When I step into the one of the biggest department stores in Paris, Printemps, I feel at home. Why? Because every other face I see are East Asians. They could be Japanese, Koreans, Chinese, Singaporeans, Malaysians, Hong Kongers, etc, but I'm going to bet you that they are likely Chinese from the PRC.
The main doors into the store had stickers advertising opening and closing times and tax refund services - in Chinese. I am not even sure there was an English sign.
When you ruffle through a stack of store map pamphlets, and find a big chunk of the Chinese version with no English version in sight, you know what language their biggest customer demographic speak.
There was a queue to go into the Chanel store. Yes, they are East Asians.
The three tax refund services found on 3 different floors had desks manned by East Asians. (I know because I visited each floor to apply for the store credit/discount card. The first customer service rep said they have "no more cards". What the h*ll?? Refusing to believe that Printemps could run out of the store cards, I went in search of someone else who knows what they are talking about. Of course I was right.)
I was told that the sales staff at LV and other big-name stores who speak Mandarin are given a higher commission rate.
Perhaps I should start learning Mandarin instead of French while I'm here.
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