Review: The French Sales

My arrival in Paris has been great with a biannual French tradition known as "Les Soldes" or the sale in French. There are only two major sale season in France on in the winter and another in the summer. I was fortunate enough to experience the winter colds just as I moved to the city of fashion in January. Coming from the U.S. where sales happens almost every season, I was not impressed. The dwindling unimpressive deals on black Friday also added to my skepticism. I heard the hype the week leading up to the soldes but I said to myself, how good are these deals?

The first week of the soldes was like mayhem. My friends and I went on the first day after class (around 4 pm) and it was like a barnyard at the stores. Clothes everywhere and crowds of people digging through piles and piles of clothes. This could be fun. I shuffle through the items laid out hoping for a good deal but boy were there no sizes left for me. I wear a size small which is a pretty common size here in Paris and hence everything was picked over. I walked away with a couple of deals nevertheless.

The real secret. The real treasure lies in an old virtue that we were always taught growing up. Patience. The real deals that I scored were actually towards the end of the soldes seasons around mid-February. I have featured these deals in the Bargain Finds section of my blog so go check that out!

Tip: To conclude, if you are eyeing an item and have to have it your size, I would advise you buy it the first day of the soldes (early morning if possible). If you wait even one day later, I guarantee you it might almost not be there. On the other hand, if you are not looking for anything but just good deals in general: patience. Wait till the last week because that is truly when the diamond deals start to sparkle.