As part of the Urban Sketchers symposium in Toulouse and general summer travel I know that a lot of sketchers will be visiting Paris this summer. Paris is full of wonderful art supply shops but I wanted to highlight three in particular that are worth visits. Each store caters for a different need, at a different price range, and with a different ambience. If you can, I recommend visiting all three, but if you can’t hopefully this will help guide to the store that best suits your needs.

Rougier & Plé Saint German – the most centrally located and accessible of the three stores, Rougier & Plé is on boulevard Saint German not far from Saint Michelle. This multi-level store is easy to navigate and expansive. The top floor is for sketching supplies – pencils, pens, markers, charcoal, sketching paper, glue, erasers, measuring and cutting tools, etc. The second floor is dedicated to watercolors, ink, printmaking and their related materials (brushes, paper, masking fluids, etc). The first floor is where you’ll find the discounted section, student art supplies, packing materials, hobby materials (beads, clay, etc) and stationary items. They provide tax free forms if you spend more than 100 euros (which won’t be hard), they have a very good selection of brands (this is a good place to buy Schmincke watercolors) and they usually have a good selection of products on sale – particularly paper. This is the “bread and butter” store and if you only have time for one I’d select this one. There’s also a good selection of stores nearby that can interest other members of your party, a nice coffee shop (Cuvée Noire) and a nice park just around the corner (Jardin médiéval du Musée de Cluny) so if you’re traveling with none-sketchers you don’t have to drag them in with you. There is an elevator so if you have accessibility needs this store caters for you. The staff is a bit surly and I wouldn’t go in looking for assistance, but they do have a decent website so you can check things out before you go.

Magasin Sennelier – You’ll find this store all over Paris art supply store recommendations but this is a store with quite a few caveats. On the pro side it’s beautiful, it has a wide selection of supplies that you just won’t find anywhere else (like Etchr sketchbooks for instance, Japanese fountain pen ink, certain sketching supplies), the staff is knowledgeable, and they have tax-free shopping over 100 euros. However the store is open in very particular hours (10:00-12:45 after which they close until 14:00 when they open until 18:30) and they will kick you out at 12:45 regardless of whether you’re just about to pay them or not. It is also inaccessible in terms of public transport because it’s on a one way street with no nearby metro station (so you can take the bus one way to the place, but you’ll have an issue getting back – or vice-versa, depending on where you’re coming from). It’s best to pair a visit to the store with a visit to the d’Orsay or the Louvre but make sure that you don’t end up there when they’re closed for lunch. The store is on two floors, but there’s no elevator and the place is very cramped and chaotic. It’s most likely that you’ll need to ask for help finding things, and you may have to rummage around or ask the staff to bring up things from the back. The staff is helpful (up until lunchtime when they become surly and brusque), and while the prices aren’t the best to be found they do have things that you just can’t get anywhere else so it may be worth scheduling a visit there. This is, however, not a store that you can spontaneously slip into your schedule. Plan your visit carefully so as to not be disappointed.

Le Géant des Beaux-Arts – this store is not as centrally located as the other two, but is still not too far away from public transport to make in inaccessible. This is a warehouse kind of store, huge, sprawling, and the cheapest by far of the three. You won’t get a tax return here, but you will get a significant discount on practically everything you buy (the cashiers will sign you up as a member for free if you aren’t, so you’ll get the most discounts on your shopping). They have a very wide selection of supplies and brands (though not everything – it’s worth checking their website first), and the biggest problem there is not getting lost in the cavern of supplies or overdoing it. There are stairs here and there so if you have accessibility issues I’d stick with Rougier & Plé, and there is only some method to the madness (particularly in the paper section). The staff is largely busy stacking art supplies and while they’re nice and try to be helpful, usually only the staff behind the till is knowledgeable. You will find Paris exclusive brands like Charvin and the widest array of Clairfontaine paper you could ever want, so it’s worth visiting the store even if you’re not particularly in search for bargains.

Paris is a wonderful city for artists in terms of its art supply stores, so this is far from a comprehensive list (there’s Charvin, various Sennelier stores, etc). Use this if you are short on time and want to hone in on which store best suits your needs and budget.