ENJOYING PARIS - CultureShock! A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette - page 273

When to Shop
Although Parisians may be interested in the nouveautés (new
collections), many wait for the biannual soldes (sales) to buy
clothes, when all shops, including the most fashionable,
offer reduced prices. During the soldes , the line around
the block at designer boutiques can be daunting, as clever
shoppers may have inspected the merchandise in the stores
prior to the opening sale date. About half of all consumer
purchases are made during the January and June sales.
Sales are regulated by the government: they are allowed
only after Christmas and in a six-week summer period, and
merchandise must have been in the store for at least 30
days, to ensure that inferior merchandise is not brought in
solely for a sale. Toward the end of the sales, some stores
will advertise deuxième démarque or dernière démarque ,
indicating further markdowns in price. Many shops also
have promotions throughout the year, when items on the
sales floor are marked for clearance or special items are
brought in for a particular promotion.
Shops are generally open from 10:00 am-7:00 pm. Some
of the smaller shops close for a few hours at lunchtime and
may stay open until 8:00 pm. Department stores are open all
day and generally stay open slightly later one evening a week.
With only a few exceptions, shops are closed on Sundays,
and some shops stay closed on Monday. August can make
for difficult shopping, as many of the smaller shops close for
the month. The department stores, fortunately, are open all
day, six days a week, all year round. In December, shops are
generally open on Sundays.
The Customer
If you come from a society where the customer is always
right, then you'll be surprised in Paris that this is not the
case. Sometimes, it even seems like the salesperson is
doing you a favour by just waiting on you, and you may
have to wait for her to finish her conversation with another
salesperson to be even noticed. Just wait where you can
be easily seen, make eye contact when you can and don't
show any impatience.