|
Mº Porte-de-Clignancourt & Mº Porte-de-St-Ouen . The flea market of St-Ouen is located on the northern edge of the 18e arrondissement in the suburb of St-Ouen. It spreads between the Porte de St-Ouen and the Porte de Clignancourt , with the bulk of the official markets closer to the latter. Officially open on Saturday, Sunday and Monday from 9am to 6.30pm - although this can vary depending on the weather, and many stands are closed on a Monday - the puces de St-Ouen claims to be the largest flea market in the world, the name "flea" deriving from the state of the secondhand mattresses, clothes and other junk sold here when the market first operated in the free-fire zone outside the city walls. Nowadays, however, it's predominantly a proper - and very expensive - antiques market, selling mainly furniture but also such trendy "junk" as old cafe counters, telephones, traffic lights, posters, juke boxes and petrol pumps, with what is left of the rag-and-bone element confined to the further reaches of rue Lecuyer and its continuation rue du Dr Babinski . It can be fun to wander around, but it's foolish to expect any bargains. First impressions as you arrive from the Porte-de-Clignancourt metro are that there's nothing for sale but jeans and leather jackets, whilst the Porte-de-St-Ouen metro approach brings you past the dregs of secondhand merchandise. There are, however, twelve official markets within the complex: Marche Biron , Marche Cambo , Marche Antica and Marche Malassis , all selling serious and expensive antique furniture; Marche Vernaison - the oldest - which has the most diverse collection of old and new furniture and knick-knacks; Marche Dauphine , one of the newest markets and expensive on the whole; Marche Paul-Bert , offering all kinds of furniture, china, and the like; Marche Serpette , indoors and high-class; Marche des Rosiers concentrating on twentieth-century decorative pieces; Marche Malik , with mostly clothes, some swanky couturier stuff, and a lot of uninteresting new items; and Marche Jules-Valles and Marche Lecuyer-Valles , which are the cheapest, most junk-like...and most likely to throw up an unexpected treasure.
Your Tip for Flea market of St-Ouen
Help other backpackers! Write your own guides and backpacking tips to Flea market of St-Ouen - they will appear instantly on this page - Please only write a tip/guide to Flea market of St-Ouen - visit the main Flea market of St-Ouen forum to ask a question!
Please do not post links to your site here (they won't work) - please use the Flea market of St-Ouen webguide section below! Thanks.
|
