We are debating on a move to France. Any advice appreciated!

[Cendrillon]

"We have forged good contacts with the owner of the house and shop and

have set up a appointment through our friends there with the local

Mayor, who we are led to believe is keen for new families to come to

his village and especially concerned that the local shop does not

'die'. It would be just the three of us my husband and I and our 12

year old daughter. Any thoughts would be much appreciated."

Angel fish

Sadly village shops frequently do "die" and change hands on a regular basis. They may be the only shop in the village and the only shop for some miles but many people take their cars to a supermarket in town and while they are there, stock-up with everything. Goods in the town supermarket will usually be priced more competitively than at a local shop.

I wish you well but please do your research very carefully.

[jon]

Forum members.....one of you is truely Coco the Clown!

 

[desperatedan]

Jon I think you sent me a pivate message by mistake.

[dave21478]

I personally wouldnt even consider attempting to run a village shop unless I was completely fluent in French and had been in the country most of my life.

My sister has lived in France for 20 years. She speaks perfectly fluent French, both "proper" french and local banter. She has worked in bars and pubs and tourism, always dealing with the public.

She was asked to start working at her wee local shop, and despite her skills, she still finds it a real struggle to deal with many of the older customers due to their extremely thick dialect. - You will never learn a dialect out of a book.

I have been in France 3 years now and speak good French. Not without mistakes, I am sure, but good enough to cope with any situation I usually find myself in. Yet, I woudnt consider myself anywhere near good enough to work in a small shop.

Also, why is nobody local willing to take on the shop? maybe there are just no takers for the position, maybe its something more serious - perhaps its just not profitable.

[AngelFish]

thanks for all your comments so far, I now know how Desparate Dan felt, I know it will be hard as we have previously moved from a rural welsh speaking community to a suburb of London, for a a period of time, so we have experience in changes and adapting to different cultures. I do take on board however the comment regarding my daughters education and by the way she was the first one of us to suggest the move even before we had been aware of the opportunities, my husband is going back in a couple of weeks on a fact finding mission to meet up with the landlord, Mayor and head of the school. all this information will be carefully weighed before we decide to do anything, we may consider a halfway trial where my husband goes and works there for 6 months to test the water so to speak to give us more insight, but we will see.

[Patf]

If you are thinking of buying, or renting  a business you should always ask to see the "books" of the last proprietors.

If they aren't available that should set alarm bells ringing.

You should also have worked out how much you will need to live, and compare this with the potential income from the shop.

(Sorry if you've already done this and I'm being condescending.)

[AngelFish]

No not all all, actually I appreciate a more practical post of advice, thats the reason my OH is going back out to take a look at the house, (we have already seen the shop as used it quite often when we were there), and the finances, and possible future ideas, we have forged a contact with a supplier who is looking for an agent to sell british goods, we have already done some homework as to what the locals would like, fresh veg, salads, quality meat, newspapapers, cigarettes,  we would look to install a fax and photocpier as they proved to be very popular with previous lease holders as well.

There is a history behind the shop as it was being run by a gentleman who due to illness is unable to continue, his son currently runs a larger supermarket 3-4 K away and therfore is unable to devote his time to the premises,

[Cendrillon]

"There is a history behind the shop as it was being run by a gentleman

who due to illness is unable to continue, his son currently runs a

larger supermarket 3-4 K away and therfore is unable to devote his time

to the premises,"

Angel Fish. I would tread carefully here. If the son runs a larger supermarket 3-4 km away that will be big competition for a village shop. Also if the locals want fresh veg / fruit and quality meat you will need to have a good and fast turnover to be able to offer these fresh items. I don't want to put a damper on your plans for the shop but I have seen our local village shop change hands three times over the last nine years and the owners struggle to make any kind of a living. Bread and newspapers sell well but I don't think the profit margin can be very high.

[KathyF]

Only too true here in the UK too. We live in rural Mid-Wales and our PO/shop closed last year when the Post Office took away the PO side of the business.  The shop just wasn't profitable without it and we're 5 miles from the next nearest shop.

In France our tiny commune (200 or so inhabitants) lost its shop/bar 3 years ago when the last owner retired. It had been on the market for some years, but no-one local wanted it and it was finally bought by a young British couple who spent a lot of time, energy and money doing it up with a view to continuing both sides of the business and then had second thoughts.  No-one else wanted to take it on, even in its pristine state and it's now a holiday home.

Sorry if we all sound negative, but there is so much to lose if this kind of business venture doesn't work out.

[Ron Avery]

Our village shop does a good trade despite the fact that we have a supermarket because it does high quality fruit and veg at competitive prices. It is "open" from very early 7am until very late,  6 days a week and although not officially on Sundays you can get stuff via the bar next door.  However, it does not sell newspapers or cigarettes, and I doubt that you will be allowed to either unless you have two separate shops or a bar.  You should also be aware that tabac licenses are also hard to come by and used to be limited to ex French army veterans and their families.

[Cerise]

If that's the shop at St André Ron, then yes they are doing well in spite of everything.  I'm impressed by how hard that young couple work - but I think they are exceptional and I understand the Mairie paid for the renovations.  Our local shops seem to do OK too, but we are a very long way (40 km) from any grandes surfaces and little public transport.  If there were larger competition nearer I don't think it would be so.

[Ron Avery]

No Cerise, our nearest village shop is in La Fouillade, as you probably know we have a Utile Supermarket, a village shop and two bars!!  I have not used the shop at St André I thought it was only an epicerie that also sold gas bottles, but isn't the restaurant (which is really good value) part of the same business?

We were shown that building when we came here looking at houses by an agent, but the price tag of over 100k€ was far too high for what was virtually a ruin, but they have made a nice restoration job of it. As you say the whole lot was funded by the Commune and AFAIK is leased to the current owners.  There is also a little bio shop in Najac, but how well these will do when the Intermarché opens supposedly later this year just outside La Fouillade on the corner of the Najac road, who knows.

[Mackyfrance]

My neighbour, who is French, gave up running our village shop after three years of struggling with it. The problem, she's not from 'le coin' so the villagers would rather go to the supermarket than buy from her. She took it over from another lady who was, likewise, an incomer who had the same problems. It was then bought by the son of our Maire who was born and bred in the vilalge and it is thriving. Make of that what you will.

[odile]

A Londoner might find it difficult to run a small rural shop in Yorkshire perhaps! And imagine a non English speaker from France running a grocer's there! But it does seem too that French Maires have great power of their populations, especially if family is involved.

[Sprogster]

I am confused how an old thread over two years since the last post can suddenly appear active?!

[Russethouse]

 A person/organisation who was too dim to read the terms and conditions of posting here, decided to suggest that the Op may like to invest with him/them. [:(]

The post was deleted, however the thread remains activated.