Smith & Son, Bookshop in the 1st arrondissement, Paris, France
Smith&Son is an English-language bookshop in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, situated on Rue de Rivoli facing the Jardins des Tuileries. Its shelves reach up to the ceiling and focus on British and American literature, and the shop also has a café area where visitors can sit down with a book.
The bookshop was founded in 1903, making it one of the oldest English-language bookshops in Paris. Over the decades it was renovated and expanded with a café area, which shaped the way it looks and feels today.
Smith&Son is one of the few English-language bookshops in Paris, drawing both anglophone visitors and locals looking for British and American titles. The in-store café, Café Smith & Son, serves cream tea with scones, giving the place a distinctly British feel right in the center of the French capital.
The bookshop opens early in the morning and closes in the evening, making it easy to fit into a day of exploring the area. The nearest metro station, Concorde, is just a short walk away.
Despite being in the heart of Paris, the shop's tall wooden shelves and the smell of paper give it a feel closer to a London bookshop than a French one. Its position directly across from the Tuileries means that after browsing, one of the city's most visited gardens is right at the door.
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