|
| |
 |
|
| |
|
| |
The
beginnings of a regular scrap metal market held on Sundays, bringing
together no less than 130 traders, can be traced to between 1880
and 1890. It is the year 1885, however, which marks the official
birth of the Flea Market. It is in this year that the authorities
of Saint Ouen took measures to clean up the area and make it safer.
The times of the various markets held in the town were co-ordinated.
|
 |
| |
Work
was carried out to facilitate the market's existence: the roads
were paved and pavements created along the major streets to help
the traders set up their stalls and organise themselves better.
The traders were now required to pay a fee in order to have the
right to set up their stall. In 1901, a town-planning project submitted
to the local council included plans for a Flea Market on the corner
of rue Marceau and rue des Rosiers. The Flea Market was granted
what amounted to official recognition by being pictured on postcards,
and a number of newspapers carried reports of the picturesque goings-on
at the "Saint-Ouen Flea Market". The casual visitor leaving
Paris by the Porte de Clignancourt, along the avenue Michelet and
the Malassis pathways, would discover a market that was half-rural,
half-urban, with flea marketer stalls standing side by side with
those of travelling salesmen selling new goods.
Gradually, the little markets grew and attracted ever-growing numbers
of bargain hunters. It soon became clear that the traders should
be grouped together in a more coherent and better organised area.
|
| |
 |
| |
 |
Around
1920, shortly after the Great War, Romain Vernaison, who owned 9,000m2
of land between the avenue Michelet, the rue des Rosiers and the
rue Voltaire, decided to set up a whole series of pre-fabricated
huts to be rented to the bric-a-brac dealers and the rag-and-bone
men of the area. The first marketplace was born…
Some time later, a certain Malik, reputed to be an Albanian prince,
bought up an old restaurant called A Picolo in the rue Jules Vallès.
Taking his cue from Romain Vernaison, he transformed the building
into a marketplace with around a hundred stalls, which soon came
to be known as the Malik Market. The market was, and remains, the
place to come for second-hand clothes, old uniforms, helmets, cameras
and so on |
| |
By 1925, the fortifications had been almost completely demolished.
Not wishing to leave Saint-Ouen, a group of traders soon took over
the Champ des Rosiers and set up a third marketplace, the Biron
Market. Two rows of around two hundred stalls running the length
of an alley which stretches as far as the avenue Michelet before
looping back, in the shape of a hairpin. The Biron market quickly
became the more "distinguished" market. It is here that
one might find top quality old furniture, gilt wood, glassworks
and porcelain, for example. The Flea Market was extended yet further
in 1938, when the Jules Vallès market was opened. After the
Liberation, the opening days were set: Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
Local shops were bought up by antiques dealers, bric-a-brac merchants
or craftsmen who wanted to have an outlet near an organised market.
As the years went by, the sector continued to grow, and other marketplaces
were created, making up the mosaic of the world-renowned antiques
market we know and love today… |
| |
 |
| |
The
Paris Saint-Ouen Flea Market celebrated its centenary in 1985É
Covering 7 hectares, it is the worldÕs largest antiques market.
Every weekend, between 120,000 and 150,000 visitors from the world
over come in the hope of finding a rare and treasured object.
The market has become one of the highlights of Paris for locals
or tourists who wish simply to stroll around to search for a particular
object, or just for the pleasure of looking around
|
|
 |
