Hoover and Au Grand Quartier, Bourg-sur-Gironde

This wall offers a nice palimpsest, with Hoover's logo covering an ealier advert for Au Grand Quartier, one of Bordeaux's most famous clothes shop. There was certainly a third sign but I didn't manage to identify it.

Founded in 1908 in Ohio, vacuum manufacturer Hoover arrived in France in 1932. This ghost sign painted on a wall managed by advertising agency Bézicot (see here) dates from the mid-1960s though.

Hoover

The Hoover signs covers one for Au Grand Quartier, a clothes shop founded in 1929 by Marcel Castelle. Well known by several generations of people from Bordeaux and the surrounding area, who bought all sorts of good quality garments in this shop located Rue Ste-Catherine, Au Grand Quartier (later shortened to Grand Quartier) closed down in 2012.

Hommes   -   Dames   -   Enfants

Prêts à porter et sur mesure

Au Grand

Quartier

22 à 30 Rue Ste Catherine     Bordeaux

[Gentlemen   -   Ladie   -   Children

Ready-to-wear and made to measure

Au Grand

Quartier

22 to 30 St Catherine's St     Bordeaux]

Location: Rue du 4 Septembre, Bourg-sur-Gironde, Gironde

Sowden's, Calstock

A very faded ghost sign for a business by the name of Sowden's, painted over an earlier one for Walker.

Sowden's [painted over Walker]

Location: Commercial Road, Calstock, Cornwall

Otto Dick, Bützow

A not-so-cheerful ghost sign spotted in a street of Bützow, a small town in northern Germany. I wonder whether this house survived the tornado (F3 on the Fujita scale) that devastated the town on May 5, 2015, one year after I took these photos.

Särge          Otto Dick          Möbel

Tischlermeister

Otto Dick

Tischlermeister

[Master Carpenter]

Särge

[Coffins]

Möbel

[Furniture]

Location: Mantzelstraße, Bützow, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

August Haackert, Gustrow

A couple of warehouses are still standing near Güstrow train station, between the aptly-named Speicherstraße (Warehouses Street) and the railway tracks 

One of these belonged to coal merchant August Haackert. The building dates probably from the late 19th or early 20th century and was used to store coal and building materials. Following the fall of the Wall, it was used briefly to store cereals.

Aug. Haackert

Kohlen     Baustoffe     Eisen

[Coal     Building Materials     Iron]

After years of decay, the Haackert warehouse, which is listed, has been recently restored and houses nowadays the "Physiotherapie im Speicher" practice.

Since these photos were taken the windows and the roof have been replaced and the ghost sign given a new coat of paint.

Location: off Speicherstraße, Güstrow, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

Petrol & Diesel, Hackney

A ghost sign revealed when the office block at the corner of Curtain Road and Hewett Street was demolished.

Petrol

& Diesel

Location: Curtain Road, Hackney

J. Booker, Crowborough

This ghost sign was painted on side wall of John Booker's shop (click here to see a photo). Born in 1853, John first worked as an assistant at a grocer's in Hadlow Down. By 1881 though, he had become a master grocer and draper in Jarvis Brook, next to Crowborough train station. By the early 20th century he was also working as a sub-postmaster. To run his shop, he employed his daughter Grace as grocer's clerk, as well as six live-in servants. He lived there until his death in 1933. Grace then inherited the property and she may have kept the shop open for several more years.

It seems that during the two decades of the 20th century, the shop in Crowborough Cross, which is mentioned on this sign, was run in partnership with Mr Filtness (there is a photo of Booker & Filtness's shop here). John Booker also owned a general shop on Queens Road but it may have opened after this sign was painted, hence its absence here. 

J. Booker

Family

Grocer & Draper

Branches

Crowboro Cross & Jarvis Brook

Location: Crowborough Hill, Crowborough

Reich Brothers, Montreal

As it is sometimes the case in Montréal, this ghost sign combines English and French words. It is painted on the wall of the Magasins de l'Hôtel-Dieu IV, a warehouse and office building erected in 1875 by the nuns of the Order of St Joseph on the site of their former hospital. When Reich Brothers moved in c. 1940, the company only rented the eastern part of the building but as business expanded, it ended occupying the whole building. Reich Brothers stayed until 1975. In spite of what this ghost sign suggests, Reich Brothers imported essentially luxury products.

Reich

Brothers

Ltd

Importateurs

Smallwares

Articles

de fantaisies

Jouets

Location: Cours Le Royer, Montréal

Brouette Petit-Fils, Bourg-sur-Gironde

A fine sign for Brouette Petit-Fils, a winery famous for its sparkling wine "Crémant de Bordeaux." Their cellars, in a former quarry, are located kilometres away from Bourg, in the hamlet of Pain-de-Sucre. Founded by Paul Joseph Brouette, the company took the name Brouette Petit-Fils when his grand-son, Pierre Brouette succeeded him in 1982. In 2000 it was bought by Jaillance, a leading group specialised in sparkling wine.

Brouette

Petit-Fils

Crémant de Bordeaux

A 2km visitez nos caves

The Brouette sign seen from the upper part of Bourg, built on a cliff overlooking the River Dordogne

Enamel sign for Brouette Petit-Fils in the streets of Bourg

Location: Rue des Chantiers, Bourg-sur-Gironde, Gironde

Bar Restaurant, Bourg-sur-Gironde

[Name of the place]

Bar   Restaurant   Pension de famille   Dancing   Télé. 89

Location: Rue Valentin Bernard, Bourg-sur-Gironde, Gironde

Marcel Borde, Bourg-sur-Gironde

A lovely late 19th-early 20th century sign for ironmonger Marcel Borde.

This is one of several painted signs that can still be seen while strolling through the streets of Bourg-sur-Gironde, a lovely little town on the bank of the River Dordogne, 40 km north of Bordeaux.

Marcel Borde

Aciers. Fers. Fontes    || Quincaillerie. Ferronnerie

Spécialités pour        ||     Articles de ménage   

Carrossiers & tonneliers ||    Fils de fer. Grillages         

Marcel

Aciers. Fers. Fontes [Steel. Iron. Cast Iron]

Spécialités pour [Specialist Work For]

Carrossiers & tonneliers [Panel Beaters & Coopers]

Borde

Quincaillerie. Ferronnerie [Ironmonger. Ironwork]

Articles de ménage [Household Goods]

Fils de fer. Grillages [Wires. Wire Fences]

Location: Rue Valentin Bernard, Bourg-sur-Gironde, Gironde

Fleischerei, Pirna

A very basic sign for a butcher's spotted in the town of Pirna, south east of Dresden.

Fleischerei

Location: Bahnhofstraße, Pirna, Sachsen

Schuhmacherei, Pirna

Before these premises were taken over by shoemaker Kun, there was a shop selling spirits and cigars (the name was painted above the windows but only a few letters can still be seen).

Schuhmacherei Kun

Spirituosen

Cigarren

Spirituosen

Cigarren

Location: Obere Burgstraße, Pirna, Sachsen

Le Mont St Michel, Pons

A lovely painted sign for Le Mont Saint Michel, a workwear manufacturer founded in 1913. The company's logo consists of a sylized view of the famous rocky islet off the coast of Normandy, on which rises the abbey dedicated to St Michel.

Le Mont St Michel

Signature de garantie: Ariès

Bleus de [travail]

Blue [-jeans]

Location: Cours d'Alsace-Lorraine, Pons, Charente-Maritime