A Guide to Paris’ Many Vintage Shops
Paris and shopping go hand-in-hand. The enduring fashion capital is renowned for its network of boutiques, but it also has a thriving vintage scene.
Vintage shopping in France is on the rise, and its capital contains some of the best second-hand stores we’ve found. No matter the arrondissement you are in, you’re never far from an expertly curated selection or a flea market filled with hidden gems.
En Face
11-12 rue Picardie 75003
En Face’s co-owners, Jacks Phaël and Ben Comuce, have fashion experience across retail, fashion buying, and styling, which is evident in the selection of menswear grails as well as the many books and magazines on the shelves.
L'epicerie
68 rue Notre Dame de Nazareth, 75003
After hosting a series of successful pop-ups, L’epicerie opened a permanent outpost in Paris earlier this year. The shop plugs a gap in the market for vintage technical gear from the likes of Stone Island, Oakley, and Arc'teryx. However, not everything in the shop has been carefully engineered for performance: there’s also a heap of high-fashion grails.
Iregular
16 Rue Victor Massé, 75009
Vintage shops are often cluttered and hard to navigate, however, Irregular is exactly the opposite. Both of its Paris locations have a sleek interior design that spotlights a selection of high-end, hard-to-find items.
Erem
132 Rue de Turenne, 75003
The curation in Erem is strictly high fashion. The shop has ample Jean Paul Gaultier, Vivienne Westwood, and Christian Dior to dig through, all curated to suit a shopper whom it describes in its Instagram bio as having “medieval futuristic vibes.”
Brut
3 Rue Réaumur, 75003
Brut is known far beyond Paris’ borders as an authority in vintage military gear and workwear. Along with its store, it also owns a vast vintage archive of especially rare clothing that is regularly visited by designers looking for inspiration. If, like me, you enjoy nerding out on vintage N-3Bs and mid-century workwear, you can check out the archive by appointment.
Chez Snow Bunny
12 Rue Dupetit-Thouars, 75003
Chez Snow Bunny stocks the best of early-naughts fashion from the likes of Cavali, Ed Hardy, and Jean Paul Gaultier. The green-hued store is in busy Le Marais, a central shopping district, just around the corner from other great shops like The Broken Arm and OFR Bookshop.
The Archivist Store
13 Rue Taylor, 75010
When the team behind The Archivist Store saw, in their words, “a significant lack of high quality, men's vintage clothing shops,” they decided to open their own in 2018. What began as an Instagram shop is now a series of worldwide pop-ups and, finally, a permanent brick-and-mortar store in its hometown.
The shop specializes in Japanese and Italian brands such as COMME des GARÇONS, Issey Miyake, and Stone Island.
La Marelle
25 galerie Vivienne, 75002
La Marelle isn’t technically a vintage store, but it does sell second-hand, specializing in high-end womenswear from recent years. The shop is located in Galerie Vivienne, a grand arcade built in the early 1800s.
Gaijin
20 Rue du Pont aux Choux, 75003
It’s been almost three decades since Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto held their debut show in Paris, shocking European fashion audiences and introducing them to a new, avant-garde design language. Today, Japan is renowned for being a hotbed of fashion design. Gaijin specializes in Japanese fashion, stocking some of the country's most celebrated designers alongside more niche names that are difficult to source in the West.
Thanx God I'm a VIP
12 Rue de Lancry, 75010
In 1994, Thanx God I'm a VIP (or TGV, as it's known by its loyal customers) opened its first boutique. Since then, it has been at the heart of Paris’ vintage scene. Based in a huge, 400㎡ space, the shop curates its luxury merchandise by color, mixing different brands, eras, and styles.
More than just a vintage store, Thanx God I'm a VIP is also a cafe, a radio station, and has an in-house brand.
