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Give me 5 – shopping in the Pyrénées-Orientales I am always being asked by those new to the area where to shop for various items so I thought I’d write a handy guide on shopping in the Pyrénées-Orientales and where to buy what. Clearly this is not an exhaustive list but I hope you will find it useful. Much of it also applies to France in general. A little word about opening hours as these can seem archaic if you’re used to the UK all-hours shopping culture. Larger stores usually stay open over lunchtime these days although there are exceptions (my in-laws found themselves being shepherded out of Conforama last week at 11.45am!). Smaller shops are likely to close for lunch between 12 and 2pm and can be less than welcoming if you are browsing at 11.55am! In addition, many shops are still closed on Mondays, even in Perpignan city centre! To make up for the lunchtime hiatus, most shops stay open until around 7pm in the evening and the larger hypermarkets may be open until 10pm. Don’t set aside Sunday to do a bit of retail therapy either – almost everything is shut on Sundays, although in recent years there is a move towards food shops opening on Sunday mornings and you will find many smaller supermarkets and grocery shops now open then. If you are looking at ordering on the internet, French online retail is years behind that of other countries. Many big stores, for example furniture retailer Fly, don’t even have online ordering facilities – incredible but true. Many French websites are cluttered and not very user-friendly. I think this is in part due to the old French minitel system which is a kind of France-only internet which existed long before the internet was in common usage worldwide. Anyway, here’s where to shop for what: 1. Electrical goods You will find that the large hypermarkets such as Carrefour and Auchan sell a good range of white goods and smaller electrical goods. Specialist stores include But and a newcomer to the Pyrénées-Orientales, Boulanger, which I am told is good value although I’ve not been myself. If you’re not bothered about big name brands, there is Electro-Dépôt which is in the Centre Commercial in Claira, north of Perpignan. It’s a pile-it-high, sell-it-cheap retailer. Online, I find Ubaldi competitive and their delivery service is very good – they guarantee that two people will deliver to the room of your choice and unwrap the goods for inspection. A good friend has also recommended Cdiscount although I haven't tried this site myself yet. 2. Food & general groceries I’m a big advocate of shopping locally if you can as it’s kinder to the environment and supports local businesses. If we want to preserve our high streets and town centres, we need to support the shops in them. Local markets are a great place to find well priced fruit and vegetables, often grown locally, artisanal meats, cheeses and breads, rôtisserie chickens and olives etc. Your local butchers, bakers and candlestick makers will be glad of your business and you will endear yourself to the locals by frequenting their establishments. For your “big shop” there are an ever-increasing number of large supermarkets and hypermarkets in the area. The main ones include Carrefour, Auchan, Super U, Leclerc, Intermarché and Casino as well as budget chains such as Lidl, Ed and Dia. You are never very far from one of these. Even the big names don’t offer the frills you might be used to if you are coming from the UK such as mother and baby parking, baby changing facilities, choice of trolleys with seating for children or assistance with packing. French supermarkets please note: you could do a lot better on customer service. There is a growing trend in the area for supermarket drive-throughs where you order online and pick up the goods (Leclerc and Auchan both offer this service in the area) however to my knowledge, none of the big names offer a delivery service. When I had two tiny children, I wrote to Carrefour to ask if they were considering offering this service and got a very curt letter back to say “non”! 3. English products Let’s face it, us Brits all have a few foodstuffs that we crave from the UK – Marmite, Cadburys, Branston pickle… Carrefour and Auchan both have English sections in their supermarkets which stock a limited range of items (at pretty expensive prices mind). A larger range is available at Asia Center in Mas Guerido, Cabestany. As the name suggests, this is where you can stock up on all sorts of exotic items if you want to knock up a curry or a Chinese, but they also have a very good range of English products including all of the above and much more. As of this year, Coopers Epicerie, who are based in Argelès behind the large Carrefour, have launched an order and pick up service. Check out the site here for the excellent range of products that you can custom order for collection from their shop. 4. Secondhand goods Buying secondhand (vintage?!) is all the rage amongst my friends in these times of “crise”. The mighty Emmaus is extremely popular for all sorts of things from clothes and furniture to crockery and children’s toys. You’ll find Emmaus signposted off the road leading south out of Perpignan past Auchan and Pollestres. Look out for brocantes and dépôt-ventes for bargains too. We have picked up fabulous pieces of furniture for unbelievable prices in these. Some have a broad range of items, others specialise, for example close to where I live in Perpignan there is a dépôt-vente for women’s designer clothing and another for children’s clothes and assorted child-related paraphernalia. If you love a rummage, you need to get down to the vide greniers. These are car boot sale type affairs which happen in villages all over France on Sundays and there is always at least one happening each weekend in a village somewhere in the region. Get there super early for the best bargains. 5. DIY If you need to get some jobs done around the house, your best bets are the massive DIY superstores Leroy Merlin, Castorama and the cheapest of the cheap, Brico Dépôt. Leroy Merlin in Porte d’Espagne, south of Perpignan has English-speaking staff. If you have any comments or think anything should be added to the above, please don’t hesitate to make any suggestions to me by email.
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