Used to be...

[Kong]

the best way to buy was to race back to the UK and buy everything from B&Q, Asda etc. Now it seems with the pound so strong there's no great advantage. If it's quality that's another subject. Where do you shop now?

[mint]

Just bought a German kitchen[:)]

[Val_2]

Locally as normal. Sterling or the UK is of no interest to me as all my income is French derived. If you want quality in France you must pay for it bespoke or buy a big name such as IKEA which is more or less throwaway after a few years of hard use.

[Lehaut]

In the 18 years we have lived here, I have never understood the "rush back to the UK to buy" mentality, even with our majority UK income. We have certainly bought odd bits and pieces that friends have brought across, but never kitchens, central heating systems etc that so many people seem to do. We shop locally or online.

[vette]

Paint is the usual item we carry back from the UK. We have a big place and I simply hate having to pay what the French want for it.

Other than that, it's just odds and sods really.

[Judith]

For me the UK shopping I bring back is clothes and shoes which I can try on (I've sent so much back ordering online), and the usual T-bags etc.  I do have  long food shopping list of items that I stock up on once a year as any french replacements are not the same quality. And last trip I bought sheets 'cos the french sizing is all wrong.  Depends on how long you can wait for a supply to be obtained from the UK.

[grumpyaudeman]

Hi

It really depends on where and for how long you live in France For example if its a holiday home travel expenses are minimal but if you live as I do permanently on the Med the costs of purchasing goods in the UK are prohibitive regardless of the exchange rate. I am always popping into Spain for my cheap products

I do use the internet for certain items and use sterling my pension unit

[Chancer]

Very few "must haves now", jumbo porridge oats, 25kg twice a year at £24 delivered, when I am there I inevitably buy a job lot of Tesco value deodarant, much better value than France (Asda stuff not as good) I will bring back a lot of washing up liquid if its 2 for one in the pound shop, I may bring back one bag of grated cheddar and some Iceland frozen chicken breasts but these would all have been in my fridge during my stay anyway.

At current prices my kitchens are coming from the UK from a Polish importer, drop down guest beds from Italy but again a UK reseller, pretty much anything that requires searching for or is only available in specialist French shops and not the grand surfaces will be cheaper in the UK, probably from an on line seller.

I can get bathrooms cheaper in both France and the UK for use in the other country, that is to say a French shower cabin with the bells and whistles (rubbish though they are) gets the "Oh wow!" response in the UK and will be a lot cheaper, ditto un WC suspendu and the current wall hanging contemporary basin units, a resin shower tray, a decent sliding door pair and a sexy mixer and shower head are much cheaper on E-bay UK and again get the "I've never seen one like that before" response.

Clothes, Tesco F&F whose delivery to France is cheap and the free delivery or store pickup in the UK is excellent also the free return Policy.

[mint]

As I don't visit the UK (only once in 2009 at special request), it's France or bust!

Nevertheless, in the past few weeks, I have bought a Belling oven in the UK (model not available in France) and an Electrolux cooker hood (several hundred euros dearer in France) plus a kitchen sink with all the robinetterie because the quality and finish are superb and not because of price.

As Kong has said, there is now little to choose between the 2 countries in terms of price.  Cars would be the tricky thing as LHDs would be dearer in the UK and I really don't want RHD for use in France.  There again, it would be nice to have an occasion that hasn't been driven till k@@@@@d by a French driver!

[idun]

It never occured to me to get something big sent to France. IF by chance we saw something then it had to go in the car, so nothing that big, what with the four of us and all our luggage etc.

We'd take paint back sometimes. In the beginning it would be clothes as for all I very slim then, I was a carthorse in french sizing and not catered for. Food stuffs, always, from sausages to beans to wine gums, just the basics. There again in the early days we only went back once every two years.

We never went rushing back for anything and it never struck us that a 600 mile dash to Calais and a quick cross to Dover, was actually worth our while what the autoroutes et al!

[lindal1000]

Kitchen, staircase from the Uk. We just couldn't find anything to compete on cost/ quality. Electrical goods we now get on France.

[Chancer]

I just build up a list of things to bring back on my next visit, at the moment its fitted sheets for a 4 foot double bed, I couldnt even find them in the UK shops but as EBay is so good in the UK I will be sorted quickly and cheaply.

Then I need something unforeseen, I keep a stock of what I'm likely to get through, this thing may be available in France but at such a stupid price and do I really want the gamble of waiting weeks for something that may not arrive? Well its that item that tips the balance and off I go to the UK.

one time it was a simple cheap, or so it should be, circular saw blade, I was cutting across floorboards and kept hitting hardened nails that some goon had used, I got through my stock of blades, a new one in France €60, 3 blades from Toolstation were £11.99 [:-))]

As daft as it sounds I went back to the UK to buy one circular saw blade, actually I bought 6 which cost half the price of one in France.

For a long time when the pound was weak I would bring back over trailer loads of subsidised roof insulation and bootloads of Cordless drills to resell which more than covered the cost of my trip, trailer as well, allowed me to bring over big stuff like kitchens, fire rated plasterboard, MDF etc in the now paid for trailer and yield a handsome profit on the trip.

With the current exchange rate and the similar cost of many things in both countries those days are over but in hard times like when the pound was weak you have to look at how to turn the situation to your advantage.

[idun]

But Chancer you live very close to the channel crossings, it does make a big difference as travel costs are 'costly'.