I am happy to announce the reopening of The Red Wheelbarrow Bookshop in front of the Luxembourg Gardens on rue de Medici.
The Red Wheelbarrow, formerly on the rue Saint Paul in the Marais, was a neighborhood institution filled with books in English. It was one of the handful of individually owned English bookshops in Paris, along with The Village Voice in Saint Germain. Unfortunately, both shops closed in recent years and they are sorely missed.
Penelope Fletcher, the owner of The Red Wheelbarrow, was My Parisian of the Month in 2008, and to this day, it was one of my most popular interviews.
I would run into Penelope on the street every so often after she closed the bookshop and she told me she was looking for a new location.
Luckily Penelope persevered and in September 2017, she signed le promesse de vente to take over the new shop but due to delays and the French bureaucracy, she didn’t take possession till July 2018.
I visited the shop last week and it looks great. It has floor to ceiling wood bookshelves with royal blue backgrounds and two antique wood tables piled with books are at the entrance.
Penelope told me she had 10 investors in the bookshop, many of them American, including a 93-year-old woman who had lived here for many years before moving back to the U.S. The shop is unfolding slowly, so Penelope apologized for the shelves not being full yet, but promised the shop will be fully stocked with books in the next few weeks.
I wish Penelope the best of luck and hope that this Red Wheelbarrow never closes.
Please, please support The Red Wheelbarrow and visit it frequently and buy a book or two or three…We NEED our bookshops.
The Red Wheelbarrow
11 rue de Medici, 75006
Metro: RER B Luxembourg station
The shop is open every day and the current tentative hours are 10AM-7PM, later on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
You can phone ahead at +33 (0) 1 42 01 81 47
I am so pleased to have Ann Mah as my guest this week at on A Bite of Paris. We went to Le Mistral, her favorite Paris bistro and had their signature dish, aligot, a rich, creamy mix of whipped potatoes and cheese from the Aveyron region.
Click here or link below to watch Ann and I enjoy aligote.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiRHIW7Oitw&t=4s
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Tours start at 225 euros for up to 3 people, and 75 euros for each additional person. I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you, my insiders, Paris.
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OH, I am thrilled. I loved this little bookstore and used to visit often on rue St. Paul! How do I get copies of my books in her shop???
Posted by: Linda Spalla | September 11, 2018 at 01:08 PM
I loved that bookshop! Will definitely visit again in November!
Posted by: Kate Beswick | September 11, 2018 at 01:53 PM
love this site
Posted by: elizabeth chenault | September 11, 2018 at 02:33 PM
See you there...!
Posted by: Tim Holm | September 11, 2018 at 11:03 PM
Happy, happy to hear and see this!
Posted by: Erzsi DEAK | September 13, 2018 at 09:37 PM