The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-05-25

the shop windows last summer and the in
dications were that it never would. And
yet Berlin is said to stand next to Paris
and Vienna in the style and elegance of
cloaks and wraps, and its prices are much
lower than in either of those cities. The
cheapest things 1 saw in Germany were
laces and leather goods. 1 found all the
shopkeepers and their assistants most
obliging. When I did not buy they did not
urge me, but showed only polite regret
that the goods were not to my taste
/ cannot say as much for the shops OF
Paris, especially the large ones In one
an off1cious foorwalker logged my foot
steps from the moment l entered and at
every counter goods were thrust upon me
and was urged to buy. This became so
annoying that 1 stopped going to the place.
Paris offers more temptations to the shop
per than any of the other great cities. The
French people have the most exquisite
taste in displaying their goods, and es-
pecially in decorating their windows. In
fact, a mans whole stock may be in his
shop window. Recently they have started
a crusade in Paris for more artistic shop
signs. Even now they have most beauti-
full tiled fronts to of the shops,
painted in tasteful special designs, and
these, with the artistically arranged win
dow shows, make the streets of Paris
never-ending exposition which tempts the
money from the pocket of the American
or English tourist. In some respects the
shops of Paris are inferior to our own, and
1 have known very few shops which were
cheaper except in the matter of gloves
You can get a fine pair of soft kid gloves
for 40 or so cents in Paris. But you can
not buy ready-made garments, furs. linens,
or, in fact, anything else, more cheaply
than you can buy. if you watch your
chance in New York
AS the German female figure differs from
the American, so does that of the French
man from our own; so the garments for
men which you see in Paris shops are
ridiculously abbreviated for the six-foot
figure of an American.
The average French shopper is like the
English in the matter of using elevators
They have elevators in the big shops, and
they had escalators before America ever
heard Of them. But the French public pre-
fers to walk upstairs, just the English
man in a motel will pass the door of the
lift and solemnly walk up two flights be-
cause his grandfather used this means Of
going up.
When speak of prices in Paris shops
refer. of course, to the shops which have
fixed prices like those Of New York and
other large cities. In the shops not on the
boulevards you can make what bargains
you choose. The custom Of having several
different prices for the same article has
killed the Palais Royal quarter as a shop
per's resort, and il now threatens TO drive
shoppers away from the Rue de RivolL Co
into any shop on this street and offer them
from one-half TO two-thirds of the price
they ask for an article and you will have no
difficulty securing a bargain. though It
will cost you something in time. The
French shopkeeper likes TO give in slowly
and with an appearance of reluctance.
These are the shops where you get the
things which are distinctly Partisan and
which you can buy nowhere else. They
are most enticing things. and have heard
il said by more than one traveller from the
United States. II would rather not be in
Paris at all than TO De in Paris without
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