Sunday shopping

[opas]

Not of any use to me anymore, I have got into the` French ` way of living my Sunday! but yesterday en route to my day out with the family we passed through a smallish town. I thought there was a vide-grenier on the Intermarche carpark as there were that many cars.....but no , the banner above the door told us we could shop on Sunday morning! then at the roundabout Netto had a banner declaring the same and Lo and behold across the road from them is Leclerc.....also Ouvert le Dimanche Matin.

Is this happening in supermarkets near you.

Mrs o

[Mistral]

I'm visiting family in brittany at the moment and all the supermarkets are open on sunday mornings. This has been going on for years.

I'm never really in provence for the tourist season and my part is about as untouristy as you can get (all those oil refineries) so I can't say what "visitable provence" is like in the summer

[shas]

hi, I live in a small village, our intermarche has been open on a sunday morning for years, yet the supermarkets in the larger nearby towns st jean d,angley and  saintes are all closed, odd,.

                   sharon...

[Miki]

Not in this part of Brittany Mistral. Apart from Intermarche and some of the smaller mini market types, the others such as Leclerc, Carrefour and Cora are closed around the Saint Malo region on Sunday's.

[Anton Redman]

[quote]hi, I live in a small village, our intermarche has been open on a sunday morning for years, yet the supermarkets in the larger nearby towns st jean d,angley and saintes are all closed, odd,. ...[/quote]

There is a maximum size for food shops which are allowed to open on Sunday mornings. From memory 500 sq metres sellings space. This is why the small locals are open but the giant Hypermarkets are closed.  Also again form memory there are four Sundays are year when even the big stores are allowed to have 'Ouverture Exceptional' on Sundays. Boulugne and Calais tend to have their's in the run up to Christmas.

[SaligoBay]

Is this happening in supermarkets near you.

Mais oui, and about time too!   All those families who spend their Saturdays in the supermarkets can now spend Sundays there too, and leave the nicer places quiet for the rest of us. 

No, in troof, the places that can, do, and some places are even opening Sunday evenings now. The demand is obviously there.

[Ron Avery]

There was an item on the French TV news yesterday about Sunday opening in Montpelier, Auchan were certainly one that opened, along with a number of other stores but this is for JULY only

As others have commented, it is true that a number of small supermarkets have opened on Sunday mornings for years in various towns, Intermarche, Netto amongst them.

[Tourangelle]

Indeed some of the unions were calling for strike action because of these new openings. I too understood that it was just for the summer. I think there are rules about size or number of employees in relation to Sunday opening for food shops. Usually shops have to have permission from the prefecture to open on a Sunday. Many ask for it before Christmas, and I believe there is a maximum number of Sundays they can ask for, perhaps 4 or 5. Sometimes on the radio you hear car dealership advertising that they are opening specially for a launch and it is always said that it is with permission. I think that Sarkozy is keen on having more Sunday openings, so perhaps this will change. I personally think that shops are open long enough here, and if you add it up, in the week they are probably open as much as British shops because of opening until 19.30.

[SaligoBay]

and if you add it up, in the week they are probably open as much as British shops because of opening until 19.30.

Ummm, nope!  I live in a town of similar size to that in which I lived in England, and I still haven't seen a supermarket in France that opens 24 hours.   Very few English places close for 2 hours at lunchtime either.   And most of Montpellier is closed on Monday.  I'm sorry, but customer demand will win out in the end.   Living in a rural idyll, it's probably easy to forget about the millions of French couples who both work full time Monday-Friday.  

 

[Teamedup]

As far as I was aware it was up to the departments as to whether shops can open or not on a Sunday morning. The next dept to us has normal size supermarkets open every Sunday. No chance of that in ours.

[Tourangelle]

"Living in a rural idyll, it's probably easy to forget about the millions of French couples who both work full time Monday-Friday."

I wouldn't know about living in a rural idyll. It must be very nice. Perhaps I would forget if I did live in a rural idyll, and had never worked Monday to Friday. As it is, from where I'm sitting, right in the middle of Lyon, shops open from 9.30 -19.30, generally non-stop Monday through to Saturday which works out very similarly to a 9-5.30 plus 10-5 on a Sunday that many shops do in the UK. Lyon is getting close to the 24 hour thing, it is not supermarkets, but there are Chemist's and grocers open into the small hours.

[Chas]

For us it's a sign that the "season" has started. Super U opens on Sunday mornings and repeats the welcome announcement ins English

[Richard-R]

I think to main thing stopping 7 shopping days per weeks is the fact that there still are a lot of small and medium sized businesses that are family owned, unlike on 99% of U.K. high streets. There is little reason for the chains stores to open if only 30-50% of the high street is open.

