Soldes

Soldes, Sales, Rebajas.... call them anything you want... the point is, in France, Soldes means frenetic and masive shopping binges.

France has very strict regulations when it comes to sales. Stores are allowed to sell their left over stock at reduced prices only TWICE a year... that's it! No Pre-Christmas sales, Christmas sales, Post-Christmas blowouts and New Year's Sales.... nothing of the sort. Only "Winter Soldes" in January and "Summer Soldes" in July....

And even then, these sales are monitored and regulated to the smallest detail, from the dates that the sales must begin and end to the amount of discount that may be applied. And these rules apply to ALL stores, from the small family owned boutique down the street to the huge department stores and high-end boutiques on the rue de Montaigne..... Stores are only allowed to sell their remaining stocks at highly regulated discounts, with extremely precise sales tags and only for painfully short time periods. That's why things get so crazy during la periode de soldes.

This year, the winter Soldes began on wednesday January 9th and will last until February the 6th.... four weeks..... FOUR miserable weeks to hunt down and sort out the good deals (Jonak boots at 49€) from the worthless ones (hot pink and brown Zara tee shirt for 10€) ..... 24 days to make sure you hunt down last season's essentials (Caroll grey dress sweater....) and buy them while you can afford them (..... at 50% off)..... for us working gals that means only FOUR Saturdays to shop around, double check while crossing your fingers they have your size, stand in line for 30 minutes at the dressing room and at the check out line all for a Gérard Darel cardigan at 70% off. Whatever you didn't get during the winter soldes you sure as heck aren't gonna be able to afford in the months that follow and you can bet your Louis Vuitton printed scarf that you aren't going to find it during the Summer soldes.

This is why some girls get real serious about the Soldes. Several of my colleagues take scouting trips to the stores and boutiques in the weekes preceding the soldes.... they pick out the items of their choice, mentally writing down where the item is sold, what it costs and even on which rack it's hanging on! Then, when the first day of the Soldes arrives, they take a day off work (from their annual vacations!), put on their most comfortable and easy to pull on and off outfit and arrive at the store's front door 2 hours before opening time.... Some even make their boyfriends/husbands take one of their vacation days off in order to go to a certain store with a very precise list of what he is to get and this way be able to hit two stores at the same time!!!!

Needless to say, the first days of the soldes are just too crazy and I usually tend to stay away... plus, since the soldes are strategically planned to happen right after the holidays (to keep the shopping binge going a little longer no doubt) by this time I'm usually broke anyway and discount or no discount I'm in no position to buy that fab Morgan trenchcoat even if it is at 90% off (well... actually...... eh... no, gotta control myself!) That's the thing... it's sooooo hard to pass up on all these hot deals.... a lot of the times you really do find great bargains and are highly tempted to crack the piggy bank in order to get those lovely Repetto ballerina slippers at 69€ (instead of their usual price: 150€!)

However much I try, I'm simply not that kind of girl that can pass up holiday shopping to save up for the winter soldes.... it's simply not.... natural... Christmas was made for shopping! How can you NOT Christmas shop with the pretext of saving your money for the after-Chrismas soldes?!..... it's too depressing.

But then again, it's also pretty depressing seeing all those girls on the streets and coming out of shops with their "soldes"-marked carrier bags........ Pfffffffff!!!!!! I guess, like with food, it's all about self control.... after all, do I really need a 12th par of black pants? ................



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YES, I DO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gotta go, shops close at 7pm.... ;-)

Fned.