He deserves our support. He once spent 20 minutes putting together the glass door of our old oven which I had dismantled to clean it, and failed miserably to put it back together. It was a nightmare to reinstall.
He has also fixed plumbing leaks for us without a grumble. I feel shabby having asked for a discount now. But I thought it worth a try, and was not offended by his refusal.
I did ask about instalments, and his wife said, perhaps - but only two.
Thanks, Véronique.
We do the same. It has paid off as like you we have had loads of help, and they will come out to repair things, often quickly. Presumably that cost is for it to be delivered and installed? Not left outside your door as a 120kg dead weight wrapped in plastic.
But I do sometimes despair of small local businesses for not being a bit more flexible in the face of the threat of online shopping. They usually have something that they could have sweetened the deal with.
I always buy locally whenever possible. Buying online is a last resort for us.
I hope the price doesn’t go up before then.
Darty are also excellent for after sales service, being UK owned.
Jane, I agree Darty are excellent (no idea about UK link)… but the local man wins in this sort of situation.
If my oven breaks down, I want to be able to have the chap drop by asap… and, being local, he will do just that… 
We use local trades for most important bits and bobs and have never regretted it.
We try to use local wherever possible, but sometimes the range is limited.
Darty is no longer UK owned. It was taken over by FNAC in 2016 and is now known as Groupe Fnac Darty.
230 euros is at the very least the price of a few years’ goodwill, because he knows you made the choice. I’d have done the same.
Life is not cheap for anyone trying to run a business in France…
and we should remember that the small-shopkeepers cannot afford to make the same financial “offers” as the big Boys and the Internet etc etc…
It sounds as if Peter has had at least €230-worth of odd jobs in the past and could count on same in the future. The trader knows the internet prices of things he sells and is savvy enough to compete on service and after-sales. That €230 will come back over time …
A good example of when buying locally pays off - or would have if they’d done so.
At my boatyard I was a main agent for a range of marine diesel engines. One of my berth-holders asked me to quote to supply one. He came back with a lower price quoted by the factory [very naughty trick, factory undercutting agents]. The yottie asked if I would instal the engine. I declined on the basis that the after-sales on the installation would be my responsibility but without the benefit of the profit in supplying the engine or warranty back-up by the factory.
So these guys installed it themselves. They saved £200-300 on the engine but ended up with no after-sales cover. I can’t recall if they ever had any problems but one of these engines, supplied and fitted by me, broke down in a customer’s yacht at the approach to Dartmouth.
Going through that 200 metre gap is no problem when your motor is working fine. But drifting helplessly with a rising tide sweeping you on with no steering way, rocks on either side - terrifying. They were towed in by the lifeboat. I sent two guys off to fix the problem - a substandard valve spring, a warranty job.
I make no apology for being a ‘bargain loving Brit’. 
The last big item that I bought locally in France was an e-bike. I chose the local dealer because it was him that let me test ride several models and that I would prefer to have a ‘friendly’ expert close to hand. When he delivered the bike to my home I was delighted to see that he had gifted some extras including a spare inner tube, tyre levers and an under saddle bag to carry them.
I was delighted to discover afterwards that I could not have bought the same bike cheaper online.
Good exercise for the hands to dead your own bread! Mike Kearney
They have it in Inter usually in with refrigerated cakes or in smaller Intermarchés sometimes with deli things - you just need to ask them.
Keeping yeast in inconspicuous locations makes me think that the supermarkets make more profit from bread sales! But there seems to be a demand, otherwise they wouldn’t stock it.
Just seen some here in Germany, lots of it, 3 different brands - but if you didn’t KNOW it was hidden in the refrigerated shelves with glass doors below the coconut oil, above the becel margarine, between the butter and the tofu, you wouldn’t have a clue…
Checked in our Super U. It was next to the chilled pasta.
Warning to Supermarket Shoppers!
Supermarket automatic doors emit an ultrasonic beam that wipes short-term memory. This explains why you instantly forget everything you meant to buy and always end up at the checkout with a load of expensive stuff that you don’t need.
You can defeat this system by making a list before leaving home, but make sure that you have destroyed all previous lists that you find in your purse or pocket, because, once inside the supermarket, you will not be able to tell which is the latest one.
Finally, it is important to have the list in your hand before you pass through the automatic doors, otherwise you will forget that it exists.
Happy shopping, Folks!
And don’t forget your glasses either…
I was coming to that.
Some of the best bargains are above eye level. You need to wear your bifocals upside-down to be able to read the labels!
Other bargains are at ground level - good exercise for geriatric knees. . . .