The Essentials for a Day of Shopping in Paris Like a Local

10.01.2025 - 15:03 / cntraveler.com

Shopping in Paris can mean a leisurely stroll down the Champs-Élysées, bopping between vintage boutiques on the cobblestoned streets of the Marais, or hitting the famed, twice-yearly soldes (sales, to the uninitiated). To locals like myself, however, shopping in Paris refers more to the often daily ritual of food shopping. Whether it’s shopping for seasonal produce at the outdoor marché or running the neighborhood circuit of épicerie (a small grocery store), boulangerie (bakery), fromagerie (cheese shop), and boucherie (butcher shop), there are a few items that serve to assist—and up the beauty of—those everyday errands.

Here are a few tools to help you shop like a Parisian—wherever you are:

Open-air markets are an integral part of life in Paris—and where there’s a marché, there’s an assertive Parisian wheeling their chariot de courses (shopping cart or caddie). Laden one too many times with one too many heavy bags, I began looking more closely at the wheeled shopping carts rolling down the street toward my local marché. Once I started looking, I kept seeing people of all ages pulling the same brand again and again: Rolser. The Spanish manufacturer makes plenty of styles from extra-large to four-wheeled to thermal-insulated. Should you prefer a foldable—and thus more strategically compact for storage—cart, the Rolser I-Max Tweed 2 foldable shopping trolley is an excellent option. Its polyester bag is sturdy and spacious with a drawstring and flap closure, it has a zippered pocket (ideal for a phone, wallet, and keys), and comes in a variety of colors.

In terms of daily shopping in Paris, the best marché (or épicerie, boulangerie, fromagerie, and so on) is your local one. If you’re visiting Paris and want to hit a few marchés while you’re in town, a couple personal favorites include: Marché Popincourt, Marché Bastille, Marché d’Aligre, Marché Biologique des Batignolles, Marché President Wilson, and Marché Biologique Raspail.

L/Uniform’s N°21 Chariot de Courses looks just as fashionable stored in the hallway as it does leaving the boulangerie with a crusty baguette poking out the top. The Parisian brand’s chariot de courses comes equipped with a large, detachable cotton canvas bag with drawstring and flap closure, a small inside pocket, a luxe leather handle, and options to customize and monogram to make it fully your own. In a city where style matters—even when running errands—it’s an undeniably chic cart to bring on your daily shop.

The best baguette in the city is, again, the one closest to your house, but if you’re willing to travel, Boulangerie Utopie and Mamiche are very good options. If you prefer your baguette crusty and nicely browned like I do, be sure to ask for it bien cuite (well cooked).