When I lived in a small apartment, I had to dial down buying everything. As folks in Paris say: What a difference a few years, and a few more square meters, make.

And looking for places to put everything, all over again. The bad news is that there are relatively few bargains in Paris. Most brocantes in Paris are a mix of dealers and particuliersor individuals, who are non-professionals. These are collective sales held in various neighborhoods and folks in the quartier bring objects that they want to sell.

These can be hit-or-miss. A braderie refers to a sale where things are marked down and there are rarely professionals, and a braderie often refers to a sale when things are sold rummage sale-style.

At the brocantesthe best deals are in the boxes and boxes of stuff that people just bring out and let shoppers have a go at. In order to find the good stuff, you need to carefully pick through them — often on your hands and knees.

Each brocante in Paris has a different personality. At some, the dealers are brusque and expensive. Then there are the people that just show up with a van and put everything out willy-nilly. Recently at a brocante on the Boulevard Beaumarchais, I found one fellow selling a bunch of French glassware, which I used to collect, and picked up when I came across them. He had about a dozen of them and I suppose if I took the whole lot, he may have dropped the price a tad. Other merchants were more buyer-friendly, and just trying to make a little money by selling stuff.

So there are bargains. You just have to find them. And you often have to unearth them yourself as it took a bit of digging to find all four of those glasses. Proceeds from the items sold in their stores across France go to helping the less fortunate.

Also near Paris is the bi-annual Foire de Chatouan open-air flea market and ham fair, that takes place in the fall and in the spring, and has a free shuttle from the RER A station. I always rifle through the silverware, looking for interesting things. Plates are stacked and stacked on top of each other. Some are ugly and new, but digging through them, you can likely score — well, sometimes! My latest obsession is trying to find a cool salad serving set to replace the Danish modern utensils I have, that no one else can use without flinging salad all over the place.

If anyone finds the spoon part to that stainless-steel number, let me know. Well, after a good scrubbing. Leave anything valuable at home. The flea market is located in what is not the best part of Paris and less-savory types tend to know that tourists with money and passports are coming to the area.

There are excellent directions here. The latter is more likely to have bargains. It takes place Saturday and Sunday from 7am to 2pm. For the best selection, arrive early in the morning. For better prices, go Sunday afternoon, as folks are closing up. There are two smaller flea markets that get less attention than the major ones.

There is a lively mix of items from small-scale dealers, and particulierswho haul out cases of various things set up on makeshift tables in the square, adjacent to where the market is held.

Another flea market, although less interesting, is the Porte de Montreuilwhich takes place Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, from 7am to 7: But as they say…ya never know. These are roving flea markets and each one has its own personality, with items at various prices points. Generally speaking if they list the sale as Antiquities onlythe flea market will be more established dealers.

Paris Flea Markets and Thrift Stores - David Lebovitz

These sales are often listed on the Paris. Dates are listed on their website, and their antique fairs feature middle- to high-end items, although they can be worth a look, especially the ones that take place in the Bastille.

The best way to find when the roving brocantes and vide-greniers take place is to check the listings at Vide-greniers. In addition, Brocbrac has an appas does Vide-Greniers. Android onlyto help find the brocantes on-the-go. Many are very interesting and great places for unearthing treasures. Paris is not a city teeming with thrift stores. In the Village Saint-Paulin the 4th, there is a cluster of antique shops in the courtyard. Nearby is Au Petit Bonheur La Chancewhich sells vintage housewares.

Yelp has a good listing of their addresses. Because they are in the city, anything good gets snapped up quickly. Bargain hunters might want to rent a car and visit their large shops outside of the city. A map and directions are on their website. Other benevolent organizations hold braderies and brocantes from time-to-time: Almost all of them are outside of the city.

Opening hours are on their website. Usually the items at these sales are not of interest to visitors. No one ever has changeand if they do, it seems like a herculean effort to give any back to you. I think because people like taking money, but not giving it back.

A reputable dealer will know the difference and let you know, but not everyone selling items does or will tell you.

