Les Soldes

Today is the first day of Les Soldes, or the sales, in France.  French law requires that shops have sales only twice a year, one in the winter and the other in the summer, and the government fixes the dates for the whole country.  Les Soldes last five weeks.  French law requires that sale items must be on the store’s premises a minimum of a month before the start of Les Soldes and on the sales floor at least a week before.

The law has been changed in the last few years so that shop owners now are allowed to schedule two weeks of sales during the year as long as the sales are finished more than one month before the official Soldes begin.  So what do stores do when they want to put things on sale at other times of the year?  They simply put the item on "Promotion."

Kate checking for texts on her cell phone, pretending she doesn't know me

Kate checked out the H&M and Zara stores on the rue de Commerce earlier in the week to see what they had in stock.  Rue de Commerce is an upscale shopping street on the other side of the Eiffel Tower.  We thought this would be a less crazy place to shop on the first day of Les Soldes rather than in the bigger stores along the rue de Rivoli in the center of Paris.

Soldes at Monoprix on rue du Commerce

There were a lot of boutiques on the rue du Commerce.  One was called "Undiz," pronounced "Undies" in French, and sure enough, it sold undies!

I am including a couple of pictures of other stores we have stumbled upon since we arrived in Paris.  One was in the Marais, a very nice shopping area with lots of upscale boutiques.  The shop is called "Mr. Chicken."  It is some sort of t-shirt shop.  We don't quite understand what Original Chicken Clothes are.

Mr. Chicken

We also saw a boutique for Kate's friend Morgan on the Champs-Elysée this week.  Morgan de Toi is an expression that means Crazy about You or I Love You.

After Kate bought two sweaters at H&M and a dress at Zara, she tried on one of the sweaters for us at the apartment.  Only 7 euros--not bad!

Kate's New H&M Sweater

Les Soldes don't end until the middle of February so Kate will have plenty of time to keep shopping.  She can't wait for the students to arrive so she will have someone besides her mother to shop with.  We hope Kelly's wallet holds out!