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Shopping that is unique to Paris

Hidden stores for connoisseurs

This walk reveals wares of an elegance and quality that cannot be produced on a mass scale. As well, It explores the hub of 19th-century Continental fashion (the royal gardens of Palais-Royal and the Covered passages that fan out from it) and lets us glimpse the tradition of luxury that began with the Court.

 

 

  • Covered passages

 

In the early 19th century, 250 glass-and-iron covered lanes linked the fashionable parts of the Right Bank. Famed for luxuries, they were a living theater as well - places to see and be seen. The appearance of department stores and sidewalks, plus a crack-down on gambling and prostitution, caused their eclipse.   

 

A dozen Passages remain. We explore part of their labyrinth and evoke a past that was both elegant and edgy.

 

Today's Passages include superb sites which connoisseurs seek out and plebian shortcuts between métro stops. There too, between the shoe-stores and lunch counters, nestle an intimate hotel and shops with merchandise to treasure.

 

 

  • We begin with Palais-Royal, from which the Passages fan out

 

 

Since this is a shopping tour, bring your credit card. But it goes far beyond commerce.

 

•Examples & costs

Entry to a Covered passage
A palace that belonged to the Sun King...

This former palace surrounds a garden that was the hub of Continental fashion, gastronomy and ideas from about 1780 to the mid-19th century.

 

 

Exceptional boutiques still lie behind the arcades. We visit some...
    • We enter a Passage, to come upon splendid scarves and stoles

     

     

    Apparel that one can purchase only here

     

     

    "I receive PEF's guests in my boutique as I would in my salon."

    This boutique, which comes to me through my family, is like my home. I am happy to tell how my ancestors, who were peddlars in Alsace, became cloth manufacturers. I can explain too how I renovated the establishment with these collections. Of course purchases are welcome, but for me the reason for our meeting is a story that helps to understand that of France."

    - Our hostess

    We adapt our walk to visitors' interests. Vendors, who know that we are coming and are often also the proprietors, gladly share their pride in these shops, which express personality - as does all art.

     

     

    • We delve into some of the  Passages, which are mysterious and poetic

     

     

    Toward 1830
    Recently

      One of our artists has a studio just beyond the greenery. We can end there with an apéritif or coffee.
        •  Nearby 

        Since the Passages are in the heart of the Right Bank they can connect with such suggestions as: Opéra, Workshops for haute couture, Silks of kings... 

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        Swirled scarf / photo supplied by the establishment; Store owner / Carolyn Ristau

         

        •Elegance

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