[Maddie]

I always understood that there were laws protecting employees which meant no opening on Sundays.  I don't think it has anything particularly to do with square metreage as out local BricoMarche (a VERY big store - hypermarket proportions) is open on Sundays but staffed by the franchisee, his missus and their son and their dog!  Our LeClerc just extends it's daily opening hours during the summer but does not open on Sunday.  I think many of the small shops we see open on Sundays are open because they are staffed by the owners not employees.

[Deby]

When I returned to the UK recently I discovered Tesco Extra, a 24 hour shopping store with just about everything.  I went and got some bits at 10pm in the evening and it was lovely as my 2 children were tucked up in bed. There were lots of staff too, mainly women 30+. So I reckon hubby was at home minding the kids, whilst mum went  out to do her shift and earn some cash to spend on their kids.

Whether this detracts from the nuclear family and its values I am not sure, but the world is changing and needs to change to.

Deby

[shas]

hi again, if i have to go to intermarche on a sunday morning, which i try desperately not to do, it,s packed, so so busy, with mostly french, so they must love it, it,s certainly busier on a sunday morning, than any other day of the week.

 

                                        s..

[Teamedup]

A grand day out on a jour ferie around here seems to be to go to a hypermarché. Don't quite understand it myself, but there you go. I suppose at least in summer it is cool once you get inside.

[Vraititi<P>PSG till I die -fluctuat nec mergitur.<P>]

As Coluche used to say about his father in one of this memorable sketches (this one on Work and life in general in the 60's): 'Oh, my father, he deemed himself lucky, he worked part-time, 12 hrs a day, the rest of the time, he could do what the hell he wanted'

[Iceni]

Opening up on Sunday is only "keeping up with the Joneses". Leclerc does it because Shopi does etc etc. We do not spend MORE if shops are open 168 hours per week but they seem to think we will.

When we first left the land where the streets are paved with vomit it was a struggle to cope with Sunday closing etc but it only takes planning and acceptance of something we cannot change.

But it is still difficult on a Monday !! 

BTW I don't despise England, just a lot of the people living there.

John

not

[timc17]

We must live near Sharon. I was going to say the same thing about our Intermarche in St Savinien (dept 17).

The only odd thing is that it closes at 11.45 am not at 12.00.

 

tim

[shas]

hi Tim, we probably pass quite a lot whilst in intermarche, but not on a sunday.

 

                        :sharon,,   

 

 

 

[Miki]

".........When we first left the land where the streets are paved with vomit......".

Would that be Rennes, Montpellier, ou Marseilles ou Paris ou Bordeaux ou......................

[Russethouse]

John, I'm not sure if you are correct about spending, if income was just divided over more days then it wouldn't be worth while, but my feeling is that Sunday shoppers are 'leisure shoppers' often families or couples. Its the books, videos, DVDs, toys, clothes and seasonal items that seem to go at the weekend - not so much the basics.

BTW Supermarket fashions are proving quite a headache for high street stores. I often pick up T shirts for £3 or £4, in Tesco. You can understand the appeal for families who watch the pennies (don't we all ?).

[Baz]

I distinctly remember when I first bought my property in Aude in 1989 that Conforama in Narbonne  and similar outlets were open pm on Sundays as I purchased items for my home.I know this is no longer the case and has not been for years, but was wondering have the laws in France changed. I  find it frustrating that Bricolages are not open on Sundays when you need an urgent item.

Baz

[Iceni]

[quote]".........When we first left the land where the streets are paved with vomit......".Would that be Rennes, Montpellier, ou Marseilles ou Paris ou Bordeaux ou......................[/quote]

No Miki, just a village in North Essex. We live near a little town here and the only people we see drunk are men of a certain age - I know the kids have a good time, if they party in the hamlet you can hear them BUT even if they are doing it without parents, at a set time, 'she who must be obeyed' knocks on the door and it all goes quiet - for the teenagers it seems to be about 11 pm. I am amazed and impressed that this happens - we quite often lost a lot of sleep in our 'sleepy' little UK village for parties that went on all night. We once contacted the police as the noise was indescribable and they said they would do nothing as they did not have the manpower - there were just to many people.

John of course did not mention condoms or needles/gear - also littered the back streets and were sometimes thrown into gardens - ah the 'good old days' NOT.

I would expect all the above in a large town or city anywhere in the world - such are the times we live in.

Not John