Every year around the same period, it's the sales and the 2008 ones started a couple of days ago. You - may - know that, in France, the sales are strongly regulated (they can only take place during a limited period, they must start on a precise day, etc.) but the new government recently announced that they might remove all these regulations. The shop owners protested instantly! No demonstration announcement yet though;)
They've protested the freedom to set their own sale schedules? Seems odd. In any event, I imagine it would be quite a fashionable demonstration! Be sure to take lots of pretty shots for us.
ReplyDeleteNot to say I haven't done well with the sales in the past,but the stores start bringing out all the old junk they haven't sold in the past yrs. and throw it in with the new sale material.Yes, I AM jealous that I am not there now!
ReplyDeleteI still don't understand the European system of 2 sales per year. In the States, if you have a sale on some items , it brings people in to see the new items that are at full price.That happens EVERY week at Macy's NYC!
I remember being in Paris on a couple of those sale days. The crowds scared the be-jesus out of me.
ReplyDeleteYoupie, c'est les soldes!! Elles ont commencé un chouïa plus tôt en Belgique. Le deux janvier, si je ne m'abuse. Ici à NYC, c'est ridicule: Il y en a tout le temps! Tant et si bien que je n'y prette même plus attention.
ReplyDeleteWe have sales on too - I just bought 4 new pairs of shoes!!
ReplyDeleteA free market?
ReplyDeleteMme Benaut...you're just a regular Imelda Marcos aren't you! You go girl!
ReplyDeletePhx-Cdg - great to see you again. Was wondering if you were lost in a sale somewhere up in the air. Actually, I agree it seems strange this system, but for me it's more of a business concern. Why on earth today would any shopkeeper want to hold onto inventory during the year. We learned a long time ago that the quicker you rotate your inventory, the better for business. Now you get the problem Phx-Cdg describes.
What do I know, I'm a foreigner here...
By the way Eric, when I opened the photo this morning, either because I'm dumb or tired (or both), I thought I was looking at large, red milk cartons.
ReplyDeletePray tell, what are the shop keepers objections?
ReplyDeleteYou see, even sales windows in Paris are stylish. In the UK there are neon signs, loud writing shouting at you to go in, cut price tags and a ghastly pile of stuff in a junk bin at the door to catch you before you leave. But that's just Harrods.
ReplyDeleteI'm joking of course. The above is the High Street scenario and sales can be held whenever shopkeeping bills need paying, as far as i can see. Harrods IS stylish, though even there you get people shoving you out of the way, knocking your nose out of the queue while they grab normally-expensive crockery. It doesn't matter if they smash it in the process. They got it. First. Madness.
LOL Michael, the milk cartons!! i SEE that.
ReplyDeleteI was in Paris for the January sales back in 1991, very fond memories; I think I still have a sweater I bought there.
ReplyDeleteDavid
No wonder the French economy is in such a mess.
ReplyDeleteTo the contributor who said it's a 'European' phenomenon to have 2 sales per year, I think you'll find its a French phenomenon. In UK, it's pretty much a free for all these days.
Hey PHX-CDG great to see you here!
ReplyDeleteHere we have sales about 3 or 4 times a year.
Mme.Benaut we could go shopping together and go wild! I also bought a fantastic pair of sandals today!!! No, it was not on sale and it was not on my plans either. I just couldn´t resist when I saw it on display... and before I knew it, I was carrying a bag with one skirt, a top and the sandals...
Half price. Not too bad !! Depends on what kind of shop it is but can be interesting... Was it next to the Montparnasse quarter ??
ReplyDeleteAnyway, have a nice week-end, with or without great sales !
This is about as minimalist as it gets!
ReplyDeleteAre the mannequins for sale?
ReplyDeleteStoppit Michael.
ReplyDeleteMannequins? I thought they were offering naked women at reduced prices. Darn. Now I have to cancel my plane ticket.
ReplyDeleteEven with the SOLDES a Paris..still no "great bargains" for those with dollars! On TV5 Monde they are calling New York a "Cave of Ali Baba" for the French with euros!! LOL!!
ReplyDeleteSince La Samaritaine is no more, I will trudge over to Le Bon Marche'...perhaps I can afford a box or two of Sables Bretons at La Grande Epicerie!! LOL!!!
I'm afraid you're right Tonton. At the risk of being called a bad French, I must confess I won't be buying much on sale this year (apart from shoes, Mme Benaut and Monica!) for I did all my yearly shopping last summer in Florida. Like they say, buying in dollars these days is like being in the Ali Baba cave.
ReplyDeleteI know it's bad for our economy, but, God does it feel good to save 30 % every time you buy something!!
Michael LOL on "Mme Benaut...you're just a regular Imelda Marcos aren't you! You go girl!"
About the Sale regulations? I don't understand myself. Why do they want to have the sales only twice a year? I don't know.
Well good for you Eric. My experience tells me that the best place to do some serious shopping is in the US.
ReplyDeleteI mean I love french windowshops and french fashion, but really, in Euro, I can only afford to buy one thing or two!
I was in Paris in 2002 during the soldes (and a 17-year-old at the time), so even though it was total overwhelming craziness, it was a teenage girls dream come true.
ReplyDeleteWe had daily assignments from our teachers to visit a place in groups on a list they provided that had historic significance; our answer to that was to say we went to the Arc de Triomphe, but go shopping instead :)
LOL Katie from Minneapolis!
ReplyDeleteHow neat. And very Paris. Regulation of sales times, even.
ReplyDeleteI'm with the shop owners! Keep the regulations. Other wise some places will deteriorate into just cut-rate all the time. I fear anyway...
Mari-Nanci
I would dearly love to have a walk-in 'robe for all of my shoes like Imelda. Shoes are a "girl thing", ask Lynn and Monica, they know! Seriously though, two pair were from Africa - they are fantastic - and for one of them, half the proceeds go to an orphanage (or so we are told). I confess that another pair were Ecco and the fourth pair was/were? made by our very own University of South Australia students. I should say thanks to my dead father for leaving me the money to buy shoes and a few other things! He always told us "you can only spend it once" as a deterrent for spending anything at all.
ReplyDelete