Lynn Loring, a flight attendant for American Airlines, has been coming to Paris for 18 years, and at times when the dollar was strong, she says, "All I did was shop." But last week, walking around the Galeries Lafayette department store, she was doing more looking than buying. The reason: the dollar has been sliding against the euro, and that's making everything much more expensive for her. "I'm so depressed," she says.

American Christmas shoppers in Paris aren't the only ones suffering from sticker shock. The dollar fell to a near-record low of $1.33 to the euro at...