While Paris has the “Mona Lisa,” “Venus de Milo” and dozens of world-class museums vying for your attention, sometimes it’s nice to just go shopping. You could spend days browsing at the elite boutiques where clerks will look twice before they buzz you through their doors. But for a look at more down-to-earth vendors and customers, consider shopping at these two very Parisian institutions: the riverside “bouquinistes” and neighborhood Tabac shops.
The bouquinistes – used-book shops – that line the streets along the Seine River have been a neighborhood fixture since the city’s earliest days. Bouquinistes started when vendors first used wheelbarrows to transport and sell their goods. These hardy entrepreneurs eventually fastened trays with thin leather straps to the parapets of the bridges.
It seems that they’ve been here forever, at least since the mid-1500s (which is as far back as I can remember), when shops and stalls could be found on most of the bridges in Paris. In 1557, during the Wars of Religion (when most Parisians were staunchly Catholic), booksellers were labeled as thieves for selling forbidden Protestant pamphlets.
After the French Revolution in 1789, business boomed when entire libraries were seized from nobles or clergymen and landed on the banks of the Seine. In 1891, bouquinistes received permission to permanently attach their boxes to the quaysides. Today, the waiting list is eight years long to become one of Paris’ 250 bouquinistes.
Each bouquiniste is given four boxes, each six feet long, 14 inches high, and two-and-a-half feet deep. They pay rent only for the stone on which the boxes rest (less than $120 per year). The most coveted spots are awarded based on seniority. Owners pay the maintenance costs, including the required wagon paint, which is the same green color as old train cars. With little overhead, prices are usually cheaper than in most shops. While these days, tourists buy magnets and coasters more than vintage books, officially the city allows no more than one box of souvenirs for every three boxes of books.
Bouquinistes are required to be open at least four days a week. Wednesdays are best (when school is out), and warm, dry days are golden. (To protect the stock, every item is wrapped in protective plastic for rainy days). And yes, they do leave everything inside when they lock up at night; metal bars and padlocks keep books safe.
Another indispensable Parisian institution is the Tabac (tobacco shop). They’re convenient and much-appreciated, offering lots of services and an interesting insight into the local culture.
Just as the United States has liquor stores licensed to sell booze, the only place for people over 16 to buy tobacco legally in France is at a Tabac counter. Even non-smokers can enjoy perusing the wares. European laws require a bold warning sign on cigarettes – about half the size of the package – that says, bluntly, “Fumer tue” (smoking kills). Even so, you may not be able to resist the temptation to pick up a “petit Corona” – your chance to buy a fine Cuban cigar for 1 euro without breaking the law.
Tabacs sell postage stamps, public-transit tickets (for the same price you’d pay at Metro stations), parking passes, and lotto tickets (as popular in Paris as here).
While shopping at a classy Champs-Elysees boutique is more likely to impress your friends back home, visiting the bouquinistes and Tabacs will show you Paris as it has always been. Whether you’re buying a handful of Metro tickets at a Tabac or perusing book titles in dappled sunshine at a riverside bouquiniste, you’ll experience the city like a Parisian, and at its best.
Rick Steves of Edmonds (425-771-8303, www.ricksteves.com) is the author of 30 European travel guidebooks including “Europe Through the Back Door” (published by Avalon), and is the host of the public television series “Rick Steves’ Europe,” airing weeknights at 7 p.m. on KCTS.
This week’s schedule:
Monday: The French Riviera and Carcassone
Tuesday: Milan and Lake Como
Wednesday: Naples and the Amalfi coast
Thursday: Athens
Friday: Greece
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