Shopping Guide
- Wine
- Supermarkets
- Specialist Foods
- Home Furnishings/Furniture
- Cosmetics, Toiletries, Perfumes
- Clothing
- Sports Clothes and Equipment
- Toys and Baby Products
- DIY Stores
- Electrical Goods
- Home Entertainment
Wine
With so many Vignerons producing such great wine it seems criminal to buy wine anywhere else except direct from the producers. Most Vignerons offer tasting (degustation) and like nothing better than to talk about the grapes, the terrain and the blending process. The locals tend to buy from the pumps by the litre. Wine is often sold like this before it’s bottled to make way for the following year’s harvest. You can buy 5 or 10 litre containers from supermarkets as well as bouchons (equivalent of corks), labels etc. By buying in this way you can get a good quality wine for an amazingly cheap price, usually about €1-2 per litre.
Supermarkets
Supermarkets such as Carrefour, Intermarché, Geant and Leclerc can be found on the outskirts of all main towns. They tend to be quite similar although Leclerc most resembles Waitrose in the UK. For a real treat you could try Grand Frais who supply a fantastic range of fresh produce and Picard who sell frozen food including lots of recipe dishes that would be equally at home in M&S. You’ll also find cut-price supermarkets Lidl and Leader price who offer good value for money but a limited range.
Specialist Foods
Local producers tend to sell their own produce at the markets. Whilst markets in France are not cheap the quality of the produce tends to be high and generally locally sourced. The Languedoc produces local specialities such as cassoulet and foie gras, anchovies from Collioure, mussels and oysters from the inland salt water lagoons, cherries from Ceret, and honey as well as a wide range of olives, olive oil, goats cheese and of course black truffles.
If you love olives then don’t miss O&Co. in rue Mailly in Perpignan which is a little ‘place’ just off the rue Voltaire/ rue de l’Ange. This is a shop selling and specialising in all things olive related. There are some really delicious things that are great for presents to take back if you don’t like olives yourself!
Truffle markets are held in specific villages during the winter months where you can buy truffles by the kilo. The price is set at the beginning of the market. Don’t forget an air tight-container to take your truffles home in or you’ll be plagued by their distinctive odour in your car for the next 6 months!
If you love fresh seafood then we would recommend the seafood market at Port Vendres as well as the oyster and mussel farm at Port Leucate where you can sample fresh oysters, mussels and clams in a rustic, fishy environment! Be warned they are all served raw!
If you are looking for organic produce or specialist foods such as gluten-free you need to look out for BIO shops. Again they are located in all major towns.
If you’re fed up with French food and fancy a good curry then you could try the Asian shop at Mas Guerido, the out of town shopping centre near Cabestany. Whilst expensive they offer a good range of Chinese, Indian and English products. Best of British shops can also be found at Carcassonne and Pezenas. Website
Probably the best place to sample and purchase fresh food from the region is the indoor food market at Narbonne. Open every morning.
Home Furnishings/Furniture
Good quality, stylish furniture shops are hard to find in France. Many people therefore travel to Spain where the main road going into Girona is lined with fantastic home and garden furniture shops, most of whom will deliver to southern France.
For budget furniture you will find IKEA at Toulouse and Montpellier or Fly (the smaller French equivalent), Conforama and But on the outskirts of most major towns and cities.
For something a bit more up-market Habitat have a shop in the covered shopping centre in Montpellier or you could try Bois & Chiffon, Casa, or Sia.
For beautiful house wares, presents, Catalan décor, and just generally lots to drool over, a visit to Maison Quinta in Perpignan is essential. Located on rue Grande des Fabriques (left just after you come through the Castillet), this fabulous city mansion house has stunning home wares on four floors. On the top floor they have a showroom for the famous Toile du Soleil fabrics, which epitomise Mediterranean décor. Unbelievably stylish!
Also worth a visit is the lower basement floor of FNAC also in Perpignan, a bit pricey but very stylish and modern.
You will find lots of fabric shops on the outskirts of major towns. Look out for signs that say Tissus.
Garden centres such as Botanic, Jardiland and VillaVerde offer a great range of quality, stylish garden furniture although the supermarkets also offer a reasonable range at a much cheaper price.
Cosmetics, Toiletries and Perfumes
If there is one shop that the English miss in France it has to be Boots. There does not appear to be a French equivalent or at least not one that we’ve found.
