BHV in Paris

I know some of you are familiar with

 the BHV department store (the link is in French; I searched for English but can’t find one…so take a look at the visuals anyway) in Paris…but to some of you this may be a new place. Let me explain. BHV is like no other.  It is a department store, but it is so much more; or rather, it has things that a similar store in the States just would not carry. It has a huge book department. It has an enormous paper and an office supply department: lots and lots of color here. It has an art department; same for a craft department.

It is centrally located and near the Metro (Hotel de Ville).  I walked there the other day. I thought I would be so smart and arrive when it opened, at 9:30, to avoid crowds. I was there for some serious shopping and looking! Well, big mistake. The sales people were organizing the stock, the floors were relatively empty, and thus they had time to look at me. Or rather, they had time to see that I was taking pictures!  “Ah, non, non madame, pas de photos dans le magasin”  i.e. no, lady, no pictures in the store!

That happened in the kitchen/home accessories department, so I went up another […]