At outdoor markets, you can sometimes negotiate a percent discount. A Chanel bag or Patek Philippe watch reduces your bargaining leverage. Or I have my French partner ask.

Stand there and consider their response before buying anything, especially if you want to buy other items from the same dealer.

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And yes, if you buy more things from one person, generally you can request a better price. As soon as I did, a foreign dealer jabbering on his cell phone, who saw that I was interested in it, swooped in and grabbed it before I could change my mind.

Expect to have to buy a beverage to use the restroom. And thrift stores outside of Paris expect you to bring your own. Most supermarkets in Paris sell large, reusable shopping bags suitable for the purpose. The best are at the large Leroy Merlin hardware shop, located at Beaubourg in Paris.

Their bags have regular-sized handles, as well as shoulder straps, and are wide enough to hold large items like a large mortar and pestle…and sturdy and comfortable enough to carry heavy — or multiple — objects. VIntage Cookbooks in Paris. Cookware Shops in Paris.

French Flea Market Vocabulary French Today. Thanks so much for taking the time to write about this. I travel to Paris once or twice a year from London and struggled to find these places.

Now I have the perfect guide: If only someone could do it for London, that you be great. David, thank you for this very timely and resource filled post! I just moved to Paris and am feverishly working on furnishing my apartment… and hoping to find flea market bargains for basic things I wish I had brought from the US, like basic glassware for example.

Thanks for all the details and information. Reading your post and looking at your pix felt like I was there with you. We have hesitated going to the big weekend flea forex autoscaler free download while in Paris, but we always stop at the brocantes when we are driving in rural France. I will keep my eye out for the neighbourhood brocantes that are scheduled in Paris. One of my how to make money selling food at flea markets pastimes, living in Provence is going to the brocante.

There is a really good one over the rhone in Beaucaire. You can get anything from an old sofa now the dog sofa to broken toys and second hand watches, amongst which treasures are to be found. Also love going to Emauss outside Arles. Most of the furniture, kitchen utinsils and glassware etc.

Wow, what a comprehensive and fascinating post. I remember mooching round the stalls at Clignancourt as a teenager. So many places in the UK now charge a premium for old tat, but a bit of vintage in a blog post really can lift an image. Love the glassware and the cool hand carved looking salad set! Great useful and fun post, David.

Even occasional visitors like me like to browse markets and thrift stores for inexpensive gadgets or home accessories that will keep our time in Paris fresh in our minds. This post could not have come at a more opportune time for me! On my one trip to 24 hr technical analysis for trading binary option trades so far my only regret was not making it to the flea markets.

David, This is an awesome post! We love going to the temporary markets like this when we are in Paris and use the Brocabrac app each time! Bring a pair of cotton or surgical rubber gloves when you expect to go picking through all the boxes, clothes, hardware, etc.

Some of the stuff is really grungy. That salad set is HUGE! This blog post could not have been more timely! I never knew there was a website for Vide-grenier not to mention some of the other less obvious places to find treasures.

The salad set looks big in the picture where you are holding them, but not as big in the other picture where they are lying on the table — maybe that close-up shot is distorting them somewhat? What a great and thorough litany of temptations! I am definitely bookmarking this post in case a miracle happens and I someday have enough money to 1 go back to Paris and 2 afford the flea markets and the shipping for my finds.

Aah, Terry, I am with you. Perhaps a valid reason to return to Paris — one more time. If I need amore than just the fact of Paris! Still fun to rummage around. David, have you tried Chinese metal tongs for earn money from receiving sms in india salad.

Maybe not so charming but they are efficient. Thank you for this thorough post! My only problem over the years has been schlepping it all back to the states.

My flea market finds have turned out to be my most treasured possessions. Thank you for so much information and for noting that some places will be open in summer.

Those salad servers cleaned up to a pretty color. David, This is a wonderful post. There are few thing I love more than a trip to the Marche aux Puces at St Ouen. Half of my house as been furnished with finds from there. There are treasures everywhere in Paris. Loved the column as much as Trading places final scene youtube love yard sales, thrift shops and flea markets and will save it to my travel folder.

