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"Les Abeilles" bee boutique first opened in February 1993. Since then, its name has spread far and wide. This is as much due to its high quality, natural, cottage-industry products as to a real desire to share beekeeping knowledge with visiting customers. Its founder, Jean-Jacques Schakmundès is an old hand at beekeeping. His apiary is made up of thirty hives spread throughout the Paris region. The little boutique set in a working-class area of the 13th arrondissement in Paris has gained full media attention, from daily papers to periodicals, tourist and gastronomic guides, radio and television.
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The idea of an apiary in the center of a city is not a new one. During the second half of the 19th century, the promise of the new industrial era brought huge numbers of country folk to Paris and some of their country ways were continued in town. Among them, the old-style country economy based on auto-sufficiency, with its traditional food sources: poultry, kitchen garden, milk and cheese and...apiaries, survived the move to urban areas. In fact, these methods had been part of the scene for years in the countryside immediately around Paris, as well as in convents and hospitals within the city limits. |
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The hives in the 13th arrondissement are located in Kellermann Park, near the Poterne des Peupliers, practically alongside the Bièvre, at the foot of the Butte-aux-Cailles. For the information of beekeepers in Paris and surrounding areas, "Les Abeilles" boutique also carries everything you could possibly need for your craft, and staff are always ready to extend a warm welcome or advise you on your purchases. |
By Marcel Roland, Abeilles & Fleurs editor
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 Contact:Jean-Jacques
Schakmundés Tel.: +33 (0)1.45.81.43.48 |
New bee boutique opens in Paris
Jean-Jacques Schokmundès' bee boutique, "Les Abeilles", recently opened in the heart of Paris. Jean-Jacques is to say the least a man with an unusual background. He now has numerous strings to his bow: translator, beekeeper, baker, confectioner, manufacturer of wax polishes and salesman. He is always striving to come up with the widest selection of honey, the tastiest "homemade" sweets and the most natural products for his growing number of customers.
At 59 years of age, with his 30 hives and as many years experience, Jean Jacques Schokmundès, the former hobby beekeeper who learned his craft by attending beekeeping classes in the Jardin de Luxembourg, has quietly gone about cultivating his passion for bees. "My interest in beekeeping started ten years ago. I didn't own any hives at first. I was waiting to buy my own land... then one day, I realized that hives could be kept on other people's land!" he explained, not without a touch of irony at the memory of the naive novice of those early beekeeping days. He was initiated to the art of beekeeping by his master, Jean Piessard, and although Jean-Jacques remained a hobbyist, only collecting honey for himself and his friends, he was constantly learning about his craft. Just as most beekeepers do.
He kept things going at home through his work as an English-French translator for publishers and organizations such as the WHO, FAO etc. "Naturally, these activities will have to slow down because running a business is very time consuming". However, they are still compatible with his new trade, and are essential, for if fortune smiles on those who dare, Paris wasn't built in a day; in other words, "it takes time to become known. I opened in March, the month when honey consumption drops, but my business estimates are running true to form and the results are very encouraging. Of course, things are still too tight to really make a living, but the future looks promising, especially as we are now coming into the high honey season." Jean-Jacques rents a shop in what he calls a true village-district, on the Butte-aux-Cailles, a small hill in Paris not far from its big sister, the Butte Montmartre. In the beginning customers only came from the neighborhood, but they are now coming from further afield. "A specialist shop like mine, can't make a living from just one neighborhood".
The search is on for apple and cherry blossom honey
On opening, he expected a heavy demand for acacia honey. His mistake! People want unusual products; things they can't find on the shelves at the local supermarket. For this, Paris yet again proves its status as an international city where everything is available: honey types as varied as rhododendron, buckthorn, coffee flower, raspberry, holly, mint, mimosa, mangrove, buckwheat, magnolia, tupelo (Florida), goldenrod... but also honey from Cévennes, Swedish forests, the garrigue, mountains, fields, and spring flowers...the list contains at least fifty varieties, bought from wholesalers or small beekeepers. "I'd like to find both apple and cherry blossom honey". The word is out...
His own honey is also on sale. Honey gathered from the traditional flora of the Val de Marne: a mixed flower honey which nevertheless contains a lot of acacia and linden blossom and therefore remains runny for a long time. Other hive products, pollen, royal jelly and propolis, as well as cosmetics manufactured in Avignon complete the range. As for his hardware lines, Jean-Jacques sells shoe-polish, leather-conditioner, and his special floor polish, all home made.
But it is baking and sweet making which allows him, with the help of his wife, to give free rein to his culinary talents. "Lekerlis de Bâle", a highly spiced gingerbread full of almonds, orange and lemon peel, is made with respect for tradition. "I sometimes add pieces of citron rind". Another house specialty - a tasty spread made of honey and hazelnuts which comes in five fruity flavors: apricot, cocoa, date, fig and prunes. Mendiants de Narbonne, dried fruit steeped in acacia honey, jams, naturally made with honey (no added sugar), chutneys, grapes or Morello cherries in vinegar and honey, honey mustard..., all gourmet products perfect for presents, an added enticement which is sure to widen the spectrum of potential customers and the boutique's renown.
Why open a shop?
"It wasn't out of economic necessity. I just wanted to go the whole way with my passion for bees by making it useful as well as enjoyable". However, Jean-Jacques life style has changed. The former solitary beekeeper-translator has to keep to regular opening hours with planned time set aside to take care of his hives, to cook, to invent. His clients came as a surprise to him: "I found out how little people knew about beekeeping and honey but that the subject raised their interest and curiosity". In fact, it is always astonishing to see how selling honey and hive products to the public gives rise to questions from regular or potential customers. It's one of those rare products that creates an instant contact, fires conversation, and gives the beekeeper an aura of heroism (because of stings), of a learned man (as bees don't reveal their secrets to just anyone) and a wise man (who can predict rain or fine weather). When the person selling knows the answers, is willing to deliver the goods and share his passion with others, the cash register rings away merrily. But it all demands a lot of work.
Article written by Odile Menard and published in Abeilles & Fleurs
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