There are pharmacies in most towns although they tend to concentrate on medication. Gallery Lafayette, our main department store offer a good range of toiletries and cosmetics although my personal favourite is Sephora, who supply all the top brand names as well as their own very reasonably priced products. Body Shop have an outlet in the covered shopping centre at Montpellier.
Clothing
For ladies’ clothes, there are several ‘high street’ shops such as Carroll, Esprit, Mango, H&M, Burton as well as a few more unusual boutique shops such as, a pricey but interesting shop called Cotélac in Perpignan, where the clothes are most definitely French style but there are some lovely fabrics and you certainly won’t see anyone wearing it at home! For a good range of designer clothes, both French and international, you can’t beat Galeries Lafayette.
Good shoe shops can be found everywhere in France. The French women just love shoes!
For men, there is Esprit, Quinze (rugby-inspired style by Serge Blanco) on Place Gabriel Peri in Perpignan as well as high street shops including Jules, Celio and Burton (not the same as Burton in the UK!) Again, there are lots of great concessions in Galeries Lafayette.
There are also plenty of surf-style or designer shops particularly near to the coastal resorts, one of my favourites being Planet Surf at the out of town shopping centre just off the A9 at jcn 37 in Narbonne.
For men’s and women’s ‘sports casual’, check out Eden Park on Place Jean Payra in Perpignan. The make was launched in 1987 by 5 French international rugby players and is a bit like the French version of Hackett.
For kids, have a look at DPAM (Du Pareil au Même- I have never worked out what this means in the context of a clothes shop; I can’t believe it means ‘more of the same’- answers on a postcard please!). This is a clothes chain for kids from birth to teens. The clothes are fun, often a bit quirky, and very well priced. Also Okaïdi for the same age group and they also have some nice stuff. Out of town on retail parks you will find Kiabi and Gémo, which offer good value for money for all the family. The one thing to watch is that French kids’ sizes tend to be smaller than UK sizes, so if buying without your small person there to try on, go a size larger.
For great value for money sports-style clothes you can’t beat Decathlon, particularly good for boys.
Sports Clothes and Equipment
The one sports shop that stands out from the rest and is hard to beat is Decathlon. They are generally located on the outskirts of all major towns and sell sports clothes and equipment at a very reasonable price. You’ll find everything from ski gear and bikes to canoes and table tennis tables. Their country sports shop is called Nature Active and sells fishing, shooting and equestrian gear (which is far cheaper than in the UK).
Other sports shops to look out for are Intersport and Sport 2000.
Toy Shops/ Baby Products
There are lots of good toy shops such as La Grande Récrée, Jouéclub and Maxi Toys. Often situated on the outskirts of major towns they have a huge range of toys.
Supermarkets are also a good choice for toys and baby products although their range tends to be more limited. For more specialist baby products and a full range of pushchairs, nursery accessories etc. the best stores are Aubert and Bébé9.DIY Stores
The French don’t have the same passion for DIY as the English so as a result there are fewer DIY shops. Castorama (owned by B&Q), Monsieur Bricolage, Leroy Merlin and Tridome are a few and they can generally be found on the outskirts of major towns.
Brico Depot and Point P also supply building materials although they tend to be more suited to trades people.
For bathroom suites, tiles and fittings a good place to go is CCL. They have a large outlet on route de Thuir in Perpignan and supply a good range. For floor, wall and external tiles I would suggest CaroPrice also on route de Thuir.
For good value kitchens for a reasonable price go to Ikea or Fly. Altenatively for something a bit more upmarket Schmidt have a great showroom at Mas Guerido, a large shopping outlet near Cabestany.
La Peyre supply kitchens, bathrooms, tiles and a range of building materials and can be found in Béziers, Montpellier and Perpignan
Electrical Goods
All the large supermarkets tend to have a good range of electrical goods that are competitively priced.
Alternatively you could try Darty, who have a good reputation for after-sales service or But. If you are planning to buy a French television to watch English satellite TV, be careful as only certain makes such as sony and panasonic are compatible.
Home Entertainment
France’s equivalent to Virgin Megastore is FNAC, where you will find several floors dedicated to CD’s, DVD’s etc. Alternatively supermarkets offer a reasonable range.