Bonjour mes amis! 25 days until I lift off from the US!
My “where do I purchase?..” question for today: grocery collapsible wheeled carry-carts. I am assuming, which is never safe, that these will be available at one of my local larger grocery outlets: SPAR Supermarché is very close, Aldi, or E.LeClerc are also closes and walkable - a much-bigger Intermarché in driving range.
Am I correct in my prediction?
Yes! That’s it. Clearly I didn’t even know the right name for it, since we have almost zero use for them in the US driving culture. Granny Cart also works (FML!)
Yeah, they’re available in larger supermarkets, plus shops like Centrakour stock them too if I remember correctly.
That’s what I call it to my missus… I refuse to be seen with her when she takes it out shopping.
Edit: think they’re also referred to simply as “chariot de course” in France.
Not Aldi, but ELeclerc and Super U. Possibly Action- is there an Action near you? That’s a good place to buy cheap starter stuff. One particular thing you might want that they have is an electric kettle (LED lights and glass, not plastic that would poison you) for like17e.
Awesome! I’ll have the kettle for the summer, but good to know for when I start stocking for my long-term place. I can use the summer to shop for deals. And I’ll be staying overnight the 29th in Limoges on the way down, and they DO have an Action. As well as all the big stores. I’ll probably be doing some significant shopping that morning since I can’t check into my “summer digs” until mid-afternoon. Thank you!
And from what I’ve seen, caddies are used by all adult age groups, not just by very old ladies as they are in the UK.
They are regularly used by all age groups in CH so long as they are walking.
Students use them a lot too for getting food shopping back to their digs/halls of residence. I might get one as I often walk to my local Super U but am stuck with how much I can carry in a bag whereas a trolly would be great for pack of water and other heavy items like tins. You can find them all over the place to buy and even in some of the baggage shops they often have stuff on promo (reduced but not officially sales). A lot of people also use them in the shops instead of proper shopping trolleys emptying them out at the till and having them verified empty.
It took me a couple of visits to realise that the deep handbaskets with extra long handles in SuperU have wheels on the bottom so you don’t have to carry them around. 
Make sure you buy the sort with 3 wheels on each side. They are made to make it easier to negotiate steps and they work well
My dog used to pee on them if the owners stopped to talk to us whilst I was out on a walk and met them coming from the village superette. He was a very crafty doggie, used to go behind the other person and pee on the rear, I don’t think he like them very much.
A luggage snob, who knew…
Should you want to look like a local, your chariot needs to be one with lots of French, franglais and English phrases about grocery shopping - ‘J’adore les shoppings’ etc.
However, every Friday morning an ambulance arrives for some unfortunate who was shopping on our local market, but I’ve yet to see a chariot with ‘Shop till you drop’.
My mother used hers for years. Quite expensive but long warranty and you can buy spares.
Great on stairs & heavy loads of drinks/water bottles.
correct
this looks awesome. TY!
That’s funny!
Bettina – thank you for the tip. May I ask what makes it ‘great on stairs’ vs other wheeled kinds? tia
