basement of BHV in Paris
 

I read this in an older post - what does it mean??? You apparently can get hardware there like drawer pulls. I'm dying to go there!

Hello,
BHV (formerly known as the Bazaar de l'Hôtel de Ville) is a department store located on Rue de Rivoli, opposite the Hôtel de Ville (hence the name). The basement level does indeed sell all sorts of hardware items - it's a bit of a rabbit warren though so give yourself enough time to find whatever you are looking for!

The basement is positively huge. There is all sorts of household hardware. Much we've never seen anywhere at home or online. We found a nifty brass hook that keeps our deck door part way open (adjustable), just like the one on the windows in an apartment where we stayed. They have things like a huge array of house numbers (brass, cast iron, patterned ceramic).

For drawer pulls, there's a floor above (can't remember which one) with a huge assortment of every type imaginable. A huge entire wall!

The BHV basement is one of my favorite places in Paris. Bricolage galore. It should be in the guide books! BHV also has a reasonably priced cafe. http://www.bhv.fr/

I love it, though you have to remember that hardware will be made for metric and local electrical connections, so don't go mad. The last time I was there I spent hours looking for the café in the basement because it was all done out like an old-fashioned workshop, and it took me several turns of the floor to spot it.

The upstairs departments can also be worth a visit for household and kitchenwares, especially at sale times. Once I found large plastic tablecloth protectors (too big to be placemats) with all sorts of colourful printed designs - for 1 Euro each.

One of the biggest draws to the BHV are the informal training sessions they give in the basement on things like "how to change a light switch" or plumbing issues. Lots of women come to these after losing patience with their husbands.

Hardware and fixtures fantatics might also be interested in visiting Castorama (2 locations inside Paris -- Place de Clichy and Nation) or Leroy Merlin (directly on the left hand side of the Pompidou Center). Both of these chains are like Home Depot or Lowe's.

That word was "fanatics".

There is also hardware on the third floor, more like curtain and decorating hardware, but last time I was there, they had molding kits to turn doors into paneled doors and stainless steel contact paper to make your appliances look like the latest thing!

The basement is like heaven for guys -- the male equivalent of shoe stores for women. You want it all. Huge selection of blue porcelain number plates, signs of all kinds, interesting hardware as described by another poster, tools (power tools not for North Americans) and so forth. I got a sign that shows a dog pooping with a cross bar over it (no dog poop)! Etc

Just don't go on a Staurday afternoon! We went to BHV on a Saturday in March....a normal Saturday afternoon, not near a holiday. It was busier than the busiest mall in Dallas on the Satuday before Christmas. If a person paused at all getting off the escaltor, it caused a terrible chain reaction. I have never seen such a crowded store.