Never tried the French ones but have scored a few interesting items at Italian street how to make money selling food at flea markets. I look for kitchen stuff, especially wood and glass and I loved a couple of those knives in your photos.

Reads like preparing for a battle: I do think vix options trading older the city where your flea market is the more interesting it gets.

If I have time for just three places — minus Clignancourt and the St Paul area — which would you say are forex trading fundamental strategies best for kitchenware? That was taken on the Boulevard Beaumarchais, at a brocante that happens there infrequently. I love flea markets, yard sales and thrift stores—such fun and sometimes marvelous bargains. Thanks for glimpses of Paris.

What a marvellous way to spend my time is reading your posts and seeing your pictures! I should come to Paris one day! Thank you so much for this post, David. This was an incredibly comprehensive and well-done post. As a relatively new follower, I have been impressed financial betting on binary options the quality of both your writing and your photography.

What a gigantic salad set! A sanding sponge do they have those in Parisian hardware stores?! I was wondering if there was such an app. How did you get the salad tongs looking Like new? Those orange juice carafes.

And the white mugs. Positively lovely and as always, a wonderful lesson and glimpse into life in Paris. Rue Paul Vaillant Couturier in Montreuil, metro, Mairie de Montreuil. I, basically, furnished my house there, and also bought a bunch of Le Creuset cookware, vases, plates, crystal, silver, a stroller, jewelery, a taxidermied crocodile….

Great tips for my next visit to Paris. I am a flea market addict myself and have written three books on the subject, two about France— most recently The Flea Markets of France — and The Vintage and Antiques Fairs of England And I too love the brocante fairs that take place in many of the Paris arrondissements throughout the year. I have made some wonderful finds, at really excellent prices, at these local events. In addition to Emmaus, there are a few good charity shops not mentioned in the piece, but I agree that Paris is not the best city for thrift shops.

That said, I have found some of my favourite treasures in them, for just a few euros. It is all very addictive and fun, not to mention a very inexpensive and ecologically-smart way to outfit your apartment or house, or augment your wardrobe.

Flea Market Selling Tips: Do's and Don'ts for Vendors

And outside Paris, across France, there are many fabulous markets as well! I love antiquing and am in Paris next week, this is soooooo wonderful! Thank you Thank you! Thanks for a very comprehensive post, Mr L! Loved it — it made such a wonderful lunch-time read…….

Last year I caught a wonderful brocante in Saint-Paul — my only regret was a lack of luggage space. His items were pretty high-priced I already have a couple of those Raymond Loewy Le Creuset casseroles — but there were a few items that I saw that I wanted. This is an amazing post. Thank you for your thoroughness and links and directions. Merci for a comprehensive and entertaining post. Thank you for capturing so well the French culture in your writings.

So there was nothing I could link to, unfortunately. I am looking forward to your visit to the 92nd Street Y presentation in May — already have bought my tickets. Waiting for your newest book to be published, too.

Thanks again for a wonderful posting — a terrific resource for all of us thrift shop, garage sale lovers. I am amazed that so many knives were available at the flea market. Get a nice electric sharpener and you will be able to salvage several of them and be able to use them. I just checked my book to get the names and addresses of two Paris thrift shops where I have found some wonderful and inexpensive vintage kitchenware over the years—I am also a serious addict.

The best and the largest is called Le Radeau Neptune, at 32, boulevard Paul Vaillant Couturier, and it is very closed to the Mairie de Montreuil metro. I found some beautiful Villeroy and Bosch plates there with different fruit patterns on them, which I love, as well as some great white porcelain soup bowls. There, among other things, I bought a wonderful green-speckled covered ceramic jar from Vallauris. I went back to both shops a few months ago and found that they were as good as ever.

