Galleries Lafayette is a department store on steroids and a shopper's paradise, offering mid-range…read moreand higher end products. Their merchandise is extremely diverse, comprising just about anything you want across three buildings. The main building, where you'll find women's fashions, accessories, cosmetics, eyeglasses (including an optometrist), sportswear, children's wear, is topped with a must-see art glass dome, complete with a glass cat walk (maybe on the 4th floor?) that enables up close viewing of the dome from the inside. There are restaurants, rest rooms, and sweets shops in this building, too. Menswear has a building all to itself, as does the food court. Be careful here. There are so many delicious and appetizing foods offered in the food court building that you'll be tempted to overstuff. It would be just too easy to spend an entire day shopping at Galleries Lafayette.

The iconic shopping house is HUGE!!! We came here for last…read moreminute shopping since it's so close to our hotel. The store is packed at all hours, all days of the week. At the entrance all the well known brands for bags and clothing. The area for Moynart Labubu was doing brisk business. A Labubu bag I looked at was 2300 euros!!! Soooo many stuff here. We went to the 6th floor to get souvenirs, cookies, and gifts to bring home. Our suitcases will be packed full. Great service, friendly staff. No pictures, the store was too crowded and I didn't want to get in trouble for taking pictures with no permission.

What an absolutely beautiful flagship! I've been to Paris a few times, and each time ends up…read morestopping here to pick up items for my family... they are huge fans. I do have a few of their SLGs. This time, it's a shopping experience for my sister and she found her splurge gifts. Happy for her bc what's a Paris trip w/o gifts? lol The selection is amazing, but being the flagship... some small items were out of stock, especially new drops and in popular colors. You get better prices here in Paris than at home, the VAT will add to that saving. The service was amazing! I forgot his name but he was funny and charming. They will queue you up to the next sales associate and you just need to wait a few minutes, and get yourself a glass of sparkling water!

Went to the store on Tuesday but forgot my passport. Returned Thursday to pick up a hat and a pair…read moreof shoes. Waited close to an hour and no one would help. Store was busy so didn't mind waiting. Eventually the manager, Eury, came over and said I would be next. I thanked him and informed him I knew what I wanted and just needed to check out. A couple came in after us and suddenly we became next next. This obviously angered me. Apparently they're not interested in my business so I'll take it elsewhere. Guess the random couple who came in to try stuff on was more important than a guaranteed sale. When I asked Eury for his card he claimed not to have one. Not sure if this is the correct spelling of his name or not. I don't know if was dismissed for being an American, being dressed casually, or being black. Regardless it was not a good experience. Je suis allé au magasin mardi mais j'avais oublié mon passeport. Je suis revenu jeudi pour acheter un chapeau et une paire de chaussures. J'ai attendu près d'une heure et personne ne voulait m'aider. Le magasin était très occupé, donc cela ne me dérangeait pas d'attendre. Finalement, le responsable, Eury, est venu me voir et m'a dit que je serais le prochain. Je l'ai remercié et je lui ai indiqué que je savais déjà ce que je voulais et que j'avais seulement besoin de passer en caisse. Un couple est ensuite entré après nous et, tout à coup, nous sommes devenus " les prochains après les prochains ". Cela m'a évidemment énervé. Apparemment, ils ne sont pas intéressés par mon achat, donc j'irai ailleurs. J'imagine que le couple qui est entré au hasard pour essayer des articles était plus important qu'une vente garantie. Quand j'ai demandé la carte de visite d'Eury, il a prétendu ne pas en avoir. Je ne suis d'ailleurs pas certain que ce soit la bonne orthographe de son nom. Je ne sais pas si j'ai été ignoré parce que j'étais Américain, habillé de façon décontractée, ou parce que j'étais noir. Quoi qu'il en soit, ce n'était pas une bonne expérience.

The rain was coming down hard, and this was the covered passage where Jamie W and I heard it the…read moremost loudly because the soaring ceiling is made completely from glass and metal (Photo 3). This popular promenade melds almost seamlessly between Passage des Panoramas and Passage Verdeau, and it reflects arguably the most eclectic mix of retail businesses of the passages. For example, two hotels operate here, including a Best Western, and there's a wax museum (Musee Grevin), not my cup of tea. However, there are also browse-worthy shops selling antiques, vintage photos, regional sweets, and a charming toy store (Pain d'Epices) (Photo 9). We ended up having lunch at the brasserie at the southern entrance, Le Cafe Zephyr (review: https://yelp.to/vwaGcgMKED). RELATED - Exploring Paris? Here's a collection of places I've visited and reviewed: https://yelp.to/TDhdgjoONI

Quiet and Delicious Spaces to Wander, Rest and Enjoy!…read more So nice to be able to wander during a rainy day and see all of the cool shops. Nice break to our day and the history of these halls is very very cool.

