hardware stores & art supplies ..

or the equivalent . What%26#39;s the best one? (or ones) our favorite thing is to go to the everyday type stores and shops.

Locals, can you name some of your favorites? art supplies, hardware, housewares etc..?

Thanks!

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There is a wonderful place called %26quot;La Quincaillerie%26quot; on the eastern side of the Blvd. St. Germain (almost to the end)...it has more knobs and pulls than you can imagine. We got all new knobs for the kitchen here. Fun to browse through.

les

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BHV (next to the Hotel de Ville) has a huge art supply department AND an entire floor dedicated to Bricolage (Tools and hardware). If you live in central Paris, you go to BHV for hardware.

There%26#39;s also a hardware chain called Leroy Merlin in Paris with a store next to the Pompidou Center (north end of the plaza) that is worth checking out. It has a larger bricolage selection but no art supplies.

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%26gt;%26gt;%26gt;hardware stores %26amp; art supplies ..What%26#39;s the best one? (or ones) our favorite thing is to go to the everyday type stores and shops. Locals, can you name some of your favorites? art supplies, hardware, housewares etc..?%26lt;%26lt;%26lt;

For artist%26#39;s supplies %26#39;the%26#39; Paris %26#39;..institution..%26#39; (stand where Cezanne, Picasso, Gaugin, etc. bought their paints and brushes) is SENNELIER%26#39;S--3 quai Voltaire, 75007 (%26amp; 4Bis r Grande Chaumière 75006), Metro: Pont Neuf, Saint Germain des Prés--

http://www.magasinsennelier.com/

Le BON MARCHÉ %26#39;grand magazin%26#39;--24 rue de Sèvre, 75007, Metro: Sèvre-Babylone--

http://www.lebonmarche.fr/

They%26#39;ve a first-rate %26#39;Beaux Arts%26#39; department down in the basement

As has already been mentioned, BVH--52 rue de Rivoli, 75001, Metro: Hotel de Ville--

http://www.bhv.fr/%26#39;

has a decent selection of art supplies

There is also a small chain of stores named GRAPHIGRO--55 rue St. Placide 75006, Metro: Saint-Placide; 157 rue Lecourbe 75015, Metro: Vaugirard, ; 207 Blvd Voltaire 75011, Metro: Rue des Boulets, 120Bis r Damrémont 75018, Metro: Jules Joffrin %26amp; Porte de Clignancourt. These shops have a broad selection of art and artist%26#39;s supplies %26amp; equipment

And this listing of art %26amp; artist%26#39;s supplies and equipment shops...with direct www links to several listed stores to check product lines available--

…free.fr/annuaire/magasins1.php

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We were renting an apartment and broke the shower rod. No problem -- we just hied to BHV (right behind Hotel De Ville) and found the same exact rod.

It%26#39;s not swank like Bom Marche, but if you want to see Parisians shopping for their everyday needs, go to BHV on a Saturday.

It%26#39;s the kind of all-inclusive department store (high-end furnishings AND insect repellant) that we seem to no longer have in the States.

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Thank you! I%26#39;m cutting and pasting all your answers into my paris folder.

Only 4 weeks now! Can hardly wait!

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Nobody%26#39;s mentioned Castorama. It%26#39;s a hardware/home supply store along the lines of a small Home Depot (except the clerks actually know about the products on the shelves). There are several in the city, and we use to one near Place de Clichy.

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At least in terms or art and artist%26#39;s supplies and equipment, it%26#39;s worth noting that we live in a %26#39;global ecomony%26#39; and the overwhelming majority of products and equipment available in shops there, may be purchased in the US as well (usually without much difference in cost).

But having said that, there are certain %26#39;intangibles%26#39; to purchasing some items there. As an examples, sitting down with a sketch pad and set of good drawing pencils or picking up a brush at your easel, purchased at that, %26#39;...great little shop in Paris..%26#39; may not make the sketch or the painting any better...but they may evoke fond memories.

On our first visit to Paris, my wife bought a few cedar pencils in the gift shop, with Musée Picasso emblazoned on them....ordinary tourist %26#39;..trinkets %26amp; trash..%26#39;. Though %26#39;ordinary%26#39;, these are the pencils she reaches for when she%26#39;s rough sketching. They were grossly over-priced and other than being very good quality, nothing really extraordinary.... but they are %26#39;..special..%26#39; (the last time we were in Paris, I had to get a girl to go back into the stockroom to bring out a larger supply than was in the jar by the cash register) For years she used an assortment of ordinary %26#39;..lab coats..%26#39; in the studio....now well-worn, linen smocks--purchased down in the Beaux Arts department at Le Bon Marché--hangs on the hooks. Will either of these things cause her to draw like Picasso or paint like Cezanne?...probably not...but then art is 90% %26#39;..inspiration..%26#39; ...so ya%26#39; never know......

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For Art supplies, go to Graphigro. There are several stores in Paris.