Seán McGirr, former head of ready-to-wear at JW Anderson, who has taken the lead. Shoes, accessories, and surprisingly affordable jewelry to go with the garments are available as well.

This shop has been selling lingerie to Parisians since 1889, offering some of the city's most sumptuous couture undergarments. Ready-to-wear bras, corsets, and sleepwear fill the eponymous boutique.

The best design bookstore in France carries tomes on everything from architecture to tattoo art: there are sections dedicated to photography, fashion, graphic art, typography, illustration, package design, color, and more.

Tea lovers will adore this art-centric tea boutique and salon set in a 17th-century stone building in the upper Marais, near the Centre Pompidou. In contrast to the behemoth sellers—Mariage Frères, Palais des Thés, and Dammann Frères—who focus on quantity over quality, this shop's hand-selected varieties come from surprising places around the world (oolong from Georgia, anyone?) and small artisanal producers. The friendly owners, a husband-and-wife team, love to share their extensive knowledge, and a tasting flight of four pots in the adorable tearoom is a delight. Upstairs is reserved for artists' books and limited-edition artworks. There's also a tempting array of handmade porcelain teaware.

Where else should you buy blue jeans but in the birthplace of denim? Guillaume Sagot's hand-cut options for men and women are not only of supremely elegant cut and fit, but they're also sustainably produced, a rarity for denim. Made using 17th-century weaving techniques, the fabric is soft yet durable, so this chic boutique-atelier draws fashionistas from near and far.

Short for Bazar de l'Hôtel de Ville, Le BHV Marais houses an enormous basement hardware store that sells everything from doorknobs to cement mixers and has to be seen to be believed. The fashion offerings for men, women, and kids feature many of the top labels, and there's a fabulous, not-too-crowded lingerie department on the fifth floor. But BHV is most noted for its high-quality home-decor items, electronics, stationery, and office supplies. If you're looking for typically French housewares (like those heavy, gold-rimmed café sets, gorgeous linens, or Savon de Marseille), this is the place. The extensive men's store is across the street at  36 rue de la Verrerie. Perched on the top level is Le Perchoir, a cozy rooftop cocktail bar overlooking the city skyline.

Within walking distance of the town center and tourist office, this traditional bakery for the boat-shaped navette, an emblematic cookie of Marseille and Provence, was revived by the founder of the Provence-based cosmetics giant, L'Occitane. Delicately perfumed with orange flower water, the oblong cookie is said to represent the boat that brought saints Mary Magdalene and Martha to the coast near Marseille. Other traditional biscuits, flavored with lemon, almond, anise, or orange flower (including calissons d'Aix and macarons made from local almonds) are baked here by hand in gourmet versions updated by Paris superstar pâtissier Pierre Hermé. Though you'll also find them in gastronomic shops, all of the biscuits made here—easily transportable in tins—are sold in the Biscuiterie store at a 10% discount.

Stroll through the vast ground floor of this high-end children's clothing store, located inside a 17th-century mansion, and you'll feel like royalty on a private visit to a friend's estate which happens to have beautiful clothing for babies and children on display. The rooms wrap around a large, private garden and helpful salespeople will assist in finding the perfect gift for a pretty penny.

The city's major marché biologique, or organic market, is on Boulevard Raspail between Rue du Cherche-Midi and Rue de Rennes. Bursting with fresh produce, baked items, and eco-friendly products, it's open every Sunday from 9 am to 2 pm. A very delicious nonorganic market operates at this location on Tuesday and Friday, from 8 am to 2 pm.

At her multibrand concept store, jewelry designer and general fashionista-about-town Marie Gas does the work for you, mixing women's wear designers you already know and love (Spalwart, Ulla Johnson) with French and European créateurs that you definitely want to know (and will love). Browse a seasonal collection of everything from ready-to-wear to jewelry, leather goods, perfume, and design objects for the home.

Head to the streets between Rue du Bac, Rue de l'Université, Rue de Lille, and Rue des Sts-Pères to unearth museum-quality pieces. The more than 100 shops in this association of galleries and antiques dealers are marked with a small, blue square banner on their storefronts.

This is the place to sample more than 100 Gigondas vintages—all for free—and learn all about the terroir, wine making, organic wines, and the AOP Gigondas appellation from friendly, highly knowledgeable staffers who speak English. Afterward, you can stock up on the best of these stunning wines.

Phoebe Philo, who defined this bohemian-chic label for a decade, single-handedly redefined the codes of fashion for professional women, garnering a fiercely loyal following for her streamlined designs, featuring flowing pants, unstructured jackets, and the Cabas bag. All heads turned when bad boy Hedi Slimane, who left Saint Laurent in 2016 after rocking the label to its core, was tapped to fill Philo's shoes. After his first season's glittery minis tanked, Slimane did an about-face, channeling a bourgeois art-house look that felt distinctly Parisian. Exit Slimane and enter Michael Rider in 2025, whose first collection seemed poised to return the label to a more refined and wearable era.

The store's A-list fashion credentials come with a big bonus—everything here is ethically and ecologically sourced. Peruse racks of men's and women's wear from handpicked European and U.S. labels, then head to the stellar shoe department to complete your look. Beneath glass skylights as clear as your conscience, you'll also find a fine selection of natural candles, leather goods, and jewelry. The kids' store just around the corner ( 22 rue Yves Toudic) is one of the city's best, with toys, decor, and color-coordinated togs that express canal-side cool.

Elegant, modern looks with sex appeal and lasting value are Chanel's stock-in-trade. Although the spectacularly beautiful Avenue Montaigne flagship takes shoppers' breath away, the heart of this revered fashion house is still the boutique at 31 rue Cambon, where Chanel once perched high up on the mirrored staircase watching audience reactions to her collection debuts. Great investments include all of Coco's favorites: the perfectly tailored suit, a lean soigné dress, or a quilted bag with a gold chain. Handbags, jewelry, shoes, and accessories are all found at the fabulous 42 avenue Montaigne boutique, opposite the flagship store.