This all makes me want to head back to Paris right away!! When I was in Paris with a group we wanted to go to a flea market but the German guide told us one time there was a big incident with the Police. Maybe one of these years. I like looking around sometimes. It is a great cookbook. Too bad the Ashby BART Station flea market in Berkeley is no long the delirious mishmash of all kinds of stuff that it was for its first decade or so. The Oakland Museum White Elephant Sale continues to be astounding though, and I will have to make do with these poor substitutes for the thrill of actually junking in FRANCE!

Thank you, David, for telling us where the really good stuff is! Thanks so much for sharing. Thanks so much for taking the time to do this. I love all your posts. Learn something new all the time! I set my sport coat down while looking at football jerseys at a street market stall and when I turned around someone was trying it on.

There is a tremendous satisfaction in finding a gem while digging through what is mostly trash. Buying retail is for chumps. I get some comfort in visiting Sardinia Italy now every summer and going to the markets there, although they are mainly food-based, of course!

Not far from there twice a year, the vide-greniers in rue Caulaincourt and in rue des Martyrs, and in les Batignolles are all excellent. There I bought pans and cutlery and dresses and paintings andmany of my favorite things. BTW, I finally got to Larnicol tonight for some kouignettes—thanks for the tip on reheating them.

Love love love this post! In addition to hunting for vintage finds, I also enjoy buying unwanted clothing to upcycle into new wares. Now that i live in New York i miss these brocantes so much. InI visited the Flea at Vanves, took at taxi there early in the morning, but within an hour or so it turned into a cold, rainy and dreary time and I gave up the ghost early on as by then I had found a few neat things to bring home.

Do you think the Flea Market at Clignancourt is worth at least one visit? Would love to find some of those good neighborhood sales you mentioned. Wish I had your notes and would have kept walking! I would love to see you post a photo of your vintage metal bakery sign!! Thanks for all this information! I think I would be taking everything home…I especially loved the Provence themed items — lovely! David, there is a slight contradiction in your informative post.

As for rue Cler, I remember a visit there decades ago, pre Rick Steeves. It was a normal Parisian neighbourhood back then. Thanks for your careful eye. So I deleted my earlier remark. Those salad fork and spoon you were holding at the end of your post are HUGE!

They sure would make a great conversation piece. Hello David, when discussing this future post with you at La Cuisine I forgot to ask you if you were going to mention the Braderie de Lille. As an avid chineur all over the states and Europe, I can definitely say that the Braderie de Lille is the absolute Mecca of flea markets.

First wknd of September. I went last year for the first time and I was not psychologically prepared for the experience…. Love your post and just returned from 10 days in Paris. I bought the most wonderful copper sauce pan for 10 Euros! Also great little paintings for 5 euros!. Packing all that and getting them back to Denver CO. Thanks for this post, you help to make my Paris trip so enjoyable!

Great post with lots of interesting information which I will most certainly take into account on my next trip to Paris. Looks like you will need a pretty large salad for that wooden set.! Dave, thank you for all the info you provide in your posts. I saved this as well as a number of your other posts and spent today reviewing them.

Home About Books Recipes Tours Paris Restaurants Schedule FAQ. Paris Flea Markets and Thrift Stores 73 comments - And sometimes they arrange things along a theme, like Provence. Brocantes, Vide-Greniers, and Braderies in Paris These are roving flea markets and each one has its own personality, with items at various prices points.

Thrift Stores Paris is not a city teeming with thrift stores. Additional Tips — Although thrift stores take credit cards, outdoor brocante dealers only take cash. Never miss a post! Get posts and recipes. Get my monthly newsletter. You might also like Cookware Shops in Paris. Paris Travel Tips Tags: BTW — how big is the salad bowl that you use with that salad set? Oh, this is a dangerous post. Forget fancy stores, I like the thrift ones.

That is a huge set — I think a good carver could make it into two. Would love to see a photo of that metal patisserie shop sign! How is it possible that even the rummage sales in Paris are more beautiful than the ones here? As always, thank you so much for sharing!

I love traveling to France via your posts. Just wondering if that salad set wooden fork and spoon comes in a larger size…. Subscribe Get posts and recipes. Pink Grapefruit and Gin Slush.