Paris Street Boutique

Oooooh la frickin’ la what an unfortunate disappointment is the experience at Paris Street Boutique’s new location on State Street! One of my wife’s favorite parts of visiting Santa Barbara was strolling into the old locale behind Punch and beneath Soho and perusing all the fun, frilly, feminine and most importantly French-​inspired items here. Their prices were a bit high, sure; but their selection of apparel, hats, jewelry of all kinds, gloves, scarves, purses… all kinds of things! The wife usually was still able to find some good bargains here and would usually come away each time with some choice items. The ambiance was also great for a chick store, and there was a good chance you’d hear «La vie en Rose» at some point playing in the background.
So this year we get to Santa Barbara and park in the little parking area off Victoria street and you can guess where the wife wanted to go first. Imagine our surprise when we saw the old location was replaced by something else with no signs saying what had happened. Coupled with nobody in the surrounding stores seeming to know what had happened… well, let’s just say a small bird could have landed on my wife’s pouting lower lip.
Soooo…being the Unilocaler that I am, I looked on Unilocal and saw they had just moved. Whew! Okay so there was hope… oui?
Non!!! Our hopes were unceremoniously dashed against the rocks of life! I had heard that they had new ownership, but hoped the original atmosphere and vibe would be left intact. Non! Dashed again!
We spot the familiar sign and walked in… looked around a moment… walked out again to look at the sign to make sure… then slooooowly walked back in. First of all, the new place is far smaller than the old. Like, maybe ¹⁄₃ of the original size. There is a very small consignment area in the front of the store with a few handbags and accessories, but the rest consists of a couple long racks of highly overpriced clothes that my wife really didn’t find that appealing, The French music and Edith Piaf were replaced my techno music and Madonna, and most of the items there have about as much French inspiration as a French fry.
Needless to say we were both highly disappointed. What used to be a treasure trove of French glamour has become just another overpriced boutique on State Street. It’s a real pity because their new location gives them the potential for so much more foot traffic than the old. But in this case it’s wasted potential.
My wife said it perfectly, so I’ll quote her…“The place use to have such charm and whimsy… but it really seems to have lost its glitz and sparkle.” We miss the old Paris Street Boutique! *observes a moment of silence*

The store is fabulous! The new ownership and management is stellar. I encourage everyone to go visit this treasure of a store. Friendly service, French music playing in the background and trendy fashions await for you!
Enjoy your experience.