Her Business Is Helping American Tourists Beard Parisian Sales Clerks

How to shop in a city with horrendous traffic, boutiques that close for two hours at lunch and sales clerks who are just plain rude? Maribeth Clemente knows, and she will help fellow Americans for a fee.

With an investment of less than $9,000, she started a business called Chic Promenade last June to counsel visitors and shepherd them through the array of shops in the City of Light.

Clemente, a 26-year-old native of Troy, N.Y., takes up to four people on a tour of six to 12 boutiques in a typical day. Clients, who pay $70 each, are met at their hotels in a minibus for the tour. Outings are tailored to the clients’ interests. An afternoon could be devoted to antique silver, tapestries, glass, clothing or a combination of things.

Some travelers might be grateful just for being shielded from French salespeople. Clemente usually chooses shops known for hospitality, she said, but she will step in when necessary to act as a buffer.

“If the sales people want to be snippy, I can take it,” she said. “I know their racket and understand their mentality. Americans are very sensitive to how they’re treated, and a rude sales clerk can ruin a fun afternoon.”

Converts Prices

Most clients are Americans who don’t speak French, she said. She interprets what the clerks say and converts prices from francs to dollars. (She also will brief clients on how to apply for reimbursement of sales taxes paid on items taken out of the country.)

Most of her shoppers, she says, want authentic French items such as perfumes, wines and cookware. An average client will spend about $300 each in an afternoon.

“I don’t even think about bargains,” she said, adding that the falling dollar means that “there aren’t any left.”

Clemente says she does not take commissions from the store chosen for the tours.

Between stores, she plays tour guide, giving background information the stores themselves and also on historic neighborhoods and French celebrities. On a recent afternoon, for example, shoppers were told about the chocolate-eating habits of the French before a visit to the city’s oldest chocolatier.

Pastime Became Business

Clemente, who has a degree in international management form Simmons College in Boston, spent her junior year in Paris. She enjoyed her stay so much that she returned after she finished college. After guiding numerous friends and relatives through the city, she said, she decided to make a business of it.

She takes them to stores not listed in tourist guides and that carry items “you won’t find on Madison Avenue.”

“Price-wise and in terms of selection and uniqueness of design, some Paris boutiques have an edge over the United States,” Clemente said.

The most challenging part of her job, she says, is revising her repertoire of boutiques stay current.