I went to a Vente D’Usine this morning with my neighbour.
It took just over an hour to get there and when we arrived it was mayhem.
It was a good thing we went early and on the first day.
It was at the factory for Le Chat lingerie and nightwear and there were chic french women driving expensive cars looking for bargains.
I already knew of Le Chat because I had bought a nightdress in TKMaxx in UK and it stood out for its quality.
I found several things for myself and a present for my daughter.
It took us over an hour to pay for our purchases and their card machine broke down as well, so we all had to pay by cheque.
We have the factory for Emile Henry about the same distance at Marcigny, but I already have enough kitchen stuff, so I have never been.
What do you have near you where you can find bargains?
What a great topic. I look forward to learning what’s available.
Even though we don’t live in France, I know of a factory outlet store and twice-yearly sale in the area we visit most often. Matfer-Bourgeat has a factory with an outlet store at Longny au Perche,.
Matfer-Bourgeat produces and sells equipment and tools for professional kitchens, some of it of their own manufacture. Plenty of things they sell are also suitable for home kitchens. Matfer has 6 factories in France and possibly they have similar big sales at their other factories, but I only know of the Longny site.
Twice a year Matfer in Longny holds a braderie. If we’re in France at that time, we go! We can usually find some lightweight thing to bring home, but even if we buy nothing, it’s so much fun just to shuffle along the narrow aisles with hundreds of other shoppers and gawk. Need a 6’ long paddle for putting your bread into your large oven? A massive cutter for chips? A large couscoussier for 154 euros? Want a baking tray that’ll let you bake 8 baguettes at once? Need a salad spinner that holds 10 liters? A powerful vacuum cleaner that picks up all the flour you left on your bakery floor? We often find home-cook-sized cake pans, glassware, china, and excellent knives.
There’s a festive atmosphere at this two-day sale. The factory employees seem to be having fun doing something different from their usual jobs. They run the cash registers, direct traffic, answer questions. You can buy crepes at one table. An organization of retired chefs staffs a counter where they use Matfer equipment to make little snacky things to hand out to shoppers. There’s always a table offering wines to taste. Last spring an organization that has built a huge woodburning oven, 3 tons but somehow transportable, parked it outside and baked and sold good bread.
We have the Repetto (ballet pumps and shoes, now bags etc too) factory in northern Dordogne near Excideuil, they have sales from time to time.
Because we are close to plastics valley we have quite a few factories for garden furniture, parasols and strangely wooden garden furniture, plus EDA who do a huge range of plastic goods like kitchen and office storage.
They have factory shops and once a year a sale day/ weekend. The serious shoppers are there at 7.00am! We rolled up around 11.00 but still managed to get a 300€ garden parasol for 80€ so were quite happy.
We also have factory shops for Smoby and Vilac (toys) which are particularly good for christmas!
There are a few Outlet shopping centres in France but they’re way more expensive than those in the UK or the US even though they’re selling the same stuff.
As an ex-professional cook, that sounds like my idea of heaven.
Although, as I said I have most of the stuff I now need and sometimes it is lent out for friends who are having large family gatherings.