Since last April, my job has consisted of conducting exhaustive ‘research’ for les bons shopping adresses in Paris for my North American tour clients. Well, shopping places as well as great cafés, restaurants, clubs and other interesting diversions. I know, it’s a tough job, but someone has to do it and I figure it may as well be me!
 
My research is scientific in nature. This means that I pick a metro station, get off and walk for blocks and blocks in the chosen area to sniff out good buys and shopping areas. I am like a drug dog, ruthless in my observations. Basically, I’m all over the place. I watch locals shop. I follow French people around and see what they’re buying. I ask them questions.

I also have several ’scouts’. Parisian and visiting friends call or email me regularly with great tips. Hey Karen, I discovered this fantastic [store, market, café, resto, hotel, club], they say. You need to put this on your list. Indeed, my Palm spreadsheets are bulging!

And I have a big disadvantage here in Europe that people can capitalize on–I am here with lowly Canadian dollars so right off the bat I’m paying roughly 30% more for everything in exchange rates alone! So trust me, if there is a good buy to be found, I’ll find it. I love Galeries Lafayette et al as much as the next person, but I have discovered that everyone loves a bargain, no matter how much money they have.

Street markets are great places to find fantastic fashion bargains. So, read on for our favorite market picks…
 

STREET MARKETS:

As you can well imagine, having a company named Nuit Blanche Tours, I usually hit street markets in the hour before they close, around noonish. This also happens to be the best time to visit a market because you are likely to get even better prices. Everyone has their favorite market in their quartier, but here are a few of the ones we’ve been to and love, mainly for their fashion findability.
 

Right Bank   

#1 The Marché near Place de la Bastille, on Blvd. Richard Lenoir (M: Bastille), on Thursdays and Sundays (there are more clothing vendors on Thursday). If people can only visit one market while they’re in Paris, this is the one I recommend. This lively, friendly, vendor-shouting market has excellent prices on everything you can imagine, including fantastic food and wines. There is a big stall in the center of the market with the name ‘Marché Grande, DéGriffé’ - it has a big bin of new clothes priced at 3 euros, always worth digging around in. There are also some other dégriffé stalls. I bought a beautiful Zone Bleue sweater at another stall here for 60 euros that I have seen at retail stores for double or more the price.
 

#2 Marché D’Aligre in the 12th, a super lively, world market near Bastille (M: Ledru Rollin, Line 8, Tuesdays through Sunday), off of Rue du Fauborg Saint Antoine and Rue D’Aligre. I always seek out the lady who has a few tables and sells amazing clothes for next to nothing, all quality labels. She always has a van parked beside her tables. Once my friend found a gorgeous designer leather skirt (for 3 euros!) here that draws compliments every time she wears it. My fav jeans were purchased there, for 5 euros. And I have purchased tops, sweaters and other great stuff. Some of it still with the original price tags attached. Some of the clothing is used but in good condition. Again, if you go near closing time, she will pretty well give you a big bag full of clothes for very cheap.

Left Bank

#1 Marché at M: Corentin Celton (Line 12). On Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1 PM to 7 PM. There are some incredible buys here on jewellery (5 euro watches) and clothes, with some quality, unique stuff that you don’t see at other markets. Lots of Laetitia Rosa knit tops and sweaters, starting at 5 euros. Jeans for 10 euros and Zara, Jaune Rouge and Lucy + Paris brands starting at 20 euros. It’s far, but definitely worth the trek. This market also happens Sundays during the day, but there are less clothes and more food on this day.
 
#2 Marché near Chinatown at M: Maison Blanche (Line 7). Sundays. Starts at Rue du Tage. This market has some gems, like two stalls with shoes all selling for 5 euros, some Italian leather shoes included. There is a stall selling all-new bras and panties for 1,50 and 1 euro, in fantastic styles and colors. Italian jeans for 6 euros and big stalls filled with Diesel jeans, tops, sweaters and vests, for 20 euros each. Special stalls at this market are the usual make-up stalls, but the ones here carry top brand cosmetics like Sisley, Lancôme (juicy tubes and mascara), Sephora and Salome products, all starting at 1 or 2 euros.
 

Les Banlieues Parisiens

#1 Forget the flea market in St-Ouen (les puces). This way too big pickpocketers paradise repeats its merchandise over and over, mile after exhausting mile. How many thousands of pairs of Nike runners can you see anyway? A much better, scaled down version, and more fun choice is the ethnic street market near the puces in St-Ouen, frequented by locals and with incredibly low prices. I have never seen a name for this market, but it starts at M: Garibaldi (Line 13) on the street right in front of McDonald’s and continues for quite a few blocks, with a couple of short branches. It happens on Fridays and Sundays. No food here but you can find heaps of fashion bargains including handbags, luggage, clothes, scarves, shoes, lingerie as well as fabrics, costume jewellery, make-up, shampoos, hair spray, hair dyes and soaps. There’s a guy selling great Italian leather shoes, for usually 20 euros. There are some dégriffé stalls with clothes crammed in bins going for 1, 2, 3 and 5 euros. Some of it used and some new.

#2 For the really, truly adventurous, go to the market in Sarcelles, Île-de-France, located 16.3 km from Paris, Tuesday, Friday and Sundays. RER: Line D, Garges-Sarcelles, it’s just 5 stops from Châtelet-Les Halles. Some people may not want to venture this far North. So use your own judgment. But several highly fashionable French friends have recommended this market and I think it is simply the best for French fashion, bar none.
 
Late last spring, on a Saturday, I drove there with a French friend in her car. No, I didn’t force my friend, she actually wanted to come! We got lost and it took us about 2 hours to find the town of Sarcelles first of all, but we went through numerous charming French towns on the way. We finally got to Sarcelles, only to discover that the market was not open that day as we had been told! We could see from the stalls that this was a HUGE market. So, adopting my dog instincts, the next day on the Sunday my friend called and said, we’re going back, I’ll pick you up! This time we drove straight there no problem.

Okay, this is only for serious shoppers because this market goes on and on forever too. Merchandise does get repeated, but doesn’t seem to as much as at St.Ouen’s puces. This is a fantastic market. The problem with driving there is that we had to drive around for about 35 minutes to find a parking spot. Before arriving at the actual Sarcelles market, we went through yet another market that was right beside and crammed wall-to-wall with people. Next time, I will go on the Tuesday or Friday as there are likely to be less people. Adventure being my middle name, I left my friend to drive back to Paris, and I took the RER back just to experience it. It was a fast, 5 stop ride to Chatelet and it was fantastic to be able to kick back and rest!
 
Happy shopping! 

Published May 1, 2006 in BonjourParis.com - Largest content site about Paris for expats and English speakers