A Winter Madness Has Paris Shops in a Whirl

I’ve always hated to shop. I think it’s an inherited trait, like male pattern baldness.

In a typical year I go shopping only once. That’s on Dec. 24 to buy my wife’s Christmas presents. Often I’ll phone stores ahead of time to make sure they have what I’m after. Then I make a beeline for the proper counter, averting my eyes from displays of merchandise not on my list.

Over the years this technique has served me very well. This year, for example, I visited only three stores and had all my wife’s presents safely tucked under an arm in less than two hours, including a stop at the bank.

Despite my deeply ingrained hatred of shopping, however, I am a pushover for a bargain--or anything that even remotely resembles one. They love me at places like Radio Shack. And I don’t dare watch late-night TV anymore, for fear I might buy my wife another Veg-O-Matic.

Which is why you will not find me in Paris any time between now and March 31. Yes, folks, that is the annual Midwinter Madness in the City of Light. You name it, they’ve got it--at a discount. Even merchandise bearing names such as Hermes, Dior, Givenchy, Lanvin, Saint Laurent, etc., etc., is on sale. (I say etc., etc., because these are the only French designer names I--being your basic J. C. Penney, Sears, Montgomery Ward, etc., etc., type of guy--can think of.)

How do I know this? Because last winter at this time I was in Paris. And let me tell you, I had a couple of close calls. Like the lined leather coat that was marked down a couple of hundred. It was tempting.

This passed, though, and shortly I was back on the street.

Fear and Loathing

For most people, shopping doesn’t summon up these feelings of fear and loathing and they will cheerfully cross an ocean or a continent just to fondle the merchandise in some foreign store. Many are doing so right now in Galeries Lafayette and Printemps, two of the leading department stores in Paris. And probably at the Bon Marche and lots of other places besides.

Stores like these carry every conceivable type of merchandise and they employ every conceivable means to get you to buy it.

At Galeries Lafayette, where the lined leather coat incident took place, you will get at least a 13% discount on any item in the store. If it happens to be a luxury item--say fur, leather, jewelry, silver or perfume--the discount rises to 23%.

And they will accept almost any form of payment except chickens and unwanted children. Pay them with dollars, yen, major credit card or travelers checks, it’s all the same to them.

To qualify for the discounts all you have to do is prove you’re from a country outside the Common Market and spend at least 1,200 French francs, about $195. The lined leather coat would have qualified all by itself.

Almost all of the clerks speak English, but if you don’t feel like taking chances they’ll send an interpreter along with you free. Just stop at the Welcome Point inside the main door on the Boulevard Haussmann side and ask for one.

Stickers With Purchase

When you make your first purchase you’ll receive an ID number and a book of stickers. The clerk unburdens you of your stickers and you’re on your way to the next department on your list. The process is repeated each time you buy something.

When you’re finished shopping you present yourself at the pickup point on the main floor where everything you’ve bought will be wrapped and waiting for you. Here they add it all up, and figure the taxes and discounts. Then it’s “Merci beaucoup, au revoir,” and out the door.

Not to worry if you’ve bought more than you can carry. They’re only too happy to deliver everything to your hotel, free.

Several other inducements have been added this year. For example, if you’re shopping at Printemps you can get an additional 10% off by showing them an Air France ticket. And Jet Vacations, an affiliate of the airline, has sweetened the pot with a package deal that combines an Apex air fare with discount rates at several Paris hotels, including two of my favorites, the Lutetia and the Westminster. Other elements of the package include a book of discount coupons and use of a chauffeur-driven limo for seven hours.

“Sure, it’s a marvelous way to shop,” said an American woman with a knowing look. “They know you’ll keep right on buying and spending lots of money if you don’t have to worry about carrying all that stuff around.”

Not me. I’d tell the limo driver to take me to Corby, a little souvenir shop on the Avenue de Breteuil. No leather coats or expensive jewelry in sight, but for a buck they’ll sell you a watercolor print of Notre Dame or an Eiffel Tower key chain.

Galeries Lafayette and Printemps are practically next door to one another on Boulevard Haussmann. Galeries Lafayette is at No. 40 and Printemps is at No. 64. Both carry everything you’d expect to find in a large department store, plus designer sections and special services such as currency exchanges and beauty salons, and booths where you can buy tickets to plays and operas.

Hours are roughly the same, too. Galleries Lafayette opens at 9:30 a.m. and Printemps at 9:35 a.m. Both stores close at 6:30 p.m. and are closed on Sunday. Whether you shop or not, pick up the excellent map offered at both stores. It covers all of central Paris, with sightseeing attractions plainly marked.

Many if not all of the leading designers operate boutiques along such famous shopping streets as Avenue George V, Avenue Montaigne and Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore.

The Forum des Halles is a two-mile pedestrian zone that contains more than 150 boutiques. The Montparnasse shopping center is noted for cosmetics, jewelry, fashions, gifts, objets d’art and perfume.

Palais des Congres de Paris Boutiques is also very high style, in addition to having a reputation as a great place to buy art and books. There’s also a complete Japanese department store here.

For just strolling around and soaking up the ambiance, it’s hard to beat the street markets of Paris. The Auquai aux Fleurs on the Ile de la Cite is a great place to see flowers. For birds, try Place Louis Lepine.

Weekend flea markets are very big. Les Puces de Saint Ouen at Porte de Clignancourt recently celebrated its 100th birthday and attracts browsers from all over the world.

If you’re looking for that unusual piece of African tribal art or bronze statuary, one of the 3,000 merchants here may just have it.