Today marks the first day of Paris’ annual winter sales:  overnight, stores across the city have slashed their prices, most of them around 40%. Over the course of the next six weeks, the prices will continue to drop–offering the age-old dilemma of whether to buy now at a higher price or wait for it to drop with the risk your beloved item could sell out first.

Most Parisians browse their favorite stores in advance, trying on items and prioritizing what they want the most.  Then on the first day of sales, they snatch them up–often at a frantic pace.

Do you love fashion as much as the next gal (or guy), but don’t have the patience–or courage–to brave les soldes?  Then I offer to you the second best option, available all year round:  les stocks.  Many of the large brands have stock stores scattered around Paris, offering discount prices on last season’s merchandise. They call themselves outlet stores, but they’re nothing like the big, impersonal outlet stores we Americans knows and love/despise. Rather, they’re just like any other store, only less expensive–in fact, it took me several months to realize that a nearby Sandro store was a stock.

Here are the stock stores of a few of my favorite brands; I haven’t been to all of the stores, so double check the addresses and opening hours before you visit!

SANDRO
26 rue de Sévigné  75004

LES PETITES
11 rue de Marseille 75003
(or online)

MAJE
92 rue des Martyrs 75018
and
6 rue du Cherche-Midi 75006

KOOKAI
82 rue Réaumur 75002

ZADIG & VOLTAIRE
22 rue du Bourg-Tibourg 75004

REPETTO
24, rue de Châteaudun 75009

CAROLL
30 rue Saint Placide 75006

CHLOE
8 rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud 75011

MARC JACOBS
34 rue de Montpensier 75001

AZZEDINE ALAIA
18, rue de la Verrerie 75003