Galeries Lafayette Paris is absolutely breathtaking!…read more The gorgeous glass dome and ceilings are a showstopper all by themselves. Almost every designer you can think of is here, making this a must-see and a must-shop when visiting Paris. And it doesn't stop inside Galeries Lafayette--the entire surrounding area has stores for days! Lights, glitz, glamour, luxury, and fashion everywhere you turn. It reminded me of an upscale New York City 42nd Street, but with that beautiful Parisian elegance. Even if you're not planning to shop, go for the experience. There's so much to see, you could spend hours just walking around and taking it all in. Definitely one of my Paris must-visits!

My husband and I were talking to our good friend who's been living in Paris for the last five…read moreyears, and she told us e-commerce is less dominant there because people seem to prefer shopping in physical stores. While malls die all over America, retail still thrives in Paris. Exhibit A: Galeries Lafayette Haussmann. I've been to this department store a number of times over the years, and I both enjoy it and fear how completely it can suck up precious vacation hours. It's a fantastic place to shop, with a ton of well curated inventory spread out across multiple floors in multiple buildings. The main building features that beautiful domed ceiling, which manages to catch me by surprise every time I walk in. I haven't had the opportunity to shop for my own clothes here in a long time, but I've gotten some really great stuff on the children's floor, and discovered the souvenir section on my last visit, where I picked up some cool Paris Metro toy trains and magnets. We did somehow get stuck at Galeries Lafayette for over two hours and ended up skipping Notre-Dame, which might have been a better place to spend our last afternoon in Paris. But it was sale season, and my kids look super cute in their heavily discounted Petit Bateau. Galeries Lafayette is busy and sometimes overwhelming, but it's a wonderful department store. I wish we had something like it back home. I'd much rather shop there than fall for targeted ads on Instagram.

This smaller Printemps is at the local Versailles "mall". The store deserves a 3 star review for…read moreit's smaller selection BUT!!!!!!......they have a Pierre Hermes popup with every flavor of macaron and NO LINE!!!!! I found that most of the sales people do not speak English but that is okay with us. Pierre Hermes!!!!!

Anything you need. Totally, truly French!…read moreLoved our purchases. Cosmetics, socks, food, souvenirs.

When you find your self in Paris without ___________ (fill in the blank) and you are on a budget,…read moreyou can count on finding __________ at a very reasonable price at MonoPrix. It is that simple, very reasonable clothes, housewares and groceries in on compact space...

The store is basically like it is in America. The hotdogs are exactly the same, just the way our…read morefamily loves them. They have a large selection of fruits, vegetables, and other food items. They have TVs, computers, silverware, kitchen equipment, and other appliances. The staff was helpful getting toilet paper down for me. I was disappointed the ice machine doesn't work and there were no frozen drinks or dessert. That should never happen at Costco! Otherwise, it's always a great value shopping here.

Costco Massy is easy to get to--just one bus from our hotel. The store feels almost identical to…read moreU.S. Costcos, except for a huge hanging sausage and lots of French pastries. The deli food was disappointing though: dry chicken and overcooked fries. We also learned the hot dog drink isn't unlimited; you scan your receipt once and that's it. Interesting to visit, but not much different from home.

This place was a shopaholic's dream! There was an incredible selection of luxury designers, with…read morethe exception of Louis Vuitton. The staff was friendly, and we had such a great time exploring everything they had to offer. The deals were pretty decent, and the duty-free option for visitors living outside of France was definitely an added bonus. Shopping here ended up being one of my favorite parts of our Paris trip. If you love luxury shopping, this is definitely worth checking out!

If you are staying in Paris City, would not recommend trekking out to the outlets. Firstly, if you…read moreare looking for good deals on the luxury designer goods, the inventory and options are quite limited. Secondly, several of the stores and how they are run and how the associates act are deplorable and really ruin your impression on those brands (I.e. YSL, Gucci, Burberry). The lines you see are really fake lines because of how slow they are moving in the stores. Check out at Gucci, took 45 minutes due to incompetence and slowness - unbelievable. Prada and Chloe were some of the only pleasant experiences. Just not worth it being almost an hour drive/metro from Paris.

So I know the Galeries Lafayette on Champs-Elysées is a renowned department store on a significant…read moreParis street, but to me, a tourist passing through with gastrointestinal distress, this place was just a large container for a rather upsetting bathroom. I guess I am grateful this place even had a bathroom, as the Monoprix next door did not. It must get a lot of people who come for the bathroom without shopping at the store, which is why all visitors have to pay for the privilege. I had to go go go and was pretty stunned to get down to the Galeries Lafayette basement and find a fucking bouncer at the bathroom's entrance, sitting and watching us toilet hopefuls like Saint Peter at the pearly gates. She saw me coming with all of my need and pointed to a ticketing machine. I'd never encountered a ticketed bathroom before and lost valuable seconds in my confusion. I paid the €1.50 as fast as I could (honestly, I would've forked over whatever they asked), then walked through the turnstile, like at a Metro station, heading to the first stall like my train was about to leave. Have you ever executed a public bathroom visit with no witnesses and felt like you've pulled off the perfect crime? Well, this was like that, but the opposite. I'm pretty sure I made eye contact with both the bouncer and the cleaner who came out of my stall (at least they do keep it clean in there), and probably five other desperate customers coming in and out of this heavily trafficked all-gender bathroom. There was way too much scrutiny for what I had to do, and I doubt I can ever go back again. I did go to the main Galeries Lafayette an hour later, as I was in Paris during sales week, and it was great, a beautiful department store where I bought discounted Bonpoint and Diptyque like a classy American traveler. I don't think the Champs-Elysées is quite as marvelous, but unfortunately, I'll never know for sure.

First stop before any financial damage was done. We went to the food court. We headed downstairs…read morefor a nice ice cold drink and a quick bite. Maybe it is the American in me, but this did not feel like any food court I have seen back home. There are only four stalls in total. Joe and The Juice, Pierre Marcolini, Yi The, and one more I did not catch. My son ordered the L'Amore (strawberry, raspberry blueberry tea) from Yi The. The juice was decent and I was very pleased to see they used fresh ingredients, but not every drink works with boba. This was one of those times where it just did not. My husband also bought a bottle of coke, which cost 3.50 euro, which is very expensive for any food Court standards Next door, we got our first macarons of the trip from Pierre Marcolini. We tried the Dubai macaron, the signature one, the Noisette, and the most delicious of them all, the Framboise. They were all delicious and not too sweet, which I really appreciated. I loved every bite, but my favorites were the raspberry macaron with dark chocolate filling and the hazelnut one called Noisette. It was definitely worth the stop.

The mall is great. Tons of options for shopping, eating etc. We bribed our hotel shuttle driver to…read moretake us and was a lot cheaper than uber.

I haven't been all over the world.... yet ! Lol Butttt this…read moreplace has it all in the mall world. From grocery stores to fast food to cool chocolate shops, sephora. Music stores, cinema! It's a great place it's well presented the floors are polished to perfection. Everyone walking around there looks happy, not your typical mall in Paris. Buy your gifts and booze here don't waste time at the airport. Shop till you drop and if you do need a break plenty of seats around.