This is a great corner for a beer on people watching. A…read moreblock from the showa musee. Time to decompress after all we witnessed today. 2 nice beers in ice.

Stopped here for a quick espresso before checking out Marais. We ended up staying for oh, maybe…read morehour and a half or two hours, 2 or 3 espressos and cappuccinos for me, 2 or 3 kir royales for my wife, and some terrific croissants and dessert items. Sat outside and was one of the highlights of our trip to all of France (and possibly life). Go and have yourself some of that joie da vivre!

I was lucky enough to stumble on this shop during my most recent visit to Paris. Just open 2…read moremonths, Georges & Co pays homage to the written word by stocking some of the most beautiful fountain pens, stationery, journals and ooh la la inks! This place is a must for all you fountain pen/ink snobs/stationery lovers. It's a gorgeous shop with a state of the art ink bar. When you walk in, your eyes become riveted to the ink bar on the left, filled with colors that you can't find in cartridges or regular pens. The "bar" is actually made up of liquor dispensers, what you might find in airport lounges dispensing gin or vodka. Here, they are filled with unique colored inks. You can select among several bottle sizes but the square glass 6€ one is my favorite. The shopkeepers puts the bottle up to the nozzle and voila! Owner Delphine Mercier told me that she named the shop after her grandfather, George, who loved to write and write with beautiful things. The shop boasts that it is the "ultimate writing experience" and I am a believer. The shop has pretty and funky journals made by French manufacturers so you don't have the feeling you will find the same thing when you go back home. Upstairs is the kids area which has French story books and crayons and stationery. This place is so magnificent that I went back twice to stock up on the unique inks poured directly from the bar. I have gone to many different stationery stores written up in Paris guidebooks but I always left feeling disappointed. The hardest part for me at George & Co was choosing from the myriad of ink colors and then trying to figure out how to pack all the glass bottles so they wouldn't break. Answer: stuff a bottle in a sock, wrap the inks in several plastic bags, put the dirty laundry/cheap clothes in with the inks so if there is a leakage issue, no worries! I think you could find a gift for just about anyone here. There's also a nice array of amazing French briefcases and leather goods by Mignon. An alligator skin satchel with silver handles caught my eye. Perhaps when the economy gets better...

Still as lovely as ever…read more In summer 2010, I found myself leaving Jardin du Luxembourg with my classmates. My umbrella wound up inverting itself and then breaking apart, so I was left without an umbrella in the unexpected rain. Upon walking, we stumbled upon Parapluies Simon and it was a serendipitous event. A few of us bought umbrellas there. I bought one there myself, a Guy de Jean with purple polka dots on a black background. It was expensive, and when converting to USD, nearly $100. I bought it out of sheer necessity and because I couldn't for the life of me figure out where else to find an umbrella. This must've happened within my first week in Paris. Anyway, cue over a decade later and I can tell you that that umbrella began my umbrella collection. While I no longer have the original umbrella as it died several years ago, I did buy another one just like it and have even had other Guy de Jean umbrellas shipped to me. When I knew I was returning to Paris, I was determined to find this shop. Luckily a Google search led me there and so I made sure to visit to confirm. Well, I visited and confirmed. The shop while somewhat smaller or perhaps less decorated than I remember is it, and well, you guessed it - I bought another umbrella! This new umbrella wasn't nearly as expensive as my first one. The exchange rate was in my favor this time and it was around $50 USD. I wound up buying the first umbrella that I saw that caught my eye. It was a dark blue umbrella with white cats. That said, the shopkeeper was a very pleasant man and showed me many umbrellas. Still, when you know you know. I just had to have the umbrella I bought. That, and well, the shopkeeper and I had a nice chat about my memories in the shop from 2010. He was happy I was patronizing the business again and he even gave me a logo pen. The entire experience was surreal and honestly this was probably one of my favorite parts of my most recent trip to Paris.

Fun shop with good selection of umbrellas in a wide price range from 20 euros or so to 200 euros…read more On the high end, they may not have as many choices as some other shops but still quite a selection with some excellent French brands. I bought 3 (25 euros, 45 euros, and 87 euros). And they packed one nicely which was easy to carry and I got a vat refund.