Get thee to Mouffetard

[Margaret Pilgrim]

I believe that I have already spoken from this soapbox, but I do want to warn again that from visit to visit we notice Yuppification of this once unspoiled market street. Near the bottom, L'Occitane and O&Co have replaced two of the original shops, Androuet has joined the old-time cheese shops and this trip I noticed that a decent chocolate shop is now a Marianaud scent store.

If you want to walk a village street in Paris, do Muffetard before it is too late. I remember when this happened to the remaining Les Halles shops on Montorgueil. "My" little hole-in-the-wall that sold tarbais beans out of burlap sacks at the lowest price in Paris is now a fashion boutique.

[Bux]

Don't get me started. I once posted about lunch with my daughter on Montorgueil. She had lived nearby in the early nineties and this was ten years later. Her old cafe was still there and we sat at the little tables outside, but she said the street was less animated than it was when she was living in the area. By animated she meant less food for sale and less hawking by the merchants in the street.

Fifty years ago, I knew a little shop off place St. Michel, perhaps on St. Severain or just around the corner, where I bought Bourgueil from the vat, that reminded more of raspberries than any fancy Bourgueil in a bottle since. There aren't a lot of places left in Paris where one can buy wine like that.

I probably posted the same reply to your last post on the subject.

[Carlsbad]

I like the soapbox. I do have to say that I shopped the rue Montorgueil this last trip, and loved it. The best rotisseried chicken I think I've ever had. I don't think I want to know how good it used to be.

[kjohn]

Too bad about the chocolate shop, I liked that place.

[Jonathan Day]

Rue Mouffetard is well worth a visit. A very pleasant hotel in the area is the Hotel des Grandes Ecoles, rue Cardinal Lemoine. Unusually for a Paris hotel, it is separated from the road by a small courtyard and hence has a degree of tranquillity that's hard to find in this part of the town. When we stayed there the rooms were simple but comfortable -- no television, which was a big plus. Their website has more details.

[John Talbott]

I believe that I have already spoken from this soapbox, but I do want to warn again that from visit to visit we notice Yuppification of this once unspoiled market street.  Near the bottom, L'Occitane and O&Co have replaced two of the original shops, Androuet has joined the old-time cheese shops and this trip I noticed that a decent chocolate shop is now a Marianaud scent store. 

If you want to walk a village street in Paris, do Muffetard before it is too late.  I remember when this happened to the remaining Les Halles shops on Montorgueil.  "My" little hole-in-the-wall that sold tarbais beans out of burlap sacks at the lowest price in Paris is now a fashion boutique.

←

Well it was bound to happen once the Place des Victoires was taken over by boutiques that famously displayed racks of 10 frocks in a warehouse sized place and sandwich shop owners got the idea they were Eli Zabar.

Progress.

[Ptipois]

Rue Mouffetard has been cutifying itself for more than twenty years. The bougnat couple who sold chestnuts from their 400-year-old tree gave way to a parfumerie years ago. Le Moule à Gâteau was there when I was a kid. Fish was already too expensive then. L'Occitane has been there for about ten years. Etc. The best butcher was replaced by a fancy flower shop in the early 80's. On rue Monge another great butcher was replaced by a bobo bookshop roughly at the same time. This is the way Paris goes. La Mouffe has been dead for about 15 years, but on the other hand I'm glad there is a Moisan boulangerie now. The real tragedy, to me, is the apparition of Hédiard at the Rue Monge-Claude-Bernard corner. This is a serious sign of a neighborhood going to hell. Anyway, though I live very close to La Mouffe, I almost never shop there. The prices are outrageous.

Edited August 25, 2005 by Ptipois (log)

[raisab]

Does anyone know of any streets that are truly market streets anymore? I only know Mouffe in it's present incarnation.

How about the market days, any truly great ones? Or are these going wayside because of EU regulations?

[Margaret Pilgrim]

....'Occitane has been there for about ten years....The real tragedy, to me, is the apparition of Hédiard at the Rue Monge-Claude-Bernard corner. This is a serious sign of a neighborhood going to hell. Anyway, though I live very close to La Mouffe, I almost never shop there. The prices are outrageous.

←

It's my sense that L'Occitane came within the last several years. Be that as it may, some good news for you may be that Hédiard has closed that location. From all appearances, it does not look like a normal summer closure. As I remember, it was emply when we were there in the spring. We can always hope.

[John Talbott]

Does anyone know of any streets that are truly market streets anymore? I only know Mouffe in it's present incarnation.

How about the market days, any truly great ones? Or are these going wayside because of EU regulations?

←

While there are changes, eg the conversion of a horsemeat store to a bra boutique, the conversion of a cremerie to an eye-glass store, the conversion of a grocer to a wine shop, the musical chair switch of a cheese monger to a butcher shop, the conversion of an oyster shuckery to a shoe store; the Rue Duhesme/Poteau market in the 18th remains pretty much as it was 20 years ago.

[Ptipois]

It's my sense that L'Occitane came within the last several years.

At least ten years. I remember buying liquid soap right there not after 1994.

Be that as it may, some good news for you may be that Hédiard has closed that location.    From all appearances, it does not look like a normal summer closure.  As I remember, it was emply when we were there in the spring.  We can always hope.

←

Hot dog! I hope that's true. I think the place was doing very badly, too. From the start, I thought opening a Hédiard in that location was a big mistake. The 5e is not an upperclass neighborhood yet.

To answer another question, I think the rue de Lévis-rue Poncelet in the 17e can still be considered a market street. There is some cutification indeed (can't escape it), but there is also one of the most wonderful pastry shops in Paris: the German-Austrian Le Stübli. There is rue Daguerre, too, in the 14th. You should really not expect market streets to be "pure", i.e. spared by cute shops altogether. The coexistence of cute shops, or at least interesting shops, and permanent market stalls has always been a common process in Paris, and has started intensifying no later than the early 70's.

[zeitoun]

Does anyone know of any streets that are truly market streets anymore? I only know Mouffe in it's present incarnation.

How about the market days, any truly great ones? Or are these going wayside because of EU regulations?

←

Rue Cler in the 7th hasn't changed much, I walked by there a few months ago and was surprised to see that almost all the shops I used to patronize 20 years ago are still there, with the same owners. Not as picturesque as "la mouffe" but still a true parisian market street.

Although not a market street, the sunday market at the Blvd de Grenelle is splendid, highly recommended.

Edited August 25, 2005 by zeitoun (log)