Comptoir Central des Bazars, Clermont-Ferrand
Another example of hand-painted Banco, spotted by Étienne Pouvreau in the streets of the Ballainvilliers district in Clermont-Ferrand, central France. In this application, the swift strokes of Roger Excoffon’s design were made upright. Banco got small caps and a white shadow effect.
Comptoir Central des Bazars was a toy shop run by Micheline Bufferne. Born Chartoire, she took over the store from her father, who started the business in 1933. Micheline died in early 2020, at the age of 98. Pascal Guinard portrayed her and the shop in an article for Montagne (translated from the French):
Once you walked through the door, it was a breath of nostalgia and the sweet scent of childhood that hit you in the face. Nestled between the Bargoin museum and the Lecoq museum, in Clermont-Ferrand, it was the toy temple. But be careful, not just any one! At the Central Bazaar Counter, there are no flashy signs, no aggressive neon lights. Everything was period. A heavy metal curtain, attacked by rust, protected a storefront made of wood and glass. The peeling brown paint had also suffered from the ravages of time.
See the shop front on Google Street View, with graffiti that changes over the years.
