A body of a vehicle such as an automobile has a rear parcel shelf which is constituted by left and right shelf members joined, respectively, to left and right rear pillars, and a center shelf member extending between the left and right shelf members. The center shelf member has a generally horizontal center shelf panel, and a rear waist panel having front and rear flanges and a channel portion extending laterally of the vehicle between the front and rear flanges and bulging upwardly. The front and rear flanges of the rear waist panel are joined to the upper surface of the center shelf panel to form a box beam. Each of the left and right shelf members has a reinforce panel and a side shelf panel which are joined to the bottom surface of the rear waist panel to form a continuous extension of the box beam.