Markets of Batignolles
From Paris Hotels Reviews
Markets of Batignolles
The official complex lies just beyond rue Jean-Henri-Fabre, with over a dozen separate markets covering some two thousand shops. Most have their entrances on rue des Rosiers, the main thoroughfare, but a few lie on rue Jules-Vallès. For the chance to buy something you cold feasibly carry home by yourself, restrict yourself to one of three markets. Marché Vernaison, the oldest in the complex, is the closest thing to a real flea market. Its maze-like, creeper-covered alleys are great fun to wander along, threading your way between stalls selling all kinds of bric-a-brac. Marché Jules-Vallès is smaller but similar, stuffed with books and records, vintage clothing, colonial knick-knacks and other curiousities. While you won't find any breathtaking bargains, there's plenty to titilate the eye at both. Marché Malik stocks mostly discount and vintage clothes and bags, as well as some high-class couturier stuff.
For casual browsing of antiques and curious, try Marché Dauphine, whose glazed roof shelters an eclectic mix of decorative antique furniture, vintage fashions and rare books, and Marchè Malassis, where you'll find all kinds of little boutiques specializing in anything from maritime ephemera or jewellery to imaginatively restored eighteenth-century pieces and twentieth-century designer objects. For furnishings, the least expensive is Marché Paul-Bert, which offers furniture, china and the like, oftern unrestored and straight from the auction houses. Le Passage has lots of fine furnishings and objets d'art, including new pieces by contemporary designers.
The rest of the markets in the complex are seriously posh collections of antiques shops, aimed as much at professionals as at private clients. Marché Biron is the most luxurious of all, full of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century gilt and cyrstal Marché Antica and Marché Serpette covers seriously expensive twentieth-century collectors' furnishings, especially Art Deco and Art Nouveau. L'Entrepôt houses large-scale antiques, from whole staircases to boiserie panelling and cast-iron gates. L'Usine is restricted to dealers only.
