Image by Fabbio

Climbing over body-bag sized sacks of clothes and shoes to claim some coveted item; scaling the rickety step ladder to the equally dangerous looking mezzanine level in search of boots and bags; diving head-first into the 3€ pit: all part of the somewhat extreme shopping experience at Free ‘P’ Star (‘fripe’ being second-hand in French).

Nestled in between the gay bookshop and the quirky theatre Point Virgule, this delightfully ungentrified vintage shop is literally packed to the rafters with vintage gear. Slightly better organized of late, areas of the shop now correspond to particular items (bags, shoes, dresses etc), though vaguely ordered chaos still generally predominates, especially at weekends.

Prices start at around €3.00 in the piled-high troughs on the right hand wall (where dig deep you MUST). Dresses and tops (in fact most things) range from €10-30, bags are around €5-20 and shoes up to €30 also.

Unlike many French shops, you will not accosted by stern shop assistants but it’s essential you go in the right frame of mind – fearless and full of energy!

And if it all becomes too much, there’s a great restaurant next door (the moules-frites are fab), an ice-cream shop on the corner and a number of other good bars with good pavement terraces in the very near vicinity.

Details about this spot (Show on map)
Free ‘P’ Star | Shopping | Bags € 5.00
8 rue Ste-Croix-de-la-Bretonnerie | Marais/Bastille | +33142760372
09:00 – 19:00 daily