photograph courtesy of Tour Magazine

We were psyched to get a reminder from Gridskipper that the Parisian city-wide “soldes” sales event will be in effect January 9-20. A government regulated program, Paris slashes prices (anywhere from 30-50 percent off) on clothing and the like twice a year, once in January (”soldes d’hiver”) and again during the summer months (”soldes d’été”). From big retailers like Galeries Lafayette to smaller boutique chains like Agatha, you can expect to get your mitts on some haute stuff for cooler prices.

But, for cheapos out there, here’s the best news of all:

Because the annual retail sales are such a big tourism draw, the Chamber of Commerce along with the Tourist Office of Paris and a few other government orgs join forces each year to present, “Soldes By Paris,” an event involving some 1,500 retailers, 500 hotels and restaurants and a whole lot more.

For about two weeks, participating hotels drop their rates, while restaurants and museums offer special promotions. This year, the SNCF—French National Railway—and other transportation authorities will offer discounts too.

To learn more, visit the official “Soldes By Paris” site.

An interactive map allows you to search for discounts and events by personality type (romantic, chic, trendy, creative or original). Unsure just where you fall in? Take the quiz. This resident cheapo scored a hefty “romantic” score that deemed her Amélie-like (“You can’t do without these chance meetings that are so Parisian and charming.” How did they know?) and suggested we visit Monoprix for our big shopping (hey, we’re solde on any store that sells both skirts and steaks!).

Among other recommendations the site gave for Audrey Tautou artists:

For hotels: 48 participating hotels and guesthouses will offer discounts to tourists in the “romance circuit.”

For art: The contemporary Galerie Hebert on the Rue du Pont Louis Philippe in the Marais.

Going out: The site dishes up kick-off events, including free or reduced prices at cinemas and parties at bars like L’Irlandais.

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Photo by JamesWallis

Cheapo shoppers, be warned: the weather in Paris this spring was unseasonably cool—apart from that burst of heat over Easter—and many stores have reported disappointing sales. This is great news for us as it means only one thing: fantastic markdowns in the sales starting on June 27.

At this time of the year, Parisian women are busy scoping out the stores for what they intend to buy once the sales get started. Precision targeting is the name of their game. Decide exactly what you want to buy and then hover patiently in the third week of June for the “pre-sale” discounts that are usually handed out by the shopkeepers who know they must clear their stock by mid-July. The other day we were were told in a shoe store that there was an “exceptional” discount of €15 on any pair of shoes that day.

A great place to max out your sale leverage is to shop at the outlet stores for your favourite brands. These places already have 30 to 60 percent markdowns on items left over from last season. When the sales roll around you get an extra 30 to 50 percent off. That’s a great deal in any currency.

Check out the Zadig and Voltaire outlet in the Marais, for instance. Zadig and Voltaire is one of the staples (along with brands like A.P.C., Isabelle Marant, Comptoir des Cotonniers, and Vanessa Bruno) of the fashionable Parisian’s wardrobe. You can find their famed loose cashmere sweaters in muted tones of moss, plum, and chocolate as well as a chic line for girls under 12 called Zadig and Voltaire Little for girls up to age 12. Cecilia Sarkozy, France’s First Lady and leading fashion icon, was wearing a pair of white Zadig trousers on election victory night last month.

Le stock Zadig et Voltaire is located at 22 rue du Bourg Tibourg, 4th. M° Hotel de Ville.

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Get the world’s slinkiest—although not exactly best made; we think the stitching is a little shoddy—knickers for up to 70% off. Agent Provocateur’s shop at 6 Broadwick Street will be jammed with deal-hungry ladies this weekend and next.

Men: this is a good place to meet women.

Women: London is notoriously, prohibitively expensive. Use this chance to shop.

Agent Provocateur Annual Sale (6 Broadwick Street, W1) from Friday, March 16 to Sunday, March 25. For more details see the AP Web site.

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For avid bargain shoppers, this is one of the two best times of year to visit Athens. From the last week of January through the last week of February, all retailers hold massive sales on everything from clothes to toiletries to household goods.

Their goal? To clear out old inventory to make room for the new. Who knew a classic, timeless city like Athens was such a trend-setting, fashion-conscious place? Well, we did, but that’s another story.

Some Athenians window-shop throughout January to see what they want to buy in February—and to note the original prices to make sure they truly are getting a deal when they buy their selected items on sale.

The other time this bi-annual give-away takes place is in August. For the uninitiated, August is Athens at its most intensely hot. It’s when locals go on holiday to get away as far as possible from the humid, boiling capital as they possibly can. The upshot: February is the better shopping month.

Popularity: 2% [?]