Shopping in Paris is a world-class experience, with creative, dynamic shops featuring the most famous brands in the world — but sometimes all you want is a new pair of leggings from a familiar label. Here, we examine the French equivalents of some well-known American (and UK brands), and where to find them in Paris.
1. The Paris equivalent of Lululemon is…Oysho
There are plenty of Lululemon stores in Paris — a half dozen, to be exact — but why not try something new? Oysho is the city’s athleisure retailer of choice (even if its headquarters are in Spain). It’s not quite as durable as our Canadian fave, but the cuts are a little cuter — more fashion, less function — and there’s more variety, with swimwear and lingerie. And the prices, even accounting for the generally higher prices of clothing in France, are much better.
I’ll just briefly that there are six Lululemons throughout Paris, though you’ll be paying more for the same products as you would in the U.S.
My favorite Oysho is at 180 rue du Temple, 75003
2. The Paris equivalent of Barnes & Noble is…FNAC
FNAC is absolutely your entertainment-related superstore option — part B&N, part Best Buy. However: This rec totally ignores the primacy of independent bookstores in Paris, which are wonderful, so please do not go to FNAC unless everywhere else fails to provide. If you’re OK with a French-language bookstore, there’s bound to be an excellent one near wherever you’re staying. If you prefer English language, try Smith & Son or Galignani on the Right Bank, and The Red Wheelbarrow and Shakespeare & Co. on the Left.
There are several FNACs throughout Paris, but the one I like best is at Les Halles.
3. The Paris equivalent of Sephora is…Sephora (But Also Monop’ Beauty)
Sephora is in fact a French brand, and the French original is extremely similar to the American iteration. You’ll find a few new brands here, but not nearly as many as I’d like — Chanel? Drunk Elephant? Sol de Janeiro? Milk? Moroccanoil? Yeah, they’re all here. You will find some brands that don’t distribute their products through Sephora in the U.S. (like Aesop and MAC) as well as a handful of French brands, like Avène, Aime, and Klorane — but you’ll find the former cheaper at home and a better selection of the latter at French pharmacies. So: I say skip Sephora. If you are going to go, might as well check out the one on the Champs Élysées, as it’s the largest one in the country.
Instead, I recommend Monop’ Beauty, which are standalone beauty shops under the Monoprix brand — it’d be like a Target Beauty shop. You’ll find both covetable grocery store-level lines like Le Petit Marseillais (the shower gel is iconic) plus “drugstore brands” (or the French equivalent) like Embrolysse, Sisi La Paillette, and Monoprix’s own lines of organic and non-organic cosmetics. For a higher-end equivalent, you’d be best off at one of the department stores — in terms of the beauty selections, my two favorites are Le Bon Marché and Printemps.
None of these are perfect equivalents of Sephora’s (or indeed Ulta’s, or Bluemercury’s) huge ranges — this list of the best beauty shops in Paris should help round out the options.
The biggest Sephora in France is at 72 Av. des Champs-Élysées.
4. The Paris equivalent of Target is…Monoprix
Target: Everything you need for your house, plus food — and the occasional exciting collab. Monoprix: Everything you need for your house, plus food — and the occasional exciting collab! I would dare to say that the overall Monoprix vibe is in fact more similar to a grocery store (a nice one) — usually when I go to Target, I’m looking for batteries, or a picture frame, or shampoo. Monoprix has all of those things, but I’m also going there for my weekly grocery store shopping, when I don’t really think of Target that way at home.
Back to Monoprix: It’s an icon in France, and you’ll find them all over the country, as well as in most neighborhoods in Paris. (There are over 700 worldwide, including locations in Qatar and elsewhere in the Middle East.) Note that they have the same parent company as Franprix, and you’ll want to keep an eye out for Monop’ Beauty (mentioned directly above) and Monop’, which is their version of a quick, in-and-out-type shop (maybe similar to a QuickChek/Wawa.)
I would add that it’s also a pretty good equivalent for Marks & Spencer for our friends coming from the U.K., which the same emphasis on attractive, middle-of-the-road fashion and reliable basics. Monoprix does stand out with some extremely solid collabs, like recently with Liberty.
If you would like to delve deeper into this topic, I wrote a much longer post about it here.
