Must say Im not surprised. I use all the shops/stores/supermarkets and markets available both in the UK and here. In the UK what I did notice is that Waitrose fresh fruit and veg and a lot of their perishables have a very short shelf life...so I am less inclined to use them for fresh goods. Aldi and Lidl have the freshest fruit and veg.
The difference isnt so much the goods....(though here I will say if you are looking for the best quality, M&S seems to offer real quality) its the customer service that you pay for....and that in my experience is better in Waitrose and M&S.
Heck, will get back to work... I agree Simon, it can be that way.
Where Carol N lives, between there and here and in a fairly large area 'circle' there are numerous markets. I use one on Friday nearby. Probably about 1:3 traders are at another local market on Thursday that I could use, many of them are also where Carol's local and next closest markets are. I noticed the same goods were different on Thursday and Friday at the respective markets. One Friday I plucked up courage and asked one of the people I use regularly. She simply told me that richer towns get higher prices, that where there are lots of foreigners and tourists even higher. I pointed out that I am a foreigner, but she pointed out that she charges the marked prices and not different ones for different people. That is a different price marker in another market. Anyway, very few foreigners use that market because it is not a place people go to.
I think far too many local markets are a terrible rip off because that is allowed. The same goods for different prices because the places are seemingly wealthier does not seem at all fair. Perhaps, looking at your description, they are playing that game there too?
Your experience sounds like a trip round dagenham markets, Simon.
For us the French are the most polite and friendly people in Europe. they just do not like one thing and that is when strangers come and tell them how to live and behave in their own country.
Nothing like a bit of sweeping generalisation Simon; We shop regularly at our weekly market. First class fresh local vegetables, local cheese producers, more than one excellent charcutier, good fish including lampreys and eels from the Gironde/Garonne/ Dordogne, poultry and prepared poultry items ready to cook and not overpriced.
Tut, tut you being ageist, old boy?
Whoops, I mentioned Vic's age - now I'm in trouble :-(
Well done Simon! Now you're getting the hang of this place. Treat it like "The last of the summer wine" or a teenage hang out where pearls of wisdom are often discovered & you'll be fine. I'm not sure C & J would agree with my analogy but that's my take on it. Make your own mind up which camp you think I'm in;-)
Not a bit of it John....my neighbours, (mostly) are delightful....but when we get together for drinks/meals etc they will tell us about all their bad experiences, the rude receptionist, the rip off merchant at garage, the cheating butcher...etc etc the thieving carpenter....it seems to be a national hobby having a good whinge.
My local farmer's market is by far cheaper, by far better quality, and no tat. (Apart from the guy who sells hens, he has an anchor tatooed on his forearm)
The tourists here thankfully either ski, or go out on the lake, so none of that garb either.
I just had to pop in during my lunch break to see how things have been. It is mixed, is it not? However, may I offer a distraction to the main conversation.
I used to live in East Anglia. I sometimes used to go to Bury St Edmunds to shop for a change. On the edge of Bury there is a large national food processing company. It used to strike me that just about every supermarket chain had trucks going in and out. I supposed it was to buy particular lines. I did not know people from the area so I could not ask. Then our village hall committee decided to serve drinks and food at one of their dos. Because alcohol was included for some reason the HSE had to come in, plus somebody from the local licencing authority and some of us from the council. Both the HSE and booze people came from Bury. So I asked if they ever had to work at the food processor. The HSE woman laughed and said it was every other day for her. So I asked what it was they made at the place that all supermarkets collected. Second laugh. She said that most of the supermarket own brands are made by that company around the UK but just packaged for them in their own packaging. In Newmarket I had a choice of Tesco or Waitrose. I asked if they did both of those, she said they did, along with Sainsbury, Asda, Morrison, Budgens....
I already had a problem with my local Waitrose in Newmarket. Their checkouts are at the street end but their parking is behind the store which means that if the weather is bad, which it is very often in the east, to get to the car meant a good soaking on the way there. In fact, one might be soaked going into the store as well if it was snowing, raining or wet making when one arrived. So logic told me that with a big, user friendly car park, comparable service and lower prices I would use Tesco, end of story.
