Finesse shopping at its best
The elegant department store, Le Bon Marché, in Paris's seventh arrondissement
This year the perils of Christmas shopping proved to be a real eye opener. It had been a long time since I had wondered through Paris’s most prestigious neighborhoods as a keen shopper. So, instead of inhaling the stimulating odors of burnt coffee and dreamingly gazing through the windows of Paris’s many bistros, this time I mingled with the city’s consumers.
Like with a lot of what the French do, the aesthetic value of the activity is paramount to the notion of one's enjoyment. The same goes for shopping. Department stores like Le Bon Marché, not far from The Luxembourg Gardens, are worthy of the exquisite architecture associated with buildings of previous royal regimes.
Walk through the doors of Le Bon Marché and you will first of all be dazzled with flights of escalators which criss-cross their way to the summit of the stores innately decorated dome. Window displays are often mechanical masterpieces complete with life-like mannequins and powdered snow, revealing some of the stores finest garments.
A roof-top café provides a splendid view over the city; the Eiffel Tower to the left and Notre Dame to the right. Suddenly, shopping is not so much of a chore.
Perhaps it’s a tad pretentious, but I decided that smaller items of higher quality were to bask in their glory underneath this year's Christmas tree. That means doing Paris justice and bringing home a few objects to juxtapose with Paris’s inherent glamour.
Coming out of Le Bon Marché, and taking a stroll round the areas close to St Germain de près, retailers leisurely serve customers at their own pace. The streets seemed rather civilized, broaching on serene when considering the time of year.
In opposition to the sophisticated consumerism which bides its time just south of the river Seine, areas north of the river like Chatelet can quickly turn into an experience many of us only dread in the lead up to the Western world’s most spendthrift period. Commercial chaos takes over as shoppers go about their usual business of turning up stress levels in the countdown towards December 25.
It might cost you an extra bob or two, but Paris most definitely caters for those in need of shopping with a bit of finesse, void of queues and shoulder barging lunatics.
Every now again Parisian glamour comes back to take your breath away.
