Shopping in Nice

The Ave Jean Médecin, running from the Place Massena up through the center of the city has many of the city's main shopping and department stores. The Nouvelles Galleries is the largest, on the corner of the Place Massena, in one of the lovely ochre-red buildings with surrounding arcade (photo). Nouvelle Galleries has several floors with the typical large department-store departments. The store offers some bilingual (French-English) capabilities, and can deal with "tax-free" purchases for non-European visitors. Half way up the Ave Jean Médecin, on the right, is Nice's modern "Mall": the Nice Etoile. The Nice Etoile contains several floors of boutiques and shops, and the FNAC and Habitat stores. The Nice-Etoile parking, on the floors beneath the shops, is very handy for coming to town by automobile, especially on a rainy-day shopping trip. The Rue de France pedestrian shopping street runs from the end of the Place Massena, roughly parallel to the seaside. This area is full of shops, including some exclusive clothing boutiques, and restaurants and cafés with outdoor terraces - a great place to sit and watch the world go by, while you eat or drink. No matter what a person is looking for, Nice has it all, depending on how thick you wallet is of course!