In July, we made a post on Market City where some wholesale markets became the size of cities. Well, here is a feature from David Lebovitz on Rungis, the Parisian version of these markets.
[photo by David Lebovitz]
After almost 2 months of eating [and “researching”] our way through Rome and Paris, we admit defeat.
Before:
After:
Roving markets in Paris usually stand on their own [on medians, plazas or under metro tracks], but in case of the ones situated on the sidewalk, we’re noticing interaction with facing storefronts. The extent varies, but at Point du Jour Market in the 16th arrondissemont, the market-side and the storefront sides of the market begin to merge into one.
Formal stall structures line only one side of the sidewalk while rogue vendors fill in the gaps in between stores on the other side.
Soon, we begin to read the informal market umbrellas as an extension of store awnings.
Stores also begin to set up their goods outside to take advantage of market day.
Finally, add the market goers and the two sides are woven together as one large market.
An earlier post mentioned discovering a new typology of markets. Well, they are actually more common closer to the periphery of Paris. Here are two more sightings from yesterday.
Porte Brunet Market | 19th arrondissemont
Belgrand Market | 20th arrondissemont
We discovered a new typology of markets in the last couple of days: a split market. In order to get from one side to another, the visitors had to cross one or more streets [or church in the case of Jeanne d’Arc Market]. However, since the vendor offerings on each side were similar, the consumers don’t have to visit both sides of the market [unless they are enthusiastic market-goers like us].
Jeanne d’Arc Market | 13th arrondissemont
Saint Charles Market | 15th arrondissemont
Some consumers do cross from one side to the other and they tend to do it through one of the gaps in the market stalls.
The range of market fullness has been an intriguing quality in the markets we’ve visited. Most are evenly distributed vendors that are sparse, full, or overflowing with rogue vendors. However, there are some with a gradient quality; one end bustling with people/vendors while it gradually diminishes until all that are left are skeletal stalls on the other. All of these differences are probably dependent on market location, time of day or day of the week [or even month of the year since Parisians are already beginning to go on Summer vacation].
Here are a few of the evenly distributed markets starting from the most sparse [skeletal] to the most packed [cattle herding style].
Salpétrière market in the 13th arrondissemont, Tuesday and Friday mornings
Maubert market in the 5th arrondissement, Tuesday+Thursday+Saturday mornings
Belleville market in the 11th arrondissemont, Tuesday and Friday mornings
Barbès Market in the 18th arrondissemont, Wednesday and Saturday mornings
Here are some markets with the gradient fullness. Is variation caused by their proximity to transportation hubs? Or immediate surroundings?
Auguste Blanqui market in the 13th arrondissemont, Tuesday+Friday+Saturday mornings
The activity level went from this near Place d’Italie…
Port Royal market in the 5th arrondissemont, Tuesday+Thursday+Saturday mornings
West end_closer to the Port Royal RER station…
As a follow up to my previous post, the Batignolles organic market in the 17th arrondissemont was another one of 3 roving organic markets in Paris. Most of these vendors were the same as the ones at the Raspail organic market, but it was interesting to see how the vendors changed or adapted to the given physical situation. There was more space available so the vendors were more bold with their displays.
Some displays spanned across parts of back-to-back rows of canopy to create something like this:
Others extended into the street with their own equipment…
…and created spaces like this one:
Some even turned their stands 90 degrees from the canopy orientation to form horseshoe ends.
The result was a market that’s more interesting and conducive to wandering [the selection also contributed to this aspect]. The paths created here were the closest I’ve seen to a web or network.
Leave it to the organic market vendors to break out of the Parisian market system. Instead of following the linear orientation of the overhead canopy [which they still used], they re-arranged their display set-ups to create more intimate spaces that allowed visitors to weave in and out of the “stands.”
At the Raspail Organic Market, the vendors spilled out onto the street with their own stall equipment…
…and redirected the flow of people to bring them into the vendor’s own space [notice the thin bollards indicating the edge of the median]:
Stay tuned for Batignolles Organic Market…
With Paris’ obsession for constantly cleaning the streets, I was not entirely surprised to see designated trash collection areas at a couple of markets [some with a cleaning crew present during market hours!]
Barbès Market
Joinville Market
Unfortunately, Monge Market didn’t have the same facility, but people improvised.
However, we all know that by the end of the day, the cleaning crew would be there after each market to turn this [Maubert Market]:
into this:
Most market sites fall into categories such as the sidewalk, the median, or the plaza. Barbès, however, stands out for its unique location of being underneath the metro tracks. It is a linear market on a median, much like Belleville’s, and is anchored by the Barbès-Rochechouarte [elevated] Metro stop. This high energy market is bustling with sounds, foods, wares, clothing and people.
There is one primary path in the center of the market and is understood to be one-way eastward [although this might just be because it was so crowded]. It seems that those of us who wish to turn back would have to find the next opening in the line of stalls to move outward and then track back around [not an easy task when it’s so full]. Shoppers who are done tend to traverse through the entire market before crossing the street to loop back to the Metro.
There are, of course, rogue vendors [typically not food/produce] and are mostly situated on the ends of the market.
They begin to use areas between the wall of trucks and the standardized stalls, thus, filling in any underutilized spaces. In addition to the trees that line the edges, the umbrellas also act as an extension outward, linking the canopies to the trucks, implying an enclosure almost like that of a covered market.
some emergent markets 