Shopping in France

You can find a variety of different products to bring home as souvenirs of your visit to France. There are a number of outlets but in some cases you may find better prices for some items outside of France such as some of the couture fashion lines.

When you buy products, you will want to shop where you get them duty-free and make sure your get your VAT refund papers. To receive VAT, or a tax refund, you have to purchase a minimum amount of merchandise in a shop. You can find at least one duty-free shop in any major city in the country.

Two of the major department stores have opened outlets across the country. The Galeries Lafayette chain is known as Monoprix and the Au Printemps chain is known as Prisunic. You can find knockoffs of the latest fashion trends at these stores.

If you are looking for crafts to bring home, here are some places to explore:

• Brown pottery, known as faience, is created only in France. You can find it in the cities of the northeast from Rouen to Quimper on the Atlantic coast.
• Tiles can be found in cities such as Salernes and Moustier Ste Marie in Provence. The faience in this area also has images of animals.
• Marseille and Provence are known for their soap-making.
• Copper-lined cookware is manufactured in the village of Villedieu-les-Poeles, near St. Lo and Mont-St-Michel. The cookware is sold in the village for less than you will pay in Paris.
• Baccarat crystal is manufactured in Strasbourg.

You can bring cheese that has been aged for ninety days back into the United States. If you want French chocolates, you should visit a specialty shop. The chocolate sold in the grocery store is a commercial chocolate.

French perfumes are made with potato alcohol and the scent lasts longer than those made in the United States of grain alcohol. You may not be able to find discounts on the major brands such as Chanel and Dior. Do not buy American brands in France because they are more expensive.

Limoges is known for its porcelain. The porcelain is made in several factories in the city and each has a shop where they sell porcelain items and seconds.

If your interest is in wine or champagne, you can visit the wineries in Bordeaux, Burgundy, Alsace, the Rhone Valley, and Champagne. You can find stores selling the wines in Beaune, Brouillard, Montbard, and Gevrey-Chambertin, and Dijon. The prices will probably be the same as in Paris unless there is a special sale.

Cognac can be found in Cognac where it is exclusively bottled and in the Normandy region you can find the famous apple-based liqueur, Calvados.

Now that you have made your purchases and find that you can not pack everything into your suitcase, you will want to ship them back to the United States. You will have to pay duties on items that are shipped back to the United States. If your purchase is a large one, the company you buy it from will usually ship it for you. You do have to pay duty fees.

Shopping in a foreign country for something special to remind us of the trip is just as much fun as exploring the countryside or tasting the food. Just keep in mind that some items may be more expensive in France than they are in the United States. Find something unusual...something that is not easy to come by in the United States.

Visit My Information Mall