Flea market (Marche aux puces de St-Ouen) description and photos - France: Paris (Topic)

Flea market (Marche aux puces de St-Ouen) description and photos - France: Paris. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The title in English is Marche aux puces de St-Ouen.

Photo and description

A few years ago, the flea market on rue Rosier, near the Porte de Clignancourt metro, was granted national treasure status. This fact shows how seriously Parisians take march é s aux puces (flea markets), doing their share of cleaning the city of old things.

Flea markets in Paris have been around for over a century. Collecting and reselling used things is a business as old as the world. In 1880, Parisians threw out up to 75 tons of junk per year, all this rubbish could not be disassembled by a whole army of junk dealers.

Then the prefect of the capital Poubel ordered to put metal boxes on the streets. This is how trash cans appeared, which are still called by the name of the prefect - poubelle. And the junkers were forced to concentrate on special markets outside the city limits, which then passed relatively close to the center.

These markets were called flea markets. The only officially permitted flea market in the city center until 1955 was the market in the small Place Saint-Medard on rue Mouffetard. But it could not compete with huge markets for second-hand goods, the largest of which was the flea market on rue Rosier.

It was founded at the end of the 19th century and is one of the largest in Europe. Several thousand sellers work here, holding trading places in a conglomerate of fifteen small markets with different names and different directions: from antique furniture to clothing and electronics. The market galleries stretch for several kilometers. Here you can find not only rubbish, but also completely new clothes and furniture, books and African figurines. And there may well be a bookcase from an old French castle nearby.

More than one hundred thousand buyers visit this market every week. Rush hour starts in the afternoon, so it's better to come here in the morning. The flea market is supposed to bargain. Many shops accept credit cards. And, finally, when going here, it is better to safely hide your wallet in your inner pocket - as in the old days, Parisian pickpockets are active here.

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Topic: Flea market (Marche aux puces de St-Ouen) description and photos - France: Paris.