Au Bon Marché 38 rue de Sèvres, 7e. Mº Sèvres-Babylone. Mon-Fri 9.30am-7pm, Sat till 8pm.
Paris's oldest department store, founded in 1852. Prices are lower on average than at the more upmarket Galeries Lafayette and Printemps. Excellent kids' department and a legendary food hall.

Galeries Lafayette 40 bd Haussmann, 9e. Mº Havre-Caumartin. Mon-Sat 9.30am-6.45pm, Thurs till 9pm.
The store's forte is, above all, high fashion. Two complete floors are given over to the latest creations by leading designers for men, women and children. Then there's household stuff, tableware, furniture, a huge parfumerie , and much else - all under a superb 1900 dome.

Au Printemps 64 bd Haussmann, 9e. Mº Havre-Caumartin. Mon-Sat 9.30am-7pm, Thurs till 10pm.
Books, records, a parfumerie even bigger than that of rival Galeries Lafayette, excellent fashion for women - less so for men.

La Samaritaine 75 rue de Rivoli, 1er. Mº Louvre-Rivoli, Mº Châtelet & Mº Pont-Neuf. Mon-Sat 9.30am-7pm, Thurs till 10pm.
The largest of the department stores, spread over three buildings, boasts that it can provide anything you could possibly want. You get a superb view of Paris from the eleventh-floor rooftop, and from the inexpensive tenth-floor terrace café (closed Oct-March).