Paris: Galeries Lafayette

May 24, 2012 By 1 Comment
Bonjour mes amis!
One last look at some Paris shopping for you!

During our cooking class
our host Paule was asked where to buy certain products.
She began to gush about her favorite shopping spot
Galeries Lafayette.
One of the students had been there and found it ‘overwhelming’.
I could see Paule was surprised at that and asserted that she was in there at least weekly 
and that the food section was especially nice.
It was near where the class was, so after lunch my husband and I decided to go check it out.
 The inside was amazing…..

It appears be an opera house doesn’t it?
Each balcony is a small shop…usually a designer…
after all, we’re in the fashion capital of the world so designer stuff is everywhere!

The attention to detail is simply amazing. 
I tried to find out if this was actually something else before it was this mall 
but it appears to have been built as is!
Take a look at the ceiling

I found this close-up below in a store promo pic
It’s a bit blurry because I enlarged it but you can still see the amazing beauty!

The second day we were in Paris, I knocked the little heel off my ballet flat.
I then wore a pair of wedge espadrilles for our trip to Versailles.
That was a LOT of walking and I ended up with little band-aids plastered all over my feet.
I had no choice but to knock the other heel off the other shoe 
and wear the comfortable ballet shoes totally flat.
When we arrived at the mall, I said “I’m finding the shoe department to look for some flats”.
It was at the basement level so we went down a beautiful, large spiral staircase
 to the bottom floor.
Here is a stock, store picture

I will tell you that I did not take many pics inside. There were lots of people and I felt a bit uncomfortable snapping too many pics because it seemed impolite and SO tourist.
So, you’ll see several stock pictures from the Galeries Lafayette website.
Back to shoes…..
The whole mall was organized into very small departments….each one a designer.
I’m not sure I realized there were THAT many designers to fill such a place
 but obviously I was wrong!
For example, this display on the table and the rack you can see behind it (full of flats)
was one designer…that’s all.
All the personnel were tall, thin, dressed in black and VERY polished looking.
I immediately felt gauche and out of place 
(another reason I didn’t want to whip out the camera)
There would be maybe 3-4 staff in each of these small departments.
If you wanted something, they went to a storeroom and brought it out.
The cheapest flats I found were 175E so, no flats for me.
The most expensive pair of shoes I’ve ever bought were about $70…..
because they were boots!
The most expensive shoe I saw was 695E,
but I’m sure it wasn’t the MOST expensive in there.
Interestingly, my husband had been watching a lot of France TV (in english)
 and had told me about the very high unemployment and how the E was falling.
Despite that, I saw MANY people….mostly young women, lugging designer bags 
and buying very expensive items. 
I’m not sure if credit debt is an issue in France but I saw that there was a 
store credit card that you could get.
We moved up a couple floors and found a cafe……
with a nice menu and a wine list! 
People were sitting there having coffee or wine or drinks with a pastry, cheese plate or salad.
Expensive, of course….
This is the bar….that little black board is the wine list.
What a view!
We managed to find the gourmet section that Paule had talked about.
There was some construction going on and we had to walk down a long plywood hall 
and take a second elevator.
Not too bad, until we had to leave, then we were lost for a bit!
I spotted this right away and since I have kids crazy for Nutella, we needed a picture!
As below, the gourmet section had a cheese shop, butcher shop, bread shop,
 fruit section, vegetable section, prepared food section, etc……
Below are some stock pics…sorry for the blurriness…

As in the smaller markets, there was much discussion going on about the RIGHT selection.
I finally bought my macarons here in the pastry shop.
We chose salted caramel and raspberry.
Delicious!
We found a small coffee spot in the gourmet section and had a coffee.
As we sat there we were next to the wine shop, which was right next to the escalator. 
There were two security guards at the escalator….I guess wine is a big shoplifting issue?
We purchased some Maille mustard…..which I have read is the best.
I have seen it here but decided to buy it in Paris after Paule told me 
that the one sent to the US is not the same. 
The French version has wine in it and they cannot import that version.
So, we bought several for some gifts and for ourselves.

My feet were killing me and our day had been long so we headed home
 for a rest before dinner.
I’ll leave you with this pic I found taken with snow and lights.
It IS an overwhelming experience but I am so glad we went!
Truly a DIFFERENT mall experience than here in the US.


Hope you have enjoyed shopping in Paris!
(If you missed the day at the flea market…look here.)

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Comments

  1. HAMPTON HOSTESS says:
    May 25, 2012 at 1:05 pm

    What a fantastic and fun trip. It’s been a few years since I’ve been to Paris so it was great to revisit a bit with you today! Have a great weekend, Barbara

    Reply

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