Vide Greniers De Printemps: Neighborhood Street Sale

Early in my ramblings in April I had picked up a leaflet advertising a neighborhood street sale in St. Germain, just north of us. From an experience Vicki had on Boulevard Voltaire in 2014, we knew what this was about: a day-long spring cleaning neighborhood street sale, well worth looking into. The one she shopped was just a couple blocks long. But the sale we saw Sunday stretched for 4 or 5 blocks of Boulevard Raspail and several side streets too, and took us a couple hours to cover. It was better than a flea market in that these "yard sales" are mostly families, not the pros, selling, and, although there is a great deal of junk, there are also some pretty interesting things, and probably some serious bargains as well. From an entertainment/amusement perspective, it was one of the better things we've done.

Because of the tax system in France, you can't just open a stand on the street and sell personal stuff. Everything is subject to the value-added tax and relevant documentation and payment of taxes. But neighborhoods can petition their local governments for exemptions, stipulating that they will prohibit the pros from participating. What we saw were mostly families, with maybe a few arguable exceptions. Neighborhood sales like this occur only in the spring and fall. We're already on the look-out for another one this month in our vicinity. What a hoot!

Oh, we did actually buy something, a small used electric space heater, for €4. The heating element doesn't work. How do you say caveat emptor in French? Acheteur mefiez-vous!

Looking south on Boulevard Raspail: a block away is the 1910 art
nouveau Hotel Lutetia, and facing it, across a small park, is the Bon
Marche; not a bad neighborhood by any means; average room rate
at the Lutetia, as I write, is €1,887 per night

Looking north

As we'd discover, you're apt to find most anything

Now on a side street

Most interesting floor lamp ever, so far

Still processing this one

Snails not included

Another side street scene

Serving dish for white asparagus (in season now)

All kinds of innovative display

The only vacant space we saw

Changing tent...we used to have one of those

Lots of kid stuff

Violin not included

Nice rhododendron already blooming...very tempting,
but we didn't think it would pass US Department of
Agriculture inspection

Satisfied customer

Very old canteen

"You want a toe? I can get you a toe..." [running
gag]

"Merry Christmas, Mao" it reads...definitely should have
bought this instead of the heater!