Things we will miss about Paris: Les Soldes & Paris discount stores

OK. At least I will miss them. French law dictates that stores can only have coordinated sales twice a year for six weeks at a time. It was actually a wonderful way to curb one's shopping enthusiasm and then unleash it that first week (OK, that first month). Lawrens & Co across the street would promptly put up their French pink sign first thing the morning of les soldes season & remind me that it's time to take a walk.

My other research tool was the Chic Shopping blog. Hints and strategies can be found at this link: Paris Sales

Now, since we're on the subject of shopping, I think it's also worthwhile to mention that I will miss the best kept Parisian discount secret (now I can reveal it, since I'm not a regular) - the Montmartre chain of Sympa stores. There's about five or six little shops scattered in the fabric neighborhood right below the Sacre Coeur hill. There you can find crazy bargains - it's where things go after they didn't sell during the soldes, or simply they're things that weren't picked up by retailers. There are two or three shops next to the Anvers metro shop that typically carry one euro Petit Bateau stuff (yes, one euro!). They also have tons of Natalys, Sergent Major, DPAM and other French brands (kids brands) that typically sell for 2 or 3 euros a piece. It's a crazy mishmash, so you can end up with a Petit Bateau coat for your kid for 2 euros or long johns. One of the stores also has incredible deals on very fancy lingerie - again, things that retail well over 50 euros going for 5 or so. But they disappear rather quickly!

The Sympa stores are located along the rue de Steinkerque, a street once notorious for its prostitutes and dance halls. Today, you can rummage through the bargains in these same buildings–under new management, of course!

Imagine the surreal charm of shopping for your “unmentionables” inside the former brothel that Pablo Picasso frequented during his “blue period”! Another Sympa now occupies part of “le bal de l’Elysée Montmartre,” where the famed Can Can star (and famorite muse of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec) La Goulue made her racy debut before defecting to the nearby Moulin Rouge. You can nab your own knickers in the very room where she once flashed hers so fetchingly at the absinthe-quaffing crowds.

Sympa locations:
62, blvd. De Rochechouart, corner of Steinkerque
1 bis, rue de Steinkerque
18, rue d’Orsel, corner of Steinkerque

Days and Hours: Monday through Saturday, 10 AM—7 PM

Metro: at Anvers (Pigalle and Abbesses are nearby, too)