The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-01-18
Shopping in Paris.


Paris is the banner city for shopping.
They have numberless stores there of the
kind in our Sixth avenue, but some are
several times larger than any in New
York. The principal ones are the Bon
Marchc (Which, in spite of the literal
definition of the words, means simply
"cheap''), the Magasin du Louvre, the
Belle .1ardinicre (the pretty female gar
deuer), and the Petite st. Thomas. You
shop on three floors of the Bon Marchc.
1t covers three sides of a block, aud its
stables opposite are among the sights of
Paris-so many horses are kept for show
there and all the stable appointments are
so neat and pretty. The stable building
is altogether handSomer than the store
itself. Everybody in Paris goes every
where in cabs, and when you leave your
cab it is driven at least block away to
q place where it falls in line with half a
mile of cubs and awaits your call. Its
number is in your possession on a cad
which you keep. AS you enter the shop
YOU are impressed with the heaps Of
goods you sec displayed therc-thc pas
sages being all but blockaded by the bar
gain counters, and goods being fairly
heaped a1d piled up all around in way
aud to IN extent that you never see in
New York. Everything appears to be
tickctcd, and you see the pr.ces without
having to ask for them. The sides OF
the great wall through the centre of the
building are all draped with goods, and
there is such profusion of things that
it can be likencd to nothing so well as a
clothes fair. 1t is French idea to catch
the customers eye, and the effect is not
50 neat and trim as that produced by our
methods.
The system of selling goods in Paris
is clumsy. Suppose you are buying
gloves. When you have made your pur-
chascs the clerk who waited on you
takes the gloves and the memorandum
of what he has sold you in his hand and
says: "Will you step this way,
madamew He leads you to what IS
called caisse. There are several ol
these caisses on each floor. They are
little square places, divided from tue
rest of the place by counters, behind
which are the clerks and the people who
do up the parcels. You and youi clerk
stand in great crowd Of persons waiting
their turn. When your turn comes your
clerk calls out what You have bought to
a clerk in the caisse, who stops to put 1T
all down. When he has done this and
added up the sums in the list he tells
you the total and you pay. Then your
clerk asks whether you will have the
articles .ent or whether YOU will take
them Yourself. Ono New York lady
ordered her purchases sent. and after two
DAYS went and asked why they had not
come. She had this experiences: She
was taken to what they call the Bureau
dc Reclamation, where all her statements
were verified by an examination OF many
books. Then it appeared that the con-
cicrge at the hotel had said that the
lady was out when the goods came, and
that be had no authority to sign for her.
The goods were to be sent again that
night. :
4 word about this concierge. He is
the greatest aid and chief reliance OF the
lady shopper abroad. He is found in
every hotel, occupying lite box OF
office in each hotel. He is bureau Of
information, speaks all lang ages. and