I am going to Paris in september and renting an apartment in the 18th district. I am curious as to the price of food at the grocery store? Is it comparable or horribly expensive? If anyone has and info on this or the district that would be much appreciated!
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You are in luck! My wife and I recently returned from Paris, our main purpose for going was to go grocery shopping. We took a large suitcase with few clothes in it so we could bring back cheese, pate, canned cassoulet, cookies, mustard, jams, etc. The one item we has some trouble bringing in to the U.S. was a glass jar of pate that had some space between the top of the pate and the lid. The best grocery prices are at %26quot;Leader Price%26quot;. As an example; wine is cheaper than Pepsi. We live in South Florida and found the grocery prices in Paris to be very reasonable especially for the quality. The most fabulous high end grocery store is Le Grand Epicerie in the ground floor of Bon Marche department sotore. Of course on a daily basis you just can%26#39;t beat a croissant from your neighborhood patisserie.
Steve Moore
Boca Raton, FL
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Let us know your road or nearest metro station %26amp; we%26#39;ll be able to give more details, the 18th is one of the bigger arrondissements.
For everyday food we use a chain called %26#39;Franprix%26#39;, small supermarkets which stock pretty much all you%26#39;d need. (including some %26#39;leader price%26#39; goods). Opening times vary slightly from store to store but they%26#39;re usually open until seven of eight in the evening.
Monoprix is a bit more up-market and where we%26#39;d go if we wanted something specific.
The %26#39;G20%26#39; are similar to Franprix but a wee bit more expensive.
%26#39;Ed%26#39; is the cheapest with not so much choice.
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Okay, now I%26#39;m curious about normal grocery shopping in Paris compared with the rest of the country. Generally, if we%26#39;re driving to France and staying in a gite or campsite, the first trip is to the nearest Carrefour, Leclerc or Auchan. Don%26#39;t Parisians use these - presumably somewhere beyond the périphérique!?
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Well Diz look at it this way... why would I get into a car (which I may not have) drive for half an hour or so, spend ages walking round a huge shop, queue for what seems like days at the till, load up the car, drive back into Paris, try and find a parking spot in the vague vicinity of the flat, carry all the bags up x flights of stairs or cramped in a tiny two person lift ? when the alternative is to stop into the Franprix between getting out of the metro and arriving at the flat ?
To be less sarcastic. Parisian flats are small, we have no storage room for the results of bulk buying. Within a five minute radius of the flat I have 3 Franprix, a G20 and an Intermarché; if I fancy a slightly longer walk but only very slightly there is the Monoprix; there are also a couple of open all hours and so more expensive %26#39;corner shops%26#39;.
We have an Auchan one metro stop away (in fact we can and do walk there) but we only use this for stocking up if we are having a party of some sort.
It%26#39;s true that the 20th is very residential and therefore well stocked with grocery shops but most Parisians buy food as they need it. Stopping into the supermarket on their way home if they want something specific for the next couple of days or to replenish essentials. We don%26#39;t do the UK one big shop a week thing. Also a lot of people will still want to buy their meat, fish, fruit, veg. and cheese from the specialist shops or the market.
Thinking quickly about our neighbours the only ones I know who use Carrefour are a couple with a car which he takes to the tennis club nearby anyway; Auchan - another couple with a car but it is a big event once every couple of months and in fact I cant remember the last time they went (they usually ask if we need anything); and finally a couple who work out at CdG sometimes stop in one of the big Hypermarchés but it is on their way home and again not a common occurence.
Question answered ?
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Well, yes - I was intrigued that the %26#39;big names%26#39; elsewhere just don%26#39;t have a presence (apart from Intermarché, which you mention) and I was wondering where they were. I%26#39;ve just checked a map and found them where you%26#39;d expect - clustered round the big road junctions outside the centre! And, apart from Monoprix, I didn%26#39;t recognise the other names, so I was wondering about different styles of shopping. I%26#39;d guessed the transport problems, but forgotten about storage space in apartments.
