Sunday is the perfect day to take a long walk or visit a museum...after all, most of Paris is closed. If you have a hankering for shopping or need to grab a last-minute gift, however, some stores are open. The boutiques in Bercy [more...]

The Maison Fouquet has been in operation at the same rue Lafitte location since 1852. Since 1928, a second location in the 8th has meant that chocolate lovers have twice the pleasure and twice the temptation. Originally a jam shop, [more...]

Roses are red, pink, orange, yellow, and so many other colors at the beautiful and fragrant Au Nom de la Rose boutiques. Located in virtually every arrondissement (delivery also available), this is the place to go to find your Valentine [more...]

If you don't have the cash to wow your Valentine with a meal at the famed Tour d'Argent restaurant, you can pick up a gourmet gift at the restaurant's boutique across the street. While still highly priced, a small box of chocolates for [more...]

The handsome stationary shops along the rue du Pont Louis-Philippe (between the rue de l'Hôtel de Ville and the rue François Miron) are a feast for the eyes. From the latest in minimalist design to hand-made papers and journals, it's [more...]

While you probably don't need anything from this darling boutique, you will probably want it all. From French chic housewares to imported fabrics and clothing, Antoine & Lili boutiques are a feast for the eyes. Crystal chandeliers [more...]

Just steps from the Champs Elysées round-about is a vast stamp market held year-round on Thursdays, Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. Don't just come for the stamps, though: there are also postcards and piles of other various papers [more...]

The prices have dramatically increased in recent years, but it's still as fun as ever to spend an afternoon perusing around the flea market in Saint-Ouen. Even if you don't buy a thing, it's interesting to wander amongst dusty old [more...]

Poke around a Why store – half a dozen around Paris – for a good laugh. This temple of weird and kitchy gift ideas (neon pink cuckoo clocks, dirty games and much much more…) is a guaranteed good time, and will definitely help you [more...]

Shopping is a pleasure in the Rue du Four, a nice street of the Saint Germain neighborhood where fashion primes. Like any shopping favorite, it gets crowded, though, so better to go during the week, and exploring the surrounding, [more...]

If your date is a fellow Anglophone, go book-browsing at WHSmith, a great big English-language bookstore located right by metro Concorde. Perfect for a stroll in the Tuileries gardens after you’ve gotten your literary [more...]

This little village in the Marais, nestled between rue St Paul and rue des Jardins St Paul, is the best place to go “antiquités” shopping – or more likely just poke around the dusty wonders. The antiques stores are mostly located [more...]

Elvis lovers must make a pilgrimage to the incredible “Elvis My Happiness” store, where they will literally find anything Elvis their little hearts desire. It is run by the fan club of the same name, which stages Elvis-related [more...]

Macarons may just be the best French pastry (sorry, éclair). For the best of the best, take your date macaron-tasting at Ladurée, where you can buy a sampling of small macarons of dozens of flavors – classic ones like coffee, [more...]

If you read French, you’re lucky – you can take advantage of France’s huge world of comics, which here is free of the nerdy teenager associations of American comics. There’s more than Tintin and Asterix, though, so take your [more...]

Stamp-lovers, or just curious? This quaint early 19th-century passage (meaning a street covered with a glass ceiling) is the French stamp collectioners’ headquarters, harboring many specialty stores for both stamps and old postcards [more...]

So you want to try absinthe – but isn’t it illegal, you say? Not so. In France, they limit levels of thuyone, the molecule that allegedly drove people crazy, but the absinthe on the market is actually the same composition as the [more...]

For trendy digs, dig through piles and piles of cheap clothes (3 items for 2 euro, and the like) at the “puces” (flea market) of Montreuil. It's mostly clothes, and some are decades old. You’ll laugh over absolute horrors, but [more...]

To get your date something silver – by the way, silver jewelry is better than gold, guys – take her to Gudule (several locations around town, check website) where they sell lots of great jewelry by weight. And there are also [more...]

Literature lovers can head to the marché Brancion, which assembles lots of used book sellers every weekend at the Parc Georges Brassens in the 15eme (rain or shine, since it takes place under a covered marketplace). Browse cheap [more...]