The Grocery Stores of Paris

I feel like I spend more time in the grocery store when I'm in Paris. This is probably because I can only buy what I can carry in my wheeled cart, so I have to go to the grocery store more often.

The stores I go to in Paris are smaller, but I still have to go up and down every aisle. The aisles are so narrow that you can't pass another person without excusing yourself, "Par-DON".

Even though the stores are small, I can find everything I need most of the time, and often find interesting and delicious things that I could never find in a US store (a dozen quail eggs in the same area with the chicken eggs).

There are a few things that I don't think I'll ever get used to about Paris grocery stores, though. In the US, the only time I see the shelves being stocked is when I go in the early morning hours (5 AM) when I have jet lag after our return from Paris.

In Paris, the workers join the shoppers, often during peak shopping times (mid-morning, early evening). We shoppers are taking the food off the shelf, to buy it, and the workers are refilling the empty spots on the shelves. The problem is that the workers and their boxes of food take up precious aisle space.

Yesterday I was in the BIG Franprix on rue de Rennes at 10AM and every aisle was filled with boxes and workers. Why can't they do this at 5 AM?

It was chaos. No one could pass the men on ladders and their stacks of boxes. We had to go around the aisle and approach the shelves from the other direction. Several jars had been dropped on the floor and had broken. Spaghetti sauce mixed with glass was all over one aisle. I promptly slid on it until the glass shards acted as brakes and I stopped.

In the US, this would have been an automatic lawsuit. Not something I agree with or am proud of.

As I continued to shop I noticed that the spill hadn't been cleaned up for at least 10-15 minutes, the other shoppers avoiding it, sliding on it or commenting.

The other thing that happens a lot in grocery stores in Paris is change.

One store I frequent has just changed its name from Champion to Carrefour. Maybe Carrefour bought it. The only other changes I noticed in this store were that there were more brightly colored, modern looking signs in the store and now, if you need a plastic bag, it costs 3 cents for each bag.

Every store I use, in both the US and in Paris has an automatic and complete reorganization about every six months. Just when I learn where everything is, they change it. The Franprix was in the middle of a re-org yesterday.

This store has a mezzanine. You have to go up a double flight of stairs to get to this part of the store and you can't take your cart with you. The mezzanine used to house the household items, paper towels, cleaning products, pet food, deodorant. Now, they've changed it and put many of the daily necessities of life on this floor, and at the back of the store. After searching every shelf for coffee, I found it on the mezzanine, right next to the spot where they keep the assortment of pots and pans that they sell.

In the US, in my neighborhood Ralphs, they reorganized the store and put all the snack food, the deli cases, the alcohol in the front of the store. This must be what most people buy. Of course, the produce (fruit and veggies) are right next to the snack aisle, in case someone feels guilty when they buy the beer and chips.

In Paris, the frozen food section is almost always in the front. I don't think this was the case five years ago, things are changing.

We also have delivery service from grocery stores in Paris. This is good if you can get to the store in the morning and be available in the afternoon for the delivery. Or, we can buy food via the websites of the major grocery stores. They don't have as much "stuff" (like the quail eggs) but you can get the basics. This is my go-to activity when we arrive in Paris. I order the food the week before we leave for delivery the evening of the arrival day. I try to leave enough time for travel delays and have been pleasantly surprised by the ease of this system.