At the height of her career in 1950, Edith Piaf sang at Galeries Lafayette to boost post-war spirits.

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You have to shop at places like Bergdorf Goodman, FAO Schwarz or, in Europe, at Harrods or Galeries Lafayette.

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The goal is to drain some of the crowds away from Paris's jam-packed department stores Galeries Lafayette and Printemps.

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If your taste in fashion tends towards the Gallic, Galeries Lafayette (Friedrichstrasse 76 -- 78) offers elegant French design, perfumes, shoes and accessories.

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It will open in Galeries Lafayette in Paris later this year.

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Twenty minutes later, we climbed the stairs out into the night, hustling after Li down the block to the Galeries Lafayette, the ten-story department store on the Boulevard Haussmann.

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Google Maps also helps you find your way through Galeries Lafayette in Paris, Roppongi Hills in Tokyo, Harrods in London, or that famous maze in Stockholm (also known as IKEA).

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Other leading department stores in Europe include Galeries Lafayette (3.4 billion Euros), Debenhams (3.4 billion Euros), Karstadt (3.3 billion Euros), Manor (2.4 billion Euros), Printemps (1.5 billion Euros) and House of Fraser (1.4 billion Euros).

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