Favorites around Toulouse #2

Continuing my theme of my favorite places around Toulouse, here are some of my favorite shops.

In no particular order:

1. La Mucca
23 Rue des Lois, 31000 Toulouse and rue Pargaminières just off Place du Capitole

This is a stationary and odds and ends shop that is very cute, very odd-ball, and also very Toulousain as many of the products are made in Toulouse and feature pictures or images related to Toulouse. You can get an agenda or notebook with an archive photo of the Capitole, for example. They recently opened a second location right off of Place du Capitole, and I think it offers more gift type items and a smaller selection of all the notesbooks, envelopes, and other stationary that the flagship shop offers rue des Lois. I often head to La Mucca when I need a gift because they sell things from 1-60€ or more, so I can usually find something within my budget. It's admittedly rather bobo (who really needs a canvas trousse with cats on it, or felted stuffed birds, or extravagant geometric mobiles?), but I like that it offers so many odd-ball things that you don't see other places.

2. Au passe temps
30 Rue des Lois, 31000 Toulouse

This is a game store with an excellent choice of board and card games, as well as some puzzles and classics like cheese and checkers. The best thing? The staff have played just about every game in the store and can give you all kinds of help. If you're looking for a game for a 6 year old or something the whole family can play together, they will show you exactly what you need. They also have a mezzanine where you can pay 3€ to play games all afternoon.

3. L'Idée
21 rue des puits clos 31000 Toulouse (Place Salengro)

Just a few meters from Flower's Café is L'Idée. This shop used to be called Je cherche une idée, which could have been completed by "pour un cadeau" because it sells all kinds of nifty things that are perfect for gifts. The store describes its merchandise as "Objets à vivre", and mostly sells things like bento boxes, thermoses, kitchen gadgets, and geek tie-in objects (mostly Lego and Star Wars). I have my nice Twizz mug from this shop, as well as a Qwetch thermos for taking coffee on the go that I love. A couple winters ago B got me reusable hand warmers, but it hasn't been cold enough to need them during my bike ride to work this winter nor last.

4. Imagin'ères
17 Rue Sainte-Ursule, 31000 Toulouse

B and I discovered this shop back when we were living in Foix, and its chock full of movie, tv, video game, comic and manga figurines, key chains, pens, t-shirts, mugs, collectible books, and also sells science fiction and fantasy novels and books. I know actually know the owner pretty well because we tap dance together! If you want a Harry Potter wand, a Dr. Who poster, a stuffed Totoro, a Minecraft pick-ax bottle opener, or remote control MarioCart toy, this is the place to go. The only downside is that there is so much stuff and so many clients it's often hard to move around the aisles.

5. Le Croquenotes
4 Rue Jean Suau, 31000 Toulouse

Back when we were looking into buying a piano, I popped into this music store to browse some sheet music I might buy once I had my new piano. That was when I discovered they also had a piano I could try, that they buy and sell used music, and are generally nice people. They recently moved from rue St Ursule to rue Jean Suau and now have a lot more space. In early January and went looking for Yann Tiersen's new music book, and since there was a delivery delay they signed me up for their automatic alert and I got an SMS the day it arrived. The store is close the Conservatory and really caters to the students there, so there are often kids their with their parents asking about things like "Solfège année 2" or "Exercises pour clarinette vol 3".