For Bay Area lovers of antiques, second-hand bargains and vintage anything, there are some well-known weekend flea markets that provide good hunting grounds. But Marin County’s French Market offers a little je ne sais quoi with a dash of Paris — but stateside. The market, which operates the second Sunday of every month, features vendors who deal in quality furniture, second-hand home and garden items and beautiful vintage clothing, jewelry and collectibles.
But it also tries to live up to its name by replicating a uniquely French experience. Veteran antiques dealer Fern Loiacono of Mill Valley opened the French Market in 2011, inspired by her memorable visits in the 1980s and 1990s to the famous Saint-Ouen flea market outside Paris. While most Americans visiting the French capital might head to the Louvre or Eiffel Tower, Loiacono would ride the metro north to Le Marché aux Puces de Paris Saint-Ouen , as it is officially known.
There, she would wander the maze of lanes and alleys of the Marché du Biron or the Marche Vernaison, markets that are part of the larger complex. She could stop by any of the hundreds of boutiques, stalls and showrooms and browse everything from museum-quality, centuries-old furniture to second-hand books, objets d’art and vintage designer fashions. Loiacono was ostensibly on the hunt for turn of the 20th-century porcelain dolls from Paris and Germany that she collected and sold.
But the street vibe of the world’s largest antiques market ga.