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Intermarché seem to be the only %26#39;name%26#39; which has shops big and small. THere are a couple of INtermarché near me but both the size of the other small supermarkets. Lidl is starting to make an appearance too but again small inside Paris. I guess shopping this way is just part of city living :)
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I think price of food is very comparable to any big city in the States. Some items are cheaper and you have to realize that prices posted in stores are per kilo not pound.
Try to find an open market near you and shop there.
Otherwise go to a Franprix or Monoprix.
Good news is: wine is much cheaper than in the States!
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Hello Toby,
One part of visiting Paris that we love is food shopping! We find the prices to be much lower than ours here. Almost everywhere in Paris are small sized super markets with isles of packed in food to choose. Most have fresh vegetables. poultry and meats too....some have bakeries.....most sell wine beer and harder stuff. Seems to me that almost every district I have visited has several convenient markets....some have already been named, but dont worry about the name, just try one in your neighborhood. One of our favorite is a %26quot;Leader Price%26quot; which has the least expensive prices..........The brand is also sold in other markets and usually is much lower priced.
Most markets are closed on Sundays so you might have to think of that on Saturday and stock up. They also have very small stores sorta similiar to our 7-11%26#39;s in that they are opened later at night and on the weekends. Their prices are generally much higher and selection limited, but can be good in a pinch.
While going to some of the %26quot;huge%26quot; supermarkets is really interesting, they are usually on the edge or just out of the city. We only have a small freezer compartment and limited storage, but I always manage to buy way too much when I go to them..........They have anything you could imagine and everything looks so beautiful. We find prices to be really good.
Street markets for food are all over the city and surely there are many in the 18th..........on sunday too, until about one PM. The veggies are usually just great and there is often good selection of meats and cheeses.............Just pay heed......Everything is sold by the kilo.......... not something we use in the States...........thats more than 2 pounds, so we had to figure out how to say less........%26quot;demi kilo%26quot; works for us and is usually too much for two.
I would think that you will have at least one and maybe several to choose from whereever you stay in the 18th. You might have to look a little for one and go on into one so you see how much they have for sale. One way to find one is to look for people carrying plastic shopping bags with food in them.........just follow the trail....backwards.
They are great and you will surely enjoy shopping for food.
Bea
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The French grocery sector is pretty complicated (I should know, I had to write a report on it a couple of years back, lots of headaches...)
The five biggest players are (in size order) Carrefour, ITM (Intermarche), Leclerc, Auchan and Casino. Between them they make up getting on for two thirds of market share. SO the likelihood is that whatever the name of the store you shop in, it will have a link to one of these groups.
Here%26#39;s the fun bit. Most operate multiple formats (hypermarkets, supermarkets, small neighborhood stores, discount stores), mostly under a variety of names.
So Carrefour has Carrefour, Champion and Ed. ITM has Intermarche, Ecomarche, Netto and Relais Des Mousquetaires. Leclerc generally trades as Leclerc (they tend to do everything differently to the others...). Auchan has Auchan and Atac. And Casino has (deep breath) Geant, Casino, Franprix, Leader Price, Monoprix and Daily Monop%26#39;, among others. German discounters Aldi and Lidl are also making inroads.
As to ownership, Carrefour and Casino are public companies, Auchan is private and ITM and Leclerc are what are called voluntary groups.
As you can imagine I had a lot of fun writing that report :o(
My own recommendation? The wife and I love Daily Monop%26#39;, small modern convenience store doing sandwiches, meals etc - there are a few scattered around Paris.
One interesting thing about Auchan. As a private, family owned company they pretty much do their own thing. Back in the 70s (I think) they opened a couple of hypermarkets in Houston, Texas, for some inexplicable reason (they didn%26#39;t open any more, but happily kept the Houston ones going till a year or two back.
When the stores first opened, a businessman from neighbouring state Arkansas popped in, had a look round and asked the manager if he could come back with some friends - the manager (French) said sure, why not?
So the guy from Arkansas - a certain Sam Walton - went back to his home town of Bentonville, then returned to Houston with a lot of Wal-Mart%26#39;s senior management and they scrutinised everything about the store. A year or so later the first Wal-Mart Supercenter opened, taking a lot of inspiration from Auchan%26#39;s Houston stores. The rest, as they say, is history.
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