When arriving at Europe's largest Metro station
ChateletlesHalles.com/sortie1
just follow the signs "Sortie 1 Marguerite de Navarre"






- RER A St Germain en Laye to Disneyland
- RER B Airport Roissy CDG (30 min - always take a direct train) via Orly (30 min) and Gare du Nord (4 min) to Saint Remy
- RER D Creil to Melun

- Metro 1 automatic Defense to Vincennes via Champs Elysees (15 min)
- Metro 4 soon automatic Clignacourt to Montrouge - via Gare de l'Est (15 min) Gare Montparnasse (19 min)
- Metro 7 Courneuve to Ivry
- Metro 11 Châtelet to Lilas
- Metro 14 automatic - Olympiades to Saint Ouen via Gare de Lyon (8 min) Gare Saint Lazare (9 min).


The subway exit Chatalet les Halles / sortie 1 faces the Cremeries de Paris,
N°1, N°2, N°6 , N°9 Pop Up Stores and N°3, N°4, N°7, N°8 Pop Up Cafes
It is only 200 m from the Samaritaine


on the way to Samaritaine
rest a moment in front of Cremerie de Paris N°1 and have a view into our magic courtyard
seven centuries of history are right there:

it's where the Villeroys, State advisers lived
it's where Marguerite de Navarre and all the Bourbons, Kings of France came to visit,

it's where Louis XIV spend parts of his childhood,
it's where a lost David by Micheangelo was located,
it's where Louis Leon Pajot organised the Royal French Postal services,
it's where Marie Antoinette came for cocktail parties
it's where Vincent van Gogh had a friend to help him sell the Red Vineyard

it's where all the Romanov children wanted to come
it's where Coco Chanel and Dmitri Romanov invented N°5
it's where Aimee de Heeren and Patrick J Kennedy Jr fell in Love
it's where Lady Diana came to discover the latest Sony products

it's where we opened the first internet cafe in Paris running into many US Tech Pioneers
it's where the Pokemon had their first store in Europe
it's where Amazon, Microsoft, Nike and the most famous brands have their Pop Ups

it's the home of VB.com,
since 1370

a little bit of history


1370 The Villeroy family, merchands at the Les Halles foodmarket settle at the Hotel de Villeroy
1530s Marguerite de Navarre comes to visit for litterature Meetings
1594 Sep 30 Nicolas IV de Villeroy becomes a minister for Henri IV, 1st Bourbon King of France
1646 grandson Nicolas V de Villeroy becomes the teacher of Louis XIV, 3rd Bourbon King of France



1853 A 27 years old fashionista interfers with the renovation project.
Eugenie de Montijo wants to make Les Halles become the World's most beautiful food market.


1854 - 1870 Renovation of the old les Halles foodmarket by Victor Baltard under the direction of Empress Eugenie
1869 Opening of Samaritaine and several Cremeries along rue des Halles
1870 Empress Eugenie has to leave France, she transmits her Love for the Cremeries to children,
one of them is the mother of Anastasia Romanov and a great great aunt of Ben Solms, Cremerie de Paris of today.


1910s The Romanov children and their cousins love the fairytales about Cremerie de Paris and young Louis XIV.
All the children want to come to Paris to see the Cremeries and the beautiful food market.
1918 Most Romanov children are killed, but the legends about Cremerie de Paris survive with three of them,
Dmitri Romanov, Carl and Friederike Solms.


1921 Dmitri Romanov escapes from Russia and shows Cremerie de Paris to Coco Chanel.
Chanel falls in Love with both Romanov and Cremerie de Paris.
What remains from their story is N°5 and a little jewel saved from Russia.

1938 Coco Chanel shows Cremerie de Paris to Aimee de Heeren, Brazilian secret service agent.
1939 Aimee de Heeren shows Cremerie de Paris to Joseph Patrick Kennedy Jr.
1960s When Coco Chanel cannot sleep she returns, sometimes in the company of Aimee de Heeren.


End of a Story
1969 Mars 2 The Halles Centrales foodmarket leaves for Rungis.
1970 Dec 21 Coco Chanel leaves a little jewel to Aimée de Heeren while returning to the Cremerie staircase.
1971 Jan 10 Coco Chanel dies at the Ritz.
1971 Aug Demolishion of the beautiful Pavillons Baltard.
1971 - 1998 One by one the Cremeries close.
1979 Sep 4 Opening of the first Forum Les Halles.

Return of a Story


1970 Carl Solms tells young Ben Solms the legends of Cremerie de Paris.
1985 Jacques Chirac names a square in honor of Marguerite de Navarre.


1986 Aimee de Heeren runs into a young student, he also knows the Russian fairytale stories about Cremerie de Paris.
1987 Reopening of Cremerie de Paris N°2 as a small Sony Phone Boutique.
1993 Reopening of Cremerie de Paris N°1 thanks to the Sony phones and the little jewel left by Coco Chanel.

1995 Cremerie de Paris N°1 becomes the first Internet Cafe in Paris.
meeting with fascinating American Internet Pioneers results in the 2 Letter Domain VB.com
and the invention of the Phone Book of the World.com
2000 Princess Soraya of Iran and the same Aimee de Heeren come for Internet Lessons.
2005 Feb 15 and June 15 Closing of the Cybercafe, Closing of Samaritaine


interview in French by Emanuel Duprat (Adraqh)
with help of Nicolas Martin-Lalande

Return of a Story
2011 Cremerie de Paris N°1 converts into a Pop Up Store Location
2012 May Reopening of Cremerie de Paris N°2
2013 May Reopening of Cremerie de Paris N°3 (Gladines)
2016 April Reopening of Cremerie de Paris N°6, N°7, N°8
2017 May 5 5am Opening of Marguerite de Navarre as if Coco Chanel had choosen the date
2019 April Reopening of Cremerie de Paris N°9


2020 September Reopening of Samaritaine

2020 September Reopening of Bourse de Commerce