Nuts and Bolts, and WD-40

“For the want of a nail, a kingdom was lost.” This is one of my favoite quotes. So, where do you find things like WD-40 or duct tape in Paris?

“La bouffe” Food! That’s the only business that works in this town, complains a local quincaillerie owner. Quincaillerie is the word used very often for a hardware store which often carries housewares, pots and pans and even the occasional tea set. The other word associated with hardware is bricolage. This might be translated as puttering - and most French people do a lot of bricolage - because if you don’t, you’ll quickly go broke- especially in Paris! We used to have a great hardware store across the street in the Gaite shopping complex, but it was replaced by a Sports clothing and equipment store.

That’s why I was delighted to find Au Bazar Daguerre at 20 Rue Daguerre which sells WD40. Actually so does the huge supermarket Innos (part of Monoprix) on Avenue du Depart. Inno’s is currently being totally renovated to remove asbestos. The day we looked for WD40, the shelves were empty but normally they carry WD40 and very basic hardware store items such as this in the middle of the downstairs level.

After I had bought a can from Au Bazar for a little over 7 Euros (and Chris had found a can in Issy les Moulineaux for almost the same price) we found that Innos had restocked their WD40 at half the price.
This is why the ‘grand surface’ or big chain stores are killing small business in Paris. Like the owner of Au Bazar said, the only game in town is food.

If you live on the Right Bank you can always do your hardware store shopping at BHV (Bazar de Hotel de Ville) which also has a rep for being pricey. However, if you like the idea of going to an old fashioned quincaillerie and don’t mind spending twice as much for the convenience of stopping in to a small friendly shop, there are those few stalwart who remain.

“For the want of a nail, a kingdom was lost.” Who wrote it? Who said it? That’s the trivia question for astute Parislogue readers today.