Ex-fashion designer Laure Traverso (Marc Jacobs, Paul & Joe) escaped the Paris treadmill to open her own wildly creative concept store that spotlights all things French that are also sustainable, ethical, design-conscious, and just plain cool. Discoveries abound: look for chic emerging fashion labels, beautiful leather and straw bags, shoes, belts, avant-garde jewelry, lingerie, handmade home furnishings, and organic cosmetics made in Provence. There's even a grocery corner with local microbrews, chocolates, and teas.

Much like the clothes it sells, Chloé's flagship boutique is softly feminine and modern without being stark. Housed in an 18th-century mansion, its creamy marble floors, gold sconces, and walls in the brand's signature rosy beige are the perfect backdrop for Chemena Kamali's designs, which effortlessly continue in the vein of founder Gaby Aghion's sensibilities—unsurprising, seeing as Kamali has been connected to the brand on and off for over 20 years. Shoppers are met with the kind of sincere attention that is all but extinct in most high-end Paris shops, and sustainability is the mot d'ordre.

It seems the world's romance with heels so high they're potentially lethal will never end, thanks in no small part to the king of the iconic red-soled stiletto. Louboutin artfully weaves fantasy, glamour, and good, cheeky fun into his towering heels, which have graced red carpets and the gangways of private jets. But you can also find more prudent models, including kitten-heeled mules and spiky sneakers, as well as chic and functional bags and a selection of lipsticks and nail polish that blend right in with your soles. His 3,000-square-foot boutique—done up in Louboutin red, of course—offers three floors of pure fetishistic pleasure.

The candles made by Cire Trudon have illuminated the great palaces and churches of Paris since the 1600s. Nowadays their products provide the atmosphere for tony restaurants and exclusive soirées. The all-vegetal, atmospherically scented wares come in elegant black glass, pillars of all sizes, or busts of clients past—like Napoléon and Marie-Antoinette.

A stone's throw from the Eiffel Tower, this women's boutique does all the work for you, with a handpicked collection of standout clothing and accessories from the best smaller French and European labels like Diega, Pomandere, Absolut Cashmere, Laurence Bras, Apuntob, C.T. Plage, and much more. It's an excellent one-stop shop for immediate Parisian chic.

Part charming café serving lunch, snacks, and coffee, and part concept store, CQFD (Créations Éthiques Franco Décalées) is hands-down Avignon's chicest shopping destination. Its spacious rooms brim with a curated selection of whimsical clothing and jewelry, chic stationery, tableware, soaps, cosmetics, and handmade housewares (including eco-paints and hand-blocked wallpapers). Everything is eco-conscious—and made in France.

After working with Pierre Hermé and at top palace hotels, Claire Damon opened her own pastry shop that translates to "Cakes and Bread," a simple name that downplays her artistic sophistication. Descended from a long line of accomplished chefs, Damon understands that the best results are produced with the finest ingredients. Her exquisite pastries and breads, made with carefully acquired, often organic ingredients are mouthwatering works of art. The individual fruit tarts are almost too beautiful to eat, but you'll be glad you did.

Harking back to the Victorian era, when every chic household had a stuffed bird or small mammal, this outstanding cabinet of curiosities mixes jewel-like butterflies and insects with astonishing specimens of wild animals, including giraffes, lions and tigers, polar bears, antelopes, zebras, and exquisite birds. (Note that all of the animals died of natural causes in zoos.) More comical or whimsical pieces include pastel-color chickens, winged monkeys or mice, and the Poe chandelier, complete with a raven. All items come with certification for easy export and can be shipped anywhere.

This 19th-century taxidermist has long been a must-see for curiosity seekers. A 2008 fire destroyed what was left of the original shop, but it has been lavishly restored and remains a cabinet of curiosities par excellence. Create your own box of butterflies or metallic beetles from scores of bug-filled drawers or just enjoy the menagerie that includes stuffed zebras, monkeys, lions, bears, and more. Also in stock: collectible shells, corals, and crustaceans, plus a generous library of books and posters that once graced every French schoolroom. There is a line of sculptural displays designed by artists, as well as decorative posters, wallpaper murals, and much more.

Maria Grazia Chiuri, Dior's first female designer for a label that's traditionally defined the feminine, has quickly made the House of Dior thoroughly her own. Her feminist perspective—which brings together the glamour, high style, and comfort women of all ages really want, instead of a fantastical notion best-suited for models—has transformed the house of Dior, raising it to one of the most exciting Parisian designer brands in the city, not to mention the most profitable. Furthermore, the 2022 reopening of Dior's Avenue Montaigne flagship store ushered in a new benchmark for Paris boutiques. Covering more than 105,000 square feet, this pearl of a flagship brings together haute couture and ready-to-wear items, beauty, and menswear, along with a restaurant (Monsieur Dior) and pastry shop (by chef Jean Imbert of the Plaza Athénée), three gardens, guest suites, and a gallery space bound to rival the Musée Yves Saint Laurent.

When Victoire de Castellane was signed to create Dior's first line of fine jewelry, she brought a big dollop of wit and panache to the venerable brand. After her romance with death heads, the young designer has returned to what she does best—utterly flamboyant gems in raucous colors, but with a new delicacy and finesse that places her designs at the pinnacle of high jewelry.

A Paris mainstay since 1961, Diptyque's flagship shop is famous for its candles, eaux de toilette, and home fragrances in a huge range of sophisticated and subtle scents like myrrh, fig tree, wisteria, and quince. They're delightful but not cheap; the candles, for instance, cost nearly $1 per hour of burn time.