Paris from fresh perspectives: SMALL BUSINESSES THAT COMMUNARDS WOULD HAVE APPROVED

STREETS THAT BARRICADES ONCE COVERED NOW HARBOR SMALL, PERSONAL BUSINESSES THAT ARE ROOTED IN THE NEIGBHORHOOD, OR THAT HAVE BEEN RECENTLY INTRODUCED AND FLOURISH

Adapted from a Google map

In making this page, I realized that most of the merchants I had chosen were immigrants or of immigrant origin. When I asked them why that was, they said:

Foreigners might be less likely to be promoted when working for an employer.

Diplomas from outside the European Union are not accepted in France.

Coming to a new culture already takes initiative, and rarely having family, contacts, or funds to fall back on motivates making one's own way.

Being ready to spend the 12-14 hours a day that running a business easily entails.

* A Cameroonian in another neighborhood sleeps in her shop when she has orders to fill: please click and scroll all the way down.

For offspring of immigrants, the entourage brings a familiarity that encourages following the path it has carved out.

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Chosen shops steps from the church where the Communards' fought their last stand, and on some of the streets where they fled (for a map, please click).

A stationery store where merchandise lines two narrow corridors, and is the only place in the area from which you can send a fax or buy the New York Times (since 2005).

Bureau Vallée

10 rue Jeanne d'Arc

Fanny and Robert Ho, of Chinese origin

Across the street : hard-to-find Asian products (since 2002).

Boutique Bio et Bien-être

19 place Jeanne d'Arc

Left to right: Aline Ly (from Laos: knows Asian medicine and has brought the Asian products); Sophie Dmitreff, owner, whose grandmother came from Russia in 1924; Barbara Raab, whose parents came from Austria and Czechoslovakia.

I had never heard of date syrup or birch tree sugar.

Down the fleeing Communards' path (on rues Nationale and Château des Rentiers):

A pharmacy: A neighbor told me when I moved here how pleasant it was, which turned out to be true.

Pharmacie Nationale

128 rue Nationale

« Merci, Catherine! » said this client. The pharmacist is one of two Asian employees.

Valerie Marquies (of Moroccan and Spanish origin) writes out instructions on how to use the blood pressure monitor on the counter. That would not happen in New York, where the vendor would know nothing about it.

Contrast: New York's Union Square neighborhood

is as peripheral as the 13th,

and one might expect a comparable hometown ambiance.

But pharmacies there belong to a chain, most of the very young employees are uninformed about what they sell and clients are anonymous.

Here, professionals inform clients whom they usually know.

Around the corner: Monsieur Daniel, electrician, may charge nothing for small repairs. The huge photo of the Conciergerie that takes up a half his workshop is not there for cash, but because he likes it (since 2005).

A.D.K. Paris

108 rue Nationale

Back to rue Nationale: couture and alterations (since 2000)

Marcel Bayo Lukombo

Bayocreamode

Corner of rue Nationale (officially 12 rue Dr Victor Huntinel)

Tailors who works with leather are rare, but Monsieur Lukumbo repaired my vest.

Flight

On a parallel street, a Chinese restaurant (since 1982)

La Mer de Chine
159 avenue rue du Château des Rentiers

"It's time for the next generation," said Simon, who replaced his older brother in 2021.

One would not think an Asian restaurant would maintain itself on the French side of the artery that divides the French and Asian neighborhoods. Many residents are elderly and at night there is almost no traffic (I stood in front of the restaurant when taking this photo).

The durability must come from the recommendation of the Michelin guide.

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Turn around and retrace your steps to "Main Street" (rue de Tolbiac, which separates the French and Asian neighborhoods).

Hamid Amin foresees web sales and chain stores forcing him to sell the hardware store that his mother, from Réunion, founded (in 1986).

But now...

Burhanie decor shop

70 rue Tolbiac

Monsieur Amid with "Momo" (Mohammed), who chauffeurs handicapped children and does odd jobs:

Momo doing work for me: Monsieur Amin recommended him as a friend, not for a commission.

One evening as Monsieur Amid wrapped a parcel for the man behind the counter, I overheard this conversation...

"Demonstrations will come if the government changes the retirement age, covid is always present and in any case we'll all die someday, we do not know how or when but we do know it will happen."

These somber topics were mentioned with as much good humor as at a café bar: In contrast to the void of chains or stores that are simply banal, not to mention the web, conviviality continues here.

Ten minutes' up that street, A French-Chinese beauty salon for whose excellent services one must often reserve a week in advance (since 2020).

Makina Beauté Paris

118 rue de Tolbiac

It had been a place for money transfers to Asia, often in cash from the neighboring restaurants. When an inspector asked to see the receipts, the owner left. Yue and Guillaume Guillet bought the site: "We worked in an office... ."