Shopping

August 19, 2023
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As with every country, the whole shopping experience is quite different. Not only because it's France, but particularly because some of us have come to learn (and get used) to the luxury of metropolitain shopping.

Groceries

Unlike other countries, where supermarket chains are generally the same throughout the country, you will notice that many supermarkets in France are not available in some areas. For example, in most areas I have lived - or been - in Germany, generally you will find an ALDI and/or LIDL, Rewe and Edeka. Even in the UK, generally you will find ASDA, Sainsbury's, Waitrose or Tescos nearby.

However, this is a bit different in our area in France. Most of the times you will find a Carrefour, in all shapes and sizes. There are also quite a few Intermarché and for a few years now, here and there I have seen little convencience stores named Vival. Whilst I was living in Paris, I often came across the Auchan, Monoprix and convencience Franprix, my brother often pops over to the Alsace region and goes shopping in Super U.

Whilst they all offer basic food that you would expect in any other supermarket, France still has lots of traders, and particularly with the older generation, you will notice that many prefer going to the butcher's, the bakery or cheese shop. Unfortunately these shops seem to die out slowly, but generally from my experience their products are of much better quality, though also slightly pricier.

If you are based in a small village, you might have the luxury of tradesmen coming to your village on a regular basis. This may be a local baker that, on a Wednesday morning, hops in his van and drives from village to village to sell bread (and pastry... yum yum). During the summer and particularly autumn period you may have fruit farmers that sell their produce from the back of their van and pop around every fortnight. Once more, this also seems to be a service that is dying out. Some services were also meant for the older less mobile population. Obviously things change, particularly with the internet and online deliveries.

Which takes me to the next topic...

Online Shopping

Some supermarkets have no online deliveres on offer. Though I have not tried this service myself, I have to say that a few times I had a look at them but was quite shocked about the additional fees they charge. Once more, I have been living in metropolitain areas so certain services are there either for free or at least a bit cheaper. Carrefour, for example, offers a delivery for about 9€ if you spent at least 60€.

So far in our area we have no restaurant deliveries, like Just Eat!, Deliveroo or Uber Eat. So I am unable to tell you about my experiences with these.

Amazon's deliveries however differ depending on the area you are based. I highly recommend to check their website or before you check-out your basket. Generally they do come with the warning, that Next-Day Deliveries (even if you're paying for them) may not be available in your area, but only in metropolitain areas.

I have recently looked into an IKEA delivery, since I couldn't find the furniture that I wanted. However, the closest IKEA is in Lyon and we generally don't have a car that would have enough space for furniture (we generally rent our car at the airport, not to mention the baby seat restricting the space considerably). Delivery within a week was 39€ for a small piece of furniture. Particularly for some furniture you'll have to think twice whether the piece of furniture is worth the extra fee. To be fair, IKEA delievery is expensive in the UK as well, but not quite that much!

DIY / Hardware Store

Once more, I can only report on my experience. Generally we seem to have two hardware store brands in our area. Weldom and Bricomarché. In our area, Weldom seems to be the tidier and best kitted out one, also the staff is much friendlier. Generally they come with anything you would expect in a hardware store, that should suit your DIY needs for your house and garden.


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