BHV - the Bazar de l'Hotel de Ville, the City Hall Bazaar - is always called by it's initials (bay-aish-vay), and it is an old store, one of the great ninteenth-century department stores on the Right Bank that are the children of the Galeries Lafayette. As I say, it is on the rue de Rivoli; in fact that famous Robert Doisneau photograph of the two lovers kissing is set on the rue de Rivoli just outside BHV. This is doubly ironic: first, because the narrow strip of the rue de Rivoli in front of BHV is about the last place in the world that you would want to share a passionate kiss - it would be a bit like kissing at the entrance to the BMT near Macy's - and of course, it explains why they did it anyway. They are not sundered lovers but a young couple who have managed to by an electric oven and emerged alive. Anyone who has spent time at BHV knows they are kissing not from an onset of passion but from gratitude at having gotten out again. From Paris to the Moon by Adam Gopnik, p.50

And anyone who has spent time in Herald Square knows why this is hilarious!