The Saint-Ouen flea market covers a large area. It is said to be the largest flea market in Europe and even in the world. It has more than 500 shops and more than 2,500 stalls, with a total area of more than 30,000 square meters.
After getting off the bus, Yang Jing discovered that this market, which is known as the largest flea market in the world, does not look like a market on the surface, but more like residential areas. Looking around, there are basically two- or three-story buildings.
In fact, the Saint-Ouen flea market is a general term. This market is composed of more than a dozen markets, such as the Markli market, which mainly sells second-hand clothing, accessories, and ethnic products; the Cambo market mainly sells paintings, furniture, and works of art; the Byron market mainly sells antiques and works of art; the Jules Bayes market mainly sells bric-a-brac, furniture, and printed products; the Paul Robert market mainly sells antiques and high-quality bric-a-brac; and the Sebet market mainly sells Art Nouveau, antiques, and paintings from the late 19th century.
These small markets that together make up the Saint-Ouen flea market, each market mainly sells different commodities, which will form a brand concentration effect, attracting more merchants to join in, making the commodity variety of the Saint-Ouen market more abundant, which in turn will attract more tourists here. Gradually, this place has become the leading flea market in Paris and even in the whole of Europe.
In fact, the Saint-Ouen flea market has long been recognized as the "ancestor" of flea markets in Paris. There are dozens of flea markets of all sizes in the Greater Paris area, but when it comes to flea markets in Paris, the first thing that tourists think of is the Saint-Ouen flea market.
The reason for this situation is that the Saint-Ouen flea market is indeed very large, and secondly, this market does have a very long history.
It is said that as early as the beginning of the 19th century, some poor people living outside the walls of Saint-Ouen often sold second-hand goods, and gradually formed a certain scale. However, since most of the sellers here were poor people who could not even get enough food, there were many fleas in this market, and the name "flea market" spread from then on, and eventually the second-hand goods trading markets in the entire Western world and even in many places in China were given the name "flea market".
Later, the city wall of Saint-Ouen was demolished, but the market still existed, so many antique dealers and second-hand goods dealers came here to buy items wholesale, making this flea market more and more famous.
As the Paris municipal government began to plan and manage the market in a unified manner, the market gradually grew to its current size.
There are really a lot of people who come to this market every day to shop, have fun and have fun. At least when Yang Jing got off the car, he saw many people coming in and out here, especially the few black people not far away who had sharp eyes and looked not good people. This made Yang Jing subconsciously hold the backpack hanging on his chest tightly.
To use the words of the taxi driver just now, there are more thieves in the Saint-Ouen flea market than in the Place de la Concorde. It can be said to be a den of thieves in the entire Greater Paris area.
Being very careful and alert to those idle guys who were looking around with their stealthy eyes, Yang Jing followed the crowd into the market.
The area of Saint-Ouen that Yang Jing entered happened to be the Kambo Market, which mainly sells paintings, furniture and works of art. The shops here are generally large, and they display a variety of second-hand furniture and even antique furniture. Of course, Yang Jing even saw several small galleries.
Yang Jing had no intention of visiting the area that mainly dealt in these commodities. Whether it was furniture or paintings, it was really hard to find a bargain. The shop owner had been running the business here for who knows how many years, and the things in the shop had been fiddled with countless times. If there was any secret, he would have discovered it long ago. Therefore, it was really rare to find a bargain on such a large item.
Besides, Yang Jing came here mainly to pick up bargains. He wouldn’t be interested in wandering around if there were no bargains to pick up, not to mention that there are still many thieves here.
Quickening his pace, Yang Jing quickly walked out of the Kambo Market and came to the adjacent Paul Robert Market.
Paul Robert Market mainly deals in antiques and high-quality bric-a-brac. Compared to the Kambo Market we just passed, this place doesn’t look like a flea market at all, but more like an authentic antique and cultural relics market.
Most of the shops in the Paul Robert Market are small buildings with two or three floors. Although the area is not as large as those shops with furniture, the decoration is more exquisite, and the number of people walking around in this market is obviously less. Even those thieves who don't look like good people seem to be much less here.
Perhaps the things sold in this market are of relatively high value, so the security conditions are relatively better. Yang Jing even saw two policemen on duty at a small intersection.
Yes, most of the items sold here are worth tens of thousands of Euros. If something goes wrong here, it will probably have a huge impact on the entire market.
The Paul Robert Market is not as noisy as the Kambo Market just now. It is much quieter here. Many people who are sightseeing or shopping on Taobao don’t talk loudly, which shows that they are of high quality.
This situation made Yang Jing somewhat relaxed. His arms, which had been folded across his chest, also relaxed, and he dared to sway his head left and right as he followed his gaze.
I walked into a few shops at random and walked out quickly.
Paul Robert Market is indeed a market that mainly deals in antiques and cultural relics. If you walk into any shop here, you will find that the prices of the goods are in the tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of Euros. Yang Jing thought to himself that he could not buy anything good in such a shop with the little money in his pocket.
However, he still had to go shopping. Yang Jing walked and stopped, and soon his attention was attracted by a shop full of clocks.
I walked into the shop and was convinced that this shop was indeed a shop that mainly sold various second-hand watches.
As soon as he entered the shop, Yang Jing was dazzled by the various clocks.
Yang Jing dared to swear that he had never seen so many clocks in the same place since he was a child.
Mechanical floor clocks, mechanical wall clocks, electronic clocks, pocket watches, men's watches, women's watches... Yang Jing couldn't even estimate how many clocks there were in this not-so-big shop.
The clocks here are hung and placed very densely. Yang Jing even maliciously guessed that the owner of this shop placed the clocks like this to deliberately scare people with trypophobia...
PS: I would like to thank "冰冷八度" and "灯火见家人" for their tips of 100 each.
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