Shopping in Toulouse
For an ideal shopping break, head for Toulouse and its shops. You will have to make room in your suitcase because the Ville Rose boasts a huge array of boutiques of every kind. In the city centre, as you stroll through the cobbled streets flanked by brickwork façades, you are sure to unearth some fabulous and unique pieces whilst supporting local traders.
Souvenirs
Whether it’s something for you or for your loved ones, a souvenir shows you care and also provides a perfect reminder of everything you loved about your visit.
The South-West is a place brimming with good humour: TLSE, Macarel and Pompon sur la Garonne certainly have a sense of humour, offering socks with chocolate bar logos or tee-shirts with attitude that are 100% Toulouse.
For those who love scrummaging, rucking and conversions (i.e. lovers of the oval ball), the promised land can be found in one of the shops dedicated to rugby, and more particularly the Stade Toulousain club shop.
A truly emblematic gift: Toulouse violet is a flower with a gentle flavour and delicate fragrance. It is used in all manner of cosmetics but you can also taste its sugar-coated leaves. As for pastel, this really is a plant with a wide range of properties: its dried and crushed leaved produce an elegant blue pigment for dyeing textiles, but it’s also a component in a wide variety of beauty products.
Every museum in Toulouse has its very own gift shop. Currently, MATOU, the city’s poster museum, hosts a pop-up boutique that brings together a selection of items from a number of other museums: tea, posters, stationary, books...
Regional products
Toulouse is situated in the heart of the South-West of France and has quite a reputation for gastronomy. The city absolutely loves quality produce and draws the very best of this from the entire region; the second in France in terms of PGI certified producers and PDO denominations.
Among its specialities are products that are perfect for sharing and enjoying with friends: Toulouse sausage, foie gras, duck confit, cheeses from the Pyrenees, wines from Gaillac, Fronton, Madiran, Cahors... These classics can be found at market stalls, delicatessens or wine shops.
We finish off with a few sweet treats from the collections of the great chocolatiers, or with a Fénétra, a soft almond pastry filled with apricots and preserved lemons.
Fashion
Fashionistas, take note: Always at the forefront of fashion, Toulouse is home to renowned brands such as The Kooples, Le Comptoir des Cotonniers, Nicolas Tourrel and Marc Deloche. It also boasts some major French and international brands. Located around Rue Saint-Rome and Rue d'Alsace-Lorraine, these stores offer the latest trends in prêt à porter, accessories and cosmetics.
Sneakers addict? Refine your look at the street wear boutiques located, in particular, on Rue Peyras and Rue Temponières.
Pour une garde-robe plus sophistiquée, rendez-vous rue des Arts, rue Boulbonne et rue Croix-Baragnon où les grands noms du luxe proposent leurs dernières créations.
For a more sophisticated wardrobe, go to Rue des Arts, Rue Boulbonne and Rue Croix-Baragnon where the big names in luxury showcase their latest designs.
Lovers of vintage clothing head for the second-hand stores of Rue Cujas, Rue Sainte-Ursule and Rue Peyrolières to hunt out unique pieces.
Local designers
The highlight of your shopping trip should be the local designer boutiques. In these local workshops, the handcrafted items they create reflect their fertile imaginations: colourful jewellery, creative stationery, elegant ceramics, retro decorations, light or bohemian dresses, pastel-tinted creations... There is a whole collective of designers who gravitate around Creative Pink, O'Zarts du Jour and Mano Facto, unique creations to be explored in the workshop-boutiques of Mademoiselle Nuage and La Juponnerie, boutiques set up as art galleries such as Arnellia and even treasures created from recycled materials at Les Aiguilleuses.
Art galleries and antiques shops
Finally, you can hunt for pieces in art galleries and furniture in antique shops, which is a great way of exploring the city in even greater depth: many are located in the charming alleys of the Saint-Etienne Cathedral quarter or can be found at the monthly flea market in the Allées François-Verdier.
Bookstores and record shops
A shopping break in the Ville Rose can also be all about art and culture, the opportunity to slow down, awaken your curiosity and sharpen your critical senses.
Toulouse has a huge number of general and more specialist bookstores that are on hand to offer advice on popular titles, graphic novels, regional and youth publications.
But there’s more: did you know that Toulouse is second only to Paris when it comes to record shops? Citons Croc Vinyl, Gibert Joseph, Le Labo, Vicious Circle Shop, Armadillo, Bullitt, Made in Jazz all allow customers to listen to the unrivalled sound quality of their 45s and LP records.
The best addresses
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