My favorite Monop’ Beauty is in Montmartre, at 28 rue des Abbesses.
5. The Paris equivalent of Boots is…it’s complicated
I say this as a former part-time resident of NW1: There’s no true Paris equivalent of Boots, just as there’s no true Paris equivalent of CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreen’s, or the rest. A French pharmacy is not the same thing as an American (or indeed British) pharmacy. The list of things you can get at a Boots but not at a French pharmacy is extensive: sandwiches. Candy. Soda. Magazines. Clothing. Halloween decorations. You can get medicine, sunscreen, skincare, and a much smaller selection of makeup. Even the larger French pharmacies (like City Pharma and the newly famous one at Les Halles) are still pharmacies, and you will not find Christmas lights or Mother’s Day cards there.
If you need medicine, obviously a French pharmacy will do just fine (though you’ll need a French prescription, too.) For most everything else, I would go to Monoprix. For holiday decorations, either Leroy Merlin (see below) or Amazon. For magazines and books, Smith & Son or Replay, or a sidewalk stand/neighborhood bookseller.
6. The Paris equivalent of Macy’s is BHV
There are fancier department stores in Paris, which I guess is the point, but BHV is great, and no other department store here has a subterranean hardware store that has really just about everything you need (though more expensively than you’ll likely find at your closest actual hardware store.)
You’ll also find: an extensive book selection, electronics, what seems like an entire floor of bedding, a really nice canteen-style eatery, a popular rooftop bar, a very good arts and crafts selection, women’s and men’s fashion, and everything else. The point of Macy’s is that everything is nice, nothing is too extravagant, and you’ll probably find what you want there. BHV is definitely a little higher end than that — there’s a Diptyque on the ground floor, the handbag selection is fancier — but it’s the closest you get outside of Monoprix.
7. The Paris equivalent of Harrod’s is Le Bon Marché
This was a tricky one because my experience of Harrod’s is of a department store that is fancy but not ridiculous, and has a famous food market. For these reasons, I went with Le Bon Marché, which has an amazing grocery store, La Grande Épicerie, in a separate but adjoining building, and plenty of very costly brands in the main building. It’s also recommendable for its regular pop-up programming and extremely excellent art installations.
It is not, though, the fanciest department store in Paris, which would be the new Samaritaine. I don’t like it — to me it feels like the largest and most expensive duty free shop in the world — but if you’re looking for things that cost a lot, you’re in the right place.
Le Bon Marché (pictured at very top) is at 24 rue de Sèvres, while Samaritaine (pictured directly above) is at 9 rue de la Monnaie.
8. The Paris equivalent of Home Depot is Leroy Merlin
Turns out French people love home improvement just as much as everyone else — Leroy Merlin superstores are in every medium-sized city, and there are several locations across Paris as well, including a very famous one right across the way from the Pompidou Centre.
Mr. Bricolage is a very near equivalent, though I generally find the selection not as nice as at Leroy Merlin.
If you’re only looking for gardening supplies and plants, I would recommend the wonderful Truffaut, with a huge store just across the Seine from Bercy, in the 13th.
Leroy Merlin is at 52 rue Rambuteau.
9. The Paris equivalent of Costco does not exist.
In the sense of a membership-only, bulk-specific shopping experience. The closest you’ll come doesn’t get you that close at all: a giant, suburban Carrefour, which is just a super-big grocery store.
10. The Paris equivalent of everything else: Of course, many familiar brands have French outposts. These include:
- The Paris equivalent of Krispy Kreme is Krispy Kreme — now open at a very highly trafficked shop at Les Halles (ground level).
- The Paris equivalent of Nike is Nike, actually right around the corner from Krispy Kreme, also at Les Halles. Note they also have a Nikelab in the Marais, which is home to a range of limited edition products and collabs.
- The Paris equivalent of H&M is H&M — you’ll find them everywhere.
- The Paris equivalent of Urban Outfitters is Urban Outfitters, on rue de Rivoli.
- The Paris equivalent of Free People is Free People — there’s one on rue Malheur in the 4th.
- The Paris equivalent of Zara is Zara — my favorite one is also in the 4th, at their new flagship at 88 rue de Rivoli.
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