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Quick trip report: Paris!
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Posted by: floorkasp Post Reply
01/05/2011, 11:57:08

Before Christmas, I was in Paris for a weekend. While the locals had Christmas shopping in mind, I obviously went looking for beads. Some time ago, there was quite a distinctive bead district, which also happens to be the sex district. Now, most bead and accessories shops were closed, but some could still be found.

Most interesting was the large fleamarket, near Port de Clignancourt. Two stalls had a great variety and were simply stuffed with beads.

I really should be heading out, so will leave you with some pictures and the link to Wild Things Beads article on shopping in Paris with quite detailed information.

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Related link: Wild Things beads

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Re: Quick trip report: Paris!
Re: Quick trip report: Paris! -- floorkasp Post Reply Edit Forum Where am I?
Posted by: floorkasp Post Reply
01/05/2011, 11:58:09

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Shops that were closed or finished
Re: Quick trip report: Paris! -- floorkasp Post Reply Edit Forum Where am I?
Posted by: floorkasp Post Reply
01/05/2011, 12:01:05

We literally had to pass 'working ladies' and go through a rather seedy pathway to find the entrance to this (closed for the day)bead shop.
The second picture was quite a common sight: bead shops that finished business.

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Modified by floorkasp at Wed, Jan 05, 2011, 12:01:32

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a wonderful shop to lose yourself in....
Re: Quick trip report: Paris! -- floorkasp Post Reply Edit Forum Where am I?
Posted by: floorkasp Post Reply
01/05/2011, 12:03:01

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Re: a wonderful shop to lose yourself in....
Re: a wonderful shop to lose yourself in.... -- floorkasp Post Reply Edit Forum Where am I?
Posted by: sisterray Post Reply
01/05/2011, 14:06:37

The display cases, alone, are a big enough draw for me! I would love to be able to display my collection like that.



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Fabulous
Re: a wonderful shop to lose yourself in.... -- floorkasp Post Reply Edit Forum Where am I?
Posted by: Barbara Post Reply
01/05/2011, 15:38:48

The display cupboards are wonderful, and look custom made for the beads.
Thanks for sharing.



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Some more pictures of the same shop
Re: a wonderful shop to lose yourself in.... -- floorkasp Post Reply Edit Forum Where am I?
Posted by: floorkasp Post Reply
01/06/2011, 05:09:52

Some of the cabinets are old cabinets from a printing workshop. They are very popular over here for beads because they have many big wide drawers with small segments.

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my Paris shopping trip
Re: Quick trip report: Paris! -- floorkasp Post Reply Edit Forum Where am I?
Posted by: Adele Post Reply
01/07/2011, 10:47:13

Your bead shopping experience pretty much mirrors mine, except that I didn't get to the flea markets. I must admit that I didn't have much time to research bead shopping and relied on the Wild Things article. We wandered around the bead/sex district in Paris for a few hours in July or 2009. I found wholesale yarn, bead stores, button stores, and a lot of costume jewelry stores, but I could buy the same thing or better in New York City.
The largest store that we went into was Fried Freres, which has apparently gotten rid of the bead museum that is mentioned in the Wild Things article. The store reminded me of the old, wholesale bead stores that used to exist in the garment district of NYC--eveything on old sample cards, some merchandise in cases, probably some great anitque finds if you dig down far enough, etc. If I could have found enough merchadise to justify the 150 Euro minimum, I might have bought something but it wasn't worth the hours of trtanslation it would have taken.
I am glad that we shopped but was disappointed that I couldn't find anything to buy. I have a blog posting if anyone wants to read more about our trip.
Where is the shop with the lovely display cases?


Related link: http://recklessbeading.blogspot.com/2009/07/paris-day-4-bead-shopping-and-museums.html

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Re: my Paris shopping trip
Re: my Paris shopping trip -- Adele Post Reply Edit Forum Where am I?
Posted by: floorkasp Post Reply
01/08/2011, 12:38:34

Sounds like I did follow some of your footsteps.
I did visit Fried Freres. I also did not see the museum part, but forgot to ask. I do speak some French, but it was not a shop that really invites you to have a good look around. Same actually went for the other shop from the Wild Things article: La Droguerie. It looks wonderful inside (no pictures allowed) with tons of jars of beads in old cases. However, buying is very complicated. I thought I understood it, but got told off twice for touching something.

The shop with the cases from the pictures is Tout a loisirs, on the Rue des Archives. They have lovely catalogues that can be downloaded.
When reading your blog on Paris, I can understand the frustration with not finding good places to buy beads at interesting prices or beads that stood out. The fleamarket had a lot more to offer that the shops, but not at bargain prices either.

I have added a picture of the outside of the Fried Freres shop. From outside (and its website) it looks like a very posh, stylish shop. Which it is not, so quite funny that they portray this image.
Second picture is from an art photograph in the European photography institute in Paris. The sign read: Chevron beads. Ah well.....

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Related link: Tout a loisirs

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Fried Freres
Re: Re: my Paris shopping trip -- floorkasp Post Reply Edit Forum Where am I?
Posted by: Adele Post Reply
01/09/2011, 11:24:54

Thank you for posting a photo of Fried Freres; I was so busy looking for bead shops that I didn't take many photo of the area. The staff at Fried Freres said Bon Jour and left us to wander around as long as we wanted to so I didn't feel rushed.
I see your experienc mirrored mine in that the merchandise in the shop was not as exciting as what I saw on the website. I am sure that someone who is looking for vintage beads or specific older Swarovski beads will love the shop. My husband speaks a bit of French so I could have placed an order if I really wanted to. I am not sorry that we took a few hours to search for bead stores, though.
Next time we go to Paris, I am determined that we schedule it to be there when the flea markets are open. Hopefully, I will also have time to do more research on bead shopping before we leave. I will file the names of the two shops that you mentioned.



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Thanks! Fun in more ways than one
Re: Quick trip report: Paris! -- floorkasp Post Reply Edit Forum Where am I?
Posted by: beadiste Post Reply
01/10/2011, 14:26:29

Floor, I posted a link to your wonderful pictures of the Paris beadshops, especially the one with all the mysterious wooden cabinets, and thought you might be amused by one of the responses:

"Oh. That was the fastest I've ever arrived at orgasm! I honestly don't know if it was the wood cabinets or the excitement of what's in them."




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