Are your local food markets alive & well - or dying?

General Discussion
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Our local market in the v small town near where we live in Seine Maritime, (which we try to regularly support), is gradually, week by week, fading away. It’s just 1 fruit and veg stall now. The stallholders told us that they, along with many other stall holders locally, now typically lose money almost every market day,including even (in their case) at the nearby renowned Neufchâtel cheese market. They believe there has been a sharp decline in regional footfall at rural markets in Normandy, particularly since last summer, with people abandoning markets (even more so than previously) for the convenience of supermarkets. They seemed to think this is a pattern that is not repeated elsewhere in France, though I do not know the basis of their view.

Out of interest, for those of you that regularly visit rural markets, (as opposed to city/tourism hotspots) are they alive and well in your area, or are they dying, as seems to be the case in ours? It would be a very sad situation if the latter is/becomes widespread.

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Our small village started a weekly market 2 years ago on a Wednesday. I’m told it hadn’t had a market for over 20 years previously. It’s doing really well, which I know is bucking the trend. There is a large open area to one side of the centre of the village where the market is held with several Cedar trees that provide shade in the summer. Our village Christmas markets, two of them, were also really well attended. I think the local association have put a lot of work into making it happen and then making it successfull.

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Sadly I don’t use our 2 markets each week any more because they still, since covid, do not allow me to handle, or even get close to, the produce. Although they never willingly sold me bruised or otherwise unsuitable fruit and veg there were many occasions when it wasn’t what I thought I needed when viewed from a distance. One of them, the smaller Thursday market trader, wasn’t there last week I noticed but I have no idea why. And that was another point against, I had been let down before because they had decided to take a holiday without any warning.

So sadly it is the supermarket for me these days though I might check out the Sunday market one week to see if the restrictions have been lifted.

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On our Cluny market there are two huge fruit and veg stalls where the produce is bought in and the quality is usually better in the supermarket.
There are excellent local cheese and meat farmers and a small local veg grower.
There is a wonderful Scottish fish smoker, but he is very expensive and a deer farmer.
There is none of the wonderful stalls piled high with Mediterranean fruits and vegetables that one thinks of as a French market.

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Note to self: Must remember to avoid smoked fish sold by deer farmers :thinking:

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?? Two stalls or no stalls?

Our weekly market is very small, but has what we need - a fantastic cheesemonger, decent fish, wood fired bread, and a mediocre veg stall. Oh, and a meat one which we don’t use. However in recent years it has grown to include local organic veg producers, honey and goat cheese.

It survives because of the cheesemonger, who brings customers in from far and wide. Often holding a long list of orders from others in their village, which is rather time consuming if you end up behind one of them.

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I have been very impressed with the Saturday market in Figeac where we hope to settle. Possibly not the cheapest in the area but quite extensive with a good selection of food items including organic produce.
Last September on the way back to Caen we stayed at Vannes and the market there was so popular it was an effort to make our way around the stalls with the number of shoppers.

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Morning All

Our local market in La Haye Pesnel is much smaller than it was we we bought our house in 2004.

However, since covid it has stabilised with excellent, fruit and veg, meat,fish, sausage van, cheese, and several small local suppliers.

Well worth a visit, and holding it’s own

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Actually this thread reminds me that what I do miss are the ambulant vans. When we first moved here the baker’s van came by three times a week, grocer twice and butcher and fishmonger once each. The grocery van is still going - did really well during Covid - but all the others are gone.

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The local market in our village has shrunk during the time we’ve been here but still has several very good stalls as there is a fish supplier based in the village and also a local cheese producer. The mairie is encouraging it and it’s certainly better than it was during covid. No problems whatsoever with the food quality and the fruit and vegetables are seasonal and ripe, which is what we like. We rarely use a supermarket for fresh food.

The two other nearest towns/villages with markets, Gavray and Villedieu-les-Poêles seem still to have pretty good markets with an excellent variety of stalls. Definitely not dying :smiley:

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Our local town market on a Saturday is extensive. I would think about 10 fruit and veg stalls and the largest has about 6 tables of produce. There are several cheese stalls, meat stalls (raw and cooked) , fish stalls, bread stalls. Specialist stuff like olives, nuts, oils, Chinese Vietnamese. etc There’s also an extensive non-food section, mattresses, clothing, leather goods, small electics, etc etc. It runs to several streets.
The Sunday market at Issigeac is similar.

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Our 84 smallish village (~2000+) has a weekly market.

Mainly food, veggies, chicken rotisserie, fresh fish, farm eggs, artisanal bread (even though we have 3 resident boulangeries!), wines, cheeses, local olive oil (of course) and honey etc.There is even an Italian chap with a travelling store of Italian fresh pastas, hams and cheeses and more. In winter there is mainly just the food stalls but they continue through every week except the Christmas day.

