was it really Carrefour that introduced the Hypermarket? I remember shopping in a Mammouth Hypermarche in Calais....donkeys years before I had heard of Carrefour...probably early 90s....
I think, Richard, that in many respects you are right. However, in reality I was making a point about things that are probably universally popular. It is somewhat different when a store sells electronic goods that are selling very well and then does not have accessories such as batteries. In my case it was not as if the line was at an end and gone, indeed they had them in one of the counter displays. Not stocking the batteries is a bit odd, or not. Bad comparison perhaps, but imagine a post office that only sold stamps for national deliveries. The issue is really about when there are necessary complementaries unavailable and when I introduced Philadelphia cheese I hardly expected a whole recipe club of cheesecake makers to spring up on something that was added unseriously.
Your business, as I understand it, having heard the same more or less from the owner of Gowlett Grain in Cambridgeshire over a few decades, and hypermarkets are a bit chalk and cheese. But yes, the buyers do go out and do quality deals in order to maximise profits, but then remember they equally have the 'lost leaders' that in your business you would have avoided. The lost leaders keep customers, the quality deals fill the tills.
Mark, with my hand on heart I can honestly say nothing here in France bugs me at all. I have had sat tv installed --no problems ------- I have Orange internet ---with an excellant English speaking helpline -- no problems. I have an insurance agent that looks after all my insurances, do i bother myself going from shop to shop in order to save ten Euros a year---No I don't --- he actually tells me if there is a cheaper option. I also have another agent that comes round EVERY year to fill my tax forms in for me --so no problems. My car is a Renault, I use the local Renault garage, which recently changed hands and actually had the new owner arrive at my house and tell me his service will as good as i had already recieved, --so no problem. I have used Credit Agricole since arriving in France, and the only problem i had was that they kept calling me a NON RESIDENT, until a lovely young lady sorted it out for me--so no problem there.
If something --smallish goes wrong, and i can't get it repaired, then i buy another, or go without, so no problem there.
Nope, i can honestly say i don't have a single grip about living here
In reply to Susan,
For twenty five years ran my own business as a 'grain Merchant", ( someone who buys arable crops from a farmer and sells them to the end user ).
The way it works is, you go to the end user, find out what type of grains he wants for what type of product, you then go to the farmer, test his grain, if it suits what you want , you make an offer, if it doesn't make the mark you tell him its not good enough, if he replies, which an awful lot did that it had been tested by --- So and So ---- and they found it worthy, I would ask them why they hadn't sold it to them, and the answer would be, in the main, that there might just be one or two "spots" in the pile that weren't good enough, and if it wee to fail the test at the mill etc it was being sent to and it was rejected it would then become a "distressed load" and would be sold off to the cheapest buyer , or returned to the farmer who would then have to pay ALL the haulage costs etc
The reason I tell you this is simply because the larger supermarkets in France, ( and i am generlaising) is their buyers go out and "do a deal" with a supplier, these deals are then distributed to the various outlets on a ("will it sell, won't it sell in this area basis). If they get it right, they sell out and then fill the shelf with the next deal.
Food instore is another thing, they know what sells and what doesn't in their shop, so you will get anomalies from area to areas but they will usually keep the same "variety" until its sales start to fall.
Now I will be honest with you,I don't really know if what i say is 100% correct, but from my twenty five years of being a buyer - seller , ( or middle man to others) I would think I am not far off the mark and that is why you get a lot of "NONS" when the product , or parts for the purchased item has been surpassed by the newest offer.
I must agree with everyone here about online shopping being your best bet when in doubt. I've had to turn to amazon for most of the things I can't find, or asked friends to bring what I need back from England or the US. Things that seem simple and we are used to having, not being available for whatever odd reason is just part of living here. :-/ Until that changes I shall continue to pay 5 euros for a tiny jar of peanut butter.
EDF and FT/Orange are exactly the same now as "The Electricity Board" and British Telecom (GPO) were pre-privatisation in the UK. Post-privatisation a totally different animal emerged literally overnight! (Mind you, that was back in the 80's in the UK :-) )
Richard, I think you kind of miss the point of this site. I have lived here for some years now & France IS my home, but, like anywhere, it is not perfect! (The banking system has me spitting blood at the moment). Here I am able to blow off steam in my native language to others, who may or may not be sympathetic, without the risk of upsetting the natives who, almost without exception, have made me welcome. It is like telling someone that if they don't like the smell don't breathe - the smell won't upset you, but you will die. The UK to me has far more cons than pros & even the Seychelles has little to offer unless you swim & tan. If you can honestly say that there is nothing at all in France which bugs you, you are indeed a lucky man!
We all love France, worts & all, even those of us who watch Sky & order stuff from Asda. No need to hire a white van - an entrepeneurial ex pat already does this!
No comment there, I had a huge problem with a psychopathe Monday about my dog, she followed me home even!!! Freaky!
I disagree because there is nothing like buying something in the stores, HUMAN contact.
With you there David. We lived in Wales for five years before here. The Welsh are incredibly polite as a rule. Put them in a supermarket and they become morose and disinterested. England before was no better. I unfortunately remember happy, friendly and extremely polite shop staff not that many years earlier. As for returns policy and what they will not take back by saying that customers should look at sell by dates instead of admitting sell by goods should be off shelves, well little to be said.