Now for the bit that still tickles me. Even when they knew about the Bury company and goods being one and the same, some people were willing to pay more for Waitrose goods because they believe nonetheless they are better and classier! Eh? Anyway, the Intermarché concession owns Netto and if one keeps a weather eye goods arriving in Intermarché transporters give the game away. Yet I know French folk who turn up their noses at going to Netto for the same goods as Intermarché in different packaging for a lower price. So, what is it that the marketing world does to hold people in thrawl to the notion of the classier and less classy stores? I have also found over the years that some of the same people, here like the UK, would rather go to a local health food or farm shop than to a local market unless it is one in particularly well favoured towns. I go to a market in a boring, scruffy little place where I get the same goods cheaper than the same stallholders sell for at other markets and considerably cheaper than the health food place or the growing number of 'farm shops' who source at the same places as market traders.
So, what is it that makes all of these demarcations work? Perhaps I am just a cheapskate but why give the money away when we can get the same cheaper even if the packets are uglier?
Now, back to work...
Its a nice add on to have someone offer to pack...especially when I have a housefull of people and am spending 300 euros and am trying to unpack the trolly one end and pack stuff at the other end. When I have done a big shop in the UK, for the last 15 years, Ive either been provided with help by the cashier who has offered to pack it for me or they have called for someone to come and pack. Its something I can live without, but just makes the shopping experience harder.
The self scan seems fraught with problems. I only use it if I have a couple of items, otherwise I find it easier to queue up for a cashier. I still dont understand why there is an assumed connection between pay and with how pleasant staff are going to be. Do people really think that someone is going to be polite and helpful as opposed to sulky and rude if they receive an extra 10 euros an hour?
The very pleasant and friendly staff we have in our local Carrefour are I expect, paid similar amounts to the cashiers in the Intermarche in St Pardoux 10 kms down the road, who I have always found miserable, sharp with customers and sometimes downright rude. If you have a pleasant personality, it shows and ditto the other way around.
Is that the one with a twin sister Norm? I once went out with one of a pair of identical twin sisters, now that was interesting ;-)
Rabbit food? it's called salad. In saying that, we grow our own.
Our local butchers is cheaper, and fresher than carrefour... but perhaps it has to do with the fact that almost everyone buys their meat there, thus bringing the price down. The greengrocer is the same. I understand that if the majority of people in a town buy from carrefour and co, the butcher will have to put the price of the three steaks he sells in a week up.
I suppose it is the agreement of the majority of the town, as a group, to support the local businesses that keeps them going. As long as the greengrocer has to throw food out, of course he is going to have to charge more. I am lucky to live in a place where the only things we buy in supermarkets regurlarly are tea bags and cleaning products. Perhaps a box of matches now and then to light the fire.
Have to agree that there are no bargains to be had in the local butchers, greengrocer, markets etc. We try and use ours as the quality is so much better - however it is so much more expensive too and as for meat from the butchers, it remains a special treat.
That begs a question Norman 
Bad choice in neighbours Carol. Mine are full of the joys of Spring all year round
I wasn’t referring to you Catherine. It was the original “bad hair day” post
Personally i loathe all the supermarkets, like Catharine as a working mum there are so much more important/interesting things to do and the day they offer a full delivery service - like in the UK :-) (big smiley as I have never lived in the UK as an adult anyway) I will never set foot one in one again. I do use the click and collect but can't even get fresh milk or weetabix so have to go into the damn place as well as pick up the shopping! Fortunately my PG Tips get delivered by all my visitors.
No self service, shopping delivered free of bags into my kitchen, heaven! I wouldn't even mind the odd error for that.
As mentioned earlier being married to one is very enlightening!!
You obviously havent met my French neighbours here John....I have said to them before the Brits are amateurs when compared to the French in the moaning/complaining stakes, they seem quite pleased with my comment!