In summer, the market greatly enlarges, augmented with things like espadrilles, basketry, pottery and many various appeal items. There are always multiple sellers of seasonally suitable clothing on offer, linens in summer and woollies in winter.

The demographic - A small , 300 year old villege, now mainly permanent residents (70%+) with some maisons secondaires and almost no gîtes. We have a crêche, primary and secondary school, with many children within walking distance. There are almost no unoccupied houses and nothing derelict. A lot of homes are old houses divided into apartments, particularly for some older folks. There are enough people, here and in the surrounding area, to support a butcher, 3 boulangeries, 6 restaurants (4 of which stay open in winter), 2 épiciers and a lavandière.

The village is 3km from a small town and 5km from the larger Carpentras. All have weekly markets, many the same traders. Carpentras market is wonderful because it is vibrant and reminds me of Morocco in lots of ways.

We choose to support out local traders, even though it may cost a bit more but it is good not to drive multiple times a week just for food. We use Grand Frais for ready made fresh dishes and Auchan for cleaning materials of all kinds. The doggies get their croquettes online :paw_prints: (and I’m afraid the carbon footprint may be higher than ours because it trucks in from Germany :face_with_open_eyes_and_hand_over_mouth:)

@George1 , I hope this helps your research!

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We go to Figeac market every Saturday, principally for bread, porc noir wine, and cos it’s a lovely place, with lots of good shops too. At the moment there are fewer stalls, but that’s the same every year in January and it picks up towards Easter as the tourists start to arrive

However we do the bulk of our food shopping on Decazeville’s small Tuesday and large Friday markets, which are less picturesque, but cheaper, and where there are far more local Lot Valley farmers selling veg that we probably saw growing the day before when walking the dog in the fields below Livinhac-le-Haut. There’s also a lot of local beef and veal, cheeses and charcuterie from the Aveyron and the Cantal. Over the past ten years we’ve seen a big increase in local organic produce and and particularly heritage tomatoes. Decaz isn’t a pretty place, but it has an excellent, thriving market.

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Yep Mark, Figeac is lovely , I’ve been to the market a few times when in the area, but to say ‘Decazeville is a less picturesque place’ is probably the understatement of the millenium ! It’s a dump !

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As it happens, our village market is/was Wednesday morning. A few stalls including a good fruit and veg gig with lots of local produce, butcher, volailler, baker, cheese stall and a traiteur as standard. Better weather sees additional stalls like épicerie, soap maker, knife grinder and clothes seller +

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Our village (37) has a small shop but no bar or restaurant. We have a weekly market, butcher, veg, goats cheese, “local produce” and every other week a fish/general stores van, all great.

The butcher is excellent if a little pricey. I’m pretty sure the veg guy grows much of what he sells, again a bit pricey but exceedingly tasty.

Long may they keep going!

Our favourite supermarket is Grand Frais but the nearest is almost 60km away so special occasions only or to coincide with a big brico visit. Otherwise we find E.Leclerc is our favourite by a tiny margin. We find though that the supermarkets vary so much branch by branch that it’s really quite difficult to choose the best. E.Leclerc in Avranches when we were in Normandy and now E.Leclerc in Chatelleraut are pretty good, especially their fish counters.

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Thank you very much to everyone who kindly responded with helpful comments to my question about the health of markets in your area. My sense from the informal snapshot of your experiences is that our local situation in this part of Normandy - ie of a market that is fast dying - is not, fortunately, widespread…Some of you reported markets that had shrunk, some sustained largely by one or two particularly sought after stalls, a sharp decline in ‘ambulant’ sellers. Others reported markets that are fortunately well supported and in good health. Some commented on the practical disadvantages of markets over supermarkets.

I wonder if part of the difference between our local experience and elsewhere is a) that the small town (@1850 population) here is trying to create/establish a market where one probably hasn’t previously existed; and b) geographical location. The northern area of France between the Seine and Somme that we’re in, does not have perhaps the most ideal climate, favourable to either outdoor markets and/or their produce, that can be found well south and west of Normandy…

(Incidentally I also see from the Users Map on this site that I’m one of the most northerly members, and that the bulk of members seem to be in the south and west.)

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Hi George

The bulk may be down south, but the quality is in Normandy !!!

Tin hat on and secured

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I’ll be going up in the world in the not too distant future then🙂

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I fully agree with @andyw and @mark ! I think it might be the difference between Basse Normandie and Haut Normandie, even though, in principle, neither of those exists now, However, my knowledy of the NOrmandie north of the Seine is minimal and we are hoping to discover more of it this year in our new micro caravan. I shall look out for markets especially :rofl:

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