Le Marais, Paris shopping guide: Best stores to shop and how to save money by getting a tax refund

Le Marais is a historic district across the third and fourth arrondissements in Paris, which is well-known for trendy boutiques, art galleries, and delicious dining options.

If you're looking to do some shopping while you're travelling to the City of Paris, then Le Marais is the perfect place to be!

In this blog, we'll give you a rundown of some of the best places to shop in Le Marais as well as how to save more money on your purchases by shopping tax-free with Wevat tax refund app.

What you can expect when shopping at Le Marais

If you're a fan of designer brands, Le Marais is one of the shopping districts you should never miss out on. With a wide range of independent boutiques and concept stores to browse, you're sure to find something to suit your taste.

One of the standout features of Le Marais is its abundance of multi-branded stores, for example, Tom Greyhound, The Frankie Shop, French Trotters, and The Broken Arm, which are selections of New York, Japanese, or nordic style clothing. You’ll easily find designer brands like Alexander Wang, LOEWE, Marni, Comme des Garçons, By FAR, Ganni, and more at these stores.

So whether you're looking for clothes, bags, or accessories, you'll find plentiful options to choose from.

For lifestyle stores, Merci Paris and Fleux offer plenty of unique trendy items & home decor, which are also perfect places to shop for souvenirs.

Apart from select boutiques, there’re many exclusive, local French shops as well as international fashion brands, such as Sandro and Maje located in the central area of Le Marais, A.P.C. and Maison Kitsuné, all accessible within a 5-minute walk from the centre.

You’ll also find Acne Studio, COS, &Other Stories, etc., where prices are much cheaper in France than outside of Europe. And most importantly, you can save 13% on top of the already lower prices by getting a tax refund with Wevat’s tax refund app.

To shop for a variety of famous luxury brands and enjoy a more traditional shopping experience, you can visit LE BHV Marais, the department store in the area of Le Marais, which offers more than 2,000 brands to meet all your needs, including fashion, DIY and beauty for women and men, where you’ll find high-end items from Burberry, Gucci, YSL, and many more!

Le Marais is also the home to numerous fashion bag brands designed by French designers, such as Polène, Bobbies, Tammy&Benjamin, RSVP Paris, etc.

And it is also a great place to pick up some unique handmade accessories at jewelry shops such as Lõu. Yetu, Une Ligne, and TITLEE which sell items that you won't find anywhere else.

How to get a tax refund when shopping at Le Marais

Non-EU residents, including British travellers as a result of Brexit, can reclaim the tax on purchases made on a majority of items such as clothing, bags, jewellery, beauty products, and much more. Check out our other blogs and help section for more information on what can or cannot be claimed.

There are two main ways you can get a tax refund – using a traditional in-store paper method, or a mobile tax refund app like Wevat. The main perk of using a digital method like Wevat is the higher refund rates you can enjoy compared with the traditional in-store method, not to mention the convenience of not having to deal with paper forms ever again.

In the past, you’d have to bring your passport around with you when shopping and show it to the store every time you buy something to get a tax refund form. With Wevat, all you need to do is to ask for a purchase invoice addressed to Wevat at the till – no more hassle and waiting around at the checkout.

Another benefit of shopping with Wevat is that at retailers in Le Marais who are more popular with locals instead of those aiming at tourists, you’ll find they may not offer traditional paper-based tax refund services.

However, by using Wevat, you can still take advantage of the VAT savings by asking for a ‘facture’ (’Invoice’ in French) when shopping.

And there’s no minimum spending required in a single store with Wevat, as long as you spend a total of over €100 across all your purchases during your trip in France, you can claim your tax back!

It couldn’t be better to shop for small leather goods and accessories and save some money by getting tax refunds with Wevat!

Recap of how to use Wevat

Follow these five steps to get your VAT back in a simple and fast way with Wevat.

Download the app – make sure you have signed up and have onboarded before visiting the store
Request a ‘facture’ (invoice) - Show the ”request an invoice” screen in the app to get a business invoice with Wevat name and address. Make sure the invoice is not addressed to yourself!
Snap your invoice – upload it straight to the app, ideally immediately before you’ve left the store
Generate refund barcode – follow the prompts on the screen to get your digital refund form
Scan and go – visit the tax refund kiosk at your departure point, scan your refund barcode on the Wevat app, and off you go! Make sure to keep your goods on hand in case customs inspects the goods (in unused and original packaging).

Examples of a valid invoice and Wevat address can be found in the app. We also have helpful step-by-step videos on our YouTube channel.

Tips for getting an invoice:

Ask for a “facture” (Invoice in French) with Wevat name and address (Click our mascot on the app homepage to find the “request an invoice” screen. Simply show the screen containing Wevat’s address details to the store staff to get the right purchase invoice
Do not mention tax refund in the store, otherwise the sales assistant will issue you a paper tax refund form from a traditional tax refund company and you will not be able to use Wevat

Overall, a visit to Le Marais is a must for any shopping enthusiast visiting Paris. With its generosity of unique items to shop at a good price by getting a tax refund with Wevat, it's absolutely the perfect place to spend an afternoon on a trip to France.

About Wevat

Wevat is a digital tax refund app that makes it easy for travellers to save money on their shopping in France! We are a community of people who love traveling, shopping, and saving money. Since our launch in 2019, we've helped refund travellers from 88 countries more than €18 million on their shopping.

Compared with in-store VAT refund providers, Wevat gives you up to 23% more VAT back with no minimum spending requirements on each purchase. With Wevat, you can simply snap a picture of your purchase invoices and then generate and scan your barcode when you leave France. There are no paper forms, repeated scanning, or dropping off forms required with us. Our super-friendly, multilingual customer support team will be always on hand to support you throughout your trip via our app.

We are fully regulated by both French and UK customs and tax authorities.