Shopping

Paris offers you a wide range of shopping from cheap to luxurious.  Sales at French stores are restricted to the months of January and July—take advantage of the big sales in July!  In general, the French prefer smaller stores to department stores.  However, there are two large department stores, Galeries Lafayette and Printemps.  They have their flagship stores near the Opera.  

For basic goods, you may wish to try Monoprix, similar to Target. The stores have a grocery department as well as clothes and other products; another store along this line is Carrefour.  

Gift Ideas

In our globalized world where so much is made elsewhere and imported, what can you bring back for small gifts which might reflect France?  Food items come to mind:  mustard or mayonnaise in "toothpaste" tubes, unusual cookies (look for the brand “Reflets de France” at the supermarket for regional foods), salted butter caramels and chocolates (be careful: if we have hot weather, they'll melt!), macarons (you can freeze them!), jams or honey (these must be placed in checked luggage), Provençal tablecloths, dish towels, scarves.  Museum gift shops often have interesting options.  Things for the bath, such as the French bath mitts (instead of wash cloths), soaps and beauty creams.  The New York Times recommends La Roche-Posay sun screen (Anti-helios), which you can buy for about $13 but costs $40 in the U.S.  Consider French baby clothes if you know of someone who has a baby.  La Vaisaillerie, 92 rue St Antoine, 75004, has a lot of kitchenware.

Le Bon Marché (by Metro Sèvres-Bablyone) was the first department store in Paris and today is pricey, but its Grande Epicerie (chocolates, cookies) is a very nice food hall with lots of gift options.

Discount Shopping

Although there is an outlet mall about an hour outside of Paris (and plenty of tourist buses going there), Parisians prefer to go to the "dégriffés" or "stock" shops to pick up discounted clothing. Think Nordstrom Rack.  My Little Paris has an interactive map of some of the popular “stocks mode” (fashion discount stores). Check out Paris Digest, Trip Savvy, and even Yelp for more ideas.