Montmartre has become chi-chi the last few years, with media types and tv/movie personalities choosing to have their “habitation principale” on the Butte. Thus has survived the bohemian spirit in Montmartre that you can imbibe on visiting the independent boutiques that have sprouted in the neighbourhood.
Barbara, a Montmartroise herself, presents photos of some of these independent boutiques now peppering the village that is Montmartre. These boutiques offer visitors more personal and alternative choices from what the Parisian Grands Magasins offer. Even if you don’t intend to purchase anything, it’s fun to window shop in these boutiques.
A guest post by Barbara Brink
I lived in the Abbesses area of the 18th arrondissement first in 1993-1997. Between 1997 and 2005, we lived near the Bastille, which was great too. But we always hankered to move back to the 18th, which eventually we had the opportunity to do in 2005. The story of our move to the quartier we love most, and the hair raising house renovation that went with it, can be seen here.
All this to say, I loved the Abbesses neighbourhood in 1993, and I still do now, despite the area having changed quite a bit in the past twenty years.
Some chain clothes shops like Petit Bateau and Le Comptoires des Cotonniers can now be found on rue des Abbesses, as well as other independent clothes boutiques. On the smaller roads north and south of rue des Abbesses numerous ateliers and show rooms where designers create and sell their clothes, have sprung up..
I could go on and on…and ON…there are so many of these places!
I also love the fact that there is a choice of shops where you can get hand-made lutes and ukuleles.
Not to mention shops selling obscure antique objects, clocks, furniture, traffic lights, stuffed animals and more.
Creativity is rife.
Barbara Brink is a Swiss Australian Brit living in Paris. She’s a qualified architect, specialised in building design for developing countries, currently working as a freelance graphic designer. Over the past year, she’s developed a taste (addiction) for taking photographs and hardly ever goes out without her camera. In this way, she’s been getting to know Paris, her home town for the past 18 years, more intimately by the day. You can follow her explorations around this beautiful city on her blog ‘Paris, a visual feast’. Her work website can be found here http://www.barbara-brink.com/.
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i’m really loving all the cool montmartre posts because it gives me a new look at my old neighborhood…and I’m discovering lots of stuff right in my backyard!
Great tips – I’m a Montmartoise too, it’s a little shocking the number of chain shops popping up along Abbesses but lots of treasures to be found on the side streets 🙂
Totally agree.
How wonderful that you are now back in Montmartre! I have only visited there, but can imagine how it would call you back if it was once your home.I love the photos of the shops — so much character and creativity in those places.