New Shop - African Accessories and Cosmetics in the Metro

While venturing up to the neighborhood of Parc de la Villette to ride the new tram line T3b and to see the stations named after Ella Fitzgerald and Rosa Parks, I stumbled upon an interesting discovery.

New Shop is a boutique that has recently opened in the Porte de la Villette metro station (Line 7). Run by Samoura Adama, it features artisanal handbags, jewelry, interior decor items, and cosmetics from Senegal, Mali, Egypt, and India. Samoura hails from Mali.

Samoura Adama at New Shop
© Discover Paris!
Most of the handbags are made of 100% leather, while others are made from leather and bazin (waxed cloth). The home decor items are hand carved from calabash (bottle gourds). The bracelets are hand beaded or carved from ebony or carob wood.

Leather handbags and jewelry
© Discover Paris!

Calebash decorative items
© Discover Paris!

Beaded bracelets
© Discover Paris!
Some of the cosmetics are produced in France. But items such as shampoo and hair oil made from nigella (black cumin) seeds, granular preparations of aloe vera, and shea butter (beurre de karité) are imported.

Nigella seed cosmetics and Essential oils
© Discover Paris!
Somewhat incongruously, New Shop also provides a cell phone repair service. Detailed prices are listed on the wall near the cashier's counter.

Cell phone repair prices
© Discover Paris!
Samoura has plans to lend a helping hand to street merchants selling quality wares by featuring them in his shop from time to time. His prime location in the station will undoubtedly serve him and his guest vendors well. At the time I visited, he did not have a sign in the store window. But you cannot miss his sizable shop on the left side of the corridor once you enter the station from the tram stop at Porte de la Villette (Line T3b) near the intersection of boulevard McDonald and avenue Corentin Cariou.

New Shop
In the metro station Porte de la Villette (Line 7)
Sortie 2
Telephone: 09.80.64.56.95
Open every day from 10 AM until 8 PM

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