Iwould like to know if a middle class individual can afford to buy things at Galeries Lafayette and if not are there shopping centers that are cheaper?
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Yes absolutely. Galeries Lafayette carries everything from the rather inexpensive to the rather expensive, and there is so much variety of item and cost you could go dizzy. You can definitely find things there.
Cheaper than GL (and perhaps lesser quality) would be Tati and Monoprix.
Les
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Yes, absolutely. You just have to do a lot of walking around. There%26#39;s a LOT of different %26quot;departments%26quot; in the ladies area of GL. And there%26#39;s also Naf Naf around town too, which is reasonably priced. Or just any random store you waltz into. :)
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Galeries Lafayette is not a shopping centre, it%26#39;s a department store. Yes, middle class people can afford to buy things at Lafayette: tops for both women and men, shoes, jeans, skirts, handbags, scarves, etc. First, check items with the Lafayette label. These are usually made exclusively for the store and are sold at very reasonable prices.
But you%26#39;il also find all the standard brands. Don%26#39;t forget that the prices you see are the ones you%26#39;ll pay since taxes are included. Plus foreign visitors are allowed a tax discount if they buy for a certain amount. (This applies to other stores as well).
Beautiful Galeries Lafayette is worth a visit even if you don%26#39;t buy anything.
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There%26#39;s another factor to consider and this is the 19.6% Value Added Tax (VAT) tacked onto most consumer goods in France. Foreign visitors (upon presentation of their passports) may qualify for an immediate partial refund of 12% at the store%26#39;s customer service desk. The %26#39;..catch..%26#39; to this is that to qualify for any VAT refund, you must have purchased at least 175 € of merchandise, in the SAME store, on the SAME day. .
In addition to this, a grand magazin like PRINTEMPS, offers an immediate, point-of-sale discount of 10 % upon presentation of a foreign (non-EU) passport at time-of-purchase...in addition to partial VAT refunds at the Customer service Desk.
So if shopping is in your plans...it might well %26#39;..pay..%26#39; to have a %26#39;..plan..%26#39; and concentrate your shopping in a single store, on a single day.
It%26#39;s also worth noting that the grand magazins (and many of the shops in their neighborhoods) have late-openning hours (usually on Thursdays...until 9 PM or so) to %26#39;..extend..%26#39; a shopping day.
GALERIES LAFAYETTE--
galerieslafayette.com/international/…
PRINTEMPS--
http://departmentstoreparis.printemps.com/
Le BON MARCHÉ--
http://www.lebonmarche.fr/
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Stupid question as I have traveled many times before, but if you are paying cash/euro, do they simply sense you are a tourist and add the VAT? How do they decipher if you are a resident or visitor? I am assuming (always a bad thing to do:) that locals do not get charged the VAT, nor do they have to provide documentation that they are natives at the POP....
Insight appreciated!
Thanks
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1239
Not really sure what you mean - the price you see in Europe is the price you pay - it includes VAT . IF you are from outside the EU you can get a refund as explained above
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VAT is added to all products before you buy it, the price you see is the price you pay. Whereas I believe america adds it at the till we do not, europe its all added before, no confusion, the price you see on the ticket is the price you pay, thats on everything across the board. And oh yes we pay VAT, it does differ between the european community I believe, but we pay it on absolutely everything - food, clothes, utensil bills, shoes, cars, you name it we have a tax on it.
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