PALAIS-ROYAL NOW

MENU: 2.1.6. Palais-Royal now

 

A BRAND OCCUPIES FIVE ARCADES AND THE IDEA OF LUXURY ITSELF HAD CHANGED   

Until about 2000 "luxury" meant articles that were unique or produced in very small series, of perfect quality. Now it means wares bought for their brand.  

Stella McCartney

 114-120 galerie de Valois

The next pages are unabashedly nostalgic.

   Adapted from Mappy

Echos

• Remembrance of things past

• Evolution

• The ambiance of a Balzac novel

• A sumptuous covered passage remains

• The walk ends in a salon

• A restaurant whose elegance prolongs the mood

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Remembrance of things past

REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS PAST

STARTING WITH A SHOP THAT HAS CLOSED HELPS APPRECIATE THE UNIQUE SHOPS THAT REMAIN

It is also a contrast with the standardized commerce that has largely replaced them.

La Galerie d'argent 

42 galerie Montpensier

"Men who value engravings appreciate my vests," said the owner

 of a shop that perfectly fit the 18th-century setting until 2024. 

 Danou Jacquard, descendent of the founder of Jaquard looms and art historian, created the shop that perfectly represented classic France.

The space is now an office.

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Evolution

EVOLUTION

BRANDS' MARKUPS ALLOW HUGE RENTS, WHICH RAISE ALL RENTS: WHEN OWNERS OF TRADITIONAL SHOPS RETIRE, 

MERCHANTS OF COMPARABLE SPIRIT LACK THE MEANS TO REPLACE THEM

Take what used to be a historic café, where furious debates took place during the Revolution and Napoleon became a client. Until 2016 it remained a restaurant, where life- sized engravings of Louis-Philippe's family* lined the walls. 

*The head of the Bourbon junior branch and France's last king (1830-1848). Its connection with the site is explained here.

Zoom

The gardens are reflected in the window.

These engravings are much less impressive, but give the idea:  

 

Engravings sold on the web 

A brand now occupies the site. Its only connection with the luxury of the past is its cost.

Their cost in 2019; the list is no longer posted, but prices appear on the web.

Gardens that once boomed with commercial energy and revolutionary zeal are now by nightfall silent.

 

A few shops

that propose luxuries worth their cost remain. 

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The ambiance of a Balzac novel

THE AMBIANCE OF A BALZAC NOVEL

MEDALS AND SABERS SET THE TONE UNDER THE GARDENS' ARCADES 

(GALÉRIE MONTPENSIER IS ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE GARDENS IF YOU COME FROM THE LOUVRE)

La Galerie numismatique

 N°s 4-5 Galerie Montpensier

Next door, an establishment present since 1790 

Baqueville

Since 1790

N°s 6-7-8

Farther on... 

La Maison de l'Ambre

 N° 15 


Didier Ludot

 N°s 20-24

Vintage, since 1974

A few steps on is a gallery of primal arts that from 1993 to 2024 showed works of museum quality...

Gallery photo

   Galérie Ivana Dmitrie

      N° 36 

...then turned to mechanical toys of the early 20th century.

Ivana Dimitrie

 

On the other side of the garden (galerie Valois) are handbags, belts and shoes made by hand in France.

   

Not seeing its name ("Delage") among the Palais-Royal boutiques mentioned on the web, I thought it was gone. But before suppressing the photos, I passed by to see what had replaced it.  

"We're the same! With a workshop and seven craftspeople in Brittany!" said the cheerful owners who greeted me:

          François Croze and Jean-François Célaerio

Délage, now Bégum 

N° 15 

Expensive as one would expect hand-made shoes to be, they are much less so than the brand-name wares shown above (whose prices have risen since I took the picture in 2019).

More good news: a boutique that appeared in 2023

Monies 

N° 149 

  

                       Web site

                                                             

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Leave the gardens by their farther end...

Adapted from Mappy

 Stroll toward the royal statue...

Place des Victoires

And look carefully to come upon

another (almost) preserved oasis.

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A sumptuous "covered passage" remains

A SUMPTUOUS COVERED PASSAGE REMAINS

GALERIE VIVIENNE IS SO DISCREET THAT PASSERS-BY OFTEN MISS IT

4, rue des Petits-Champs

Though banality has invaded here too, some shops express the former excellence:  

Lucien Legrand
At the entrance

Founded in 1880

Japanese ownership since 2013, but the wines are the same.

Wolff et Descourtis

N° 18

The next page says more.

Catherine André
N° 26 

Alexis Mabille

 N° 34

Yukii Tori
 N° 38-40

At the end, a bookstore founded in 1826:

Librairie Jousseaume 

N° 45

François Jousseaume, the founder's descendant

A spirit for which 

we feel nostalgia. 

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Next,

The walk ends in a salon