Passage du desir

＜English＞

Translated by faiyaque

Hello everyone, chief editor Yuki here.

Right now I would like to introduce a wonderful, little love shop I found in the Rue Marais area of Paris. First of all, even though this is known as the gay area, you’ll find tons of fashion shops and cafes for all people right next door to its gay and lesbian spots. In this sense, the atmosphere is a bit different from Shinjuku’s Nichome since you’ll find just as many non-queer as queer folk roaming the district. With a plethora of cute cafes and shops, this area is quite lively in the afternoon and makes a good place for taking a pleasant walk. Its cobblestone streets are absolutely charming and, more than anything, it’s filled with the feel of Paris. I recommend it to queer and non-queer folks alike.

So during my visit, I happened to discover an interesting shop selling queer-themed goods. The shop, Passage du desir, is about a 7 minute walk from the Hotel de Ville station on the subway Line 1 (yellow). It’s known for it’s popularity among gay folks in the area, but it also offers much for its straight clientele. In addition to sex toys, this attractive, easy-to-enter shop offers a lot in the way of general merchandise too. (In fact, I didn’t realize that it sold sex toys at first!)

※Stylish inside and out. The main store is targeted mainly for straight people, but the Rue Marais shop offers more for its predominantly gay clientele.

What inspired me to enter the shop was the placement of a rack of cards right by the front window, where one funky pop postcard showing two men in tuxedos with the line, “Best wishes to you both” caught my eye. As soon as I walked in there was an almost endless display of cards with twisted and witty and hilariously queer messages. I was ready to buy every, single one - but I did manage to limit myself to only a few...which I’ll share with you in my next post!

※Postcards and cards flaunting queer humor for our queer moments.

●Passage du desir
●Address: 23 rue S’Croix de la Bretonnerie 75004 Paris
●Open Mon-Sat: 12 :00 - 9 :00 pm; Open Sun: 2:00-8:00 pm
●www.passagedudesir