There are only two official sale dates -- the summer sales (Soldes d'été) and winter sales (Solde d'hiver). Dates for both are set each year by the Minister of Economy, Industry and Employment. I nearly always take advantage of the summer sales when items from dishtowels to Dior are reduced 30%, 50% and sometimes 70%. Sales begin on the same day across the entire country, but end dates are set by each department after local government officials confer with local merchants. They last about five weeks. It is all very organized with shops often closing down for a day or two beforehand to prepare, the clerks moving behind glass or ropes re-stacking stock and dangling colorful banners and boxes from the ceiling marked with the amount of the discount.
This year's winter sale began at 8 a.m. Wednesday, January 6th, and in most places it will end around the February 10th. There's often a bit of a crush to find the best bargain in the first few days and for the biggest department stores, the winter event can represent a quarter of total annual sales. Pierre Pelarrey of Printemps on Boulevard Haussmann told Radio France Internationale on Tuesday that his department store was expecting 140,000 eager Parisians on the first day of the sale. Other retailers said the recession in France means people will be especially eager to shop the bonnes affaires this year.
Which is to say, if you are in Paris this month, avoid the sidewalks around Printemps, Galeries Lafayette, Le Bon Marche or BHV over the next few weeks -- unless you intend to join the fun.
AP Photo by an old colleague in the Paris bureau, Lionel Cironneau.
