Paris - Food shopping

Shopping for food in Paris is fun, fun, fun. The city, despite its size and modernity, has retained the pleasure and charme of the weekly market stalls of green-grocery and other fresh produce which makes shopping for food a weekly adventure

In your neighborhood, no matter where you live in the city, the market takes place twice a week.

At the market stalls is generally not possible to pay with a credit card, but few will be equipped to accept it (cheese, meat and fish stalls woud in general have it).

Another fantastic service you can enjoy in town is the home delivery of your grenngrocery shopping (including the crates of botteld water... although the quantity might be limited) from the local supermarket.

Depending on the amount you spend you might have it offered or there might be a minimal charge to it.

Ethnic food (meaning anything that is not part of the french culture of food) could be found in the various corners of Paris with isolated shops here and there.

In general if you are interested in Asian food and spices your areas of interests are tthe 4th arrondissment and the 13th (close to Place D'Italie), Indian spices and

Most hypermarkets (hypermarchés) like Carrefour or Auchan, are placed outside the city boundary and you can reach them by public transport and arrange for a fee to have the shopping delivered at home, while supermarkets (supermarchés) are scattered here and there around town, they come in different sizes, btin general they are small (common brands are Petit Casino, Monoprix, Champion), in every areas there are also shops that sell a bit of everything and they might be opened longer hour.

Most shops are closed on sundays and the opening hours are generally not past 22:00 on some days, where regularly they shut down around 8/8:30 pm.

When buying your fresh produce in supermarket you might have to weight and place the price sticker on your bag, or this is done for you at the fruits and vegetable stalls or they will be weighted and priced by the cashier when you are ready to pay. To avoid mistakes make sure you find out before getting in the queue what is the requirement in the supermarket you are in.

Trolleys are available at the entrance of the supermarket and you need either a 1 euro coin or you can ask at the information/help desk of the supermaket and they will give you a plastic coin with the supermarket logo which you can keep for future uses (saves the pain of having to look for the coin that is never there when you neet it.)

Payment is done by cash, checks and credi card (called carte bleu). For checks be sure you have the ID on you as it might not be accepted (driving licences are no longer considered valid ID documents)

Picard is a chain of shops selling frozen foods, and they operate just like a supermarket.

There will also be an open-air market near where you live, these usually operate 2 or 3 mornings a week, and I highly recommend you visit them, even if you are a little wary of buying anything at first. I fed my family for three months with just this amount of French! When it comes to paying, they will show you the ticket from the machine, so you can give them the money.

The stalls at these open-air and covered markets are the smaller equivalents of the small specialized shops. You can find the best selection of olives and dried fruits, a wonderful range of bread; stalls selling only mushrooms, 6 kinds of snails ready stuffed and requiring only five minutes in the oven, home made brownies in 4 flavours, stalls that sell only potatoes, or onions, as well as the more run-of-the-mill fruit and vegetable stalls. Most stall owners prefer you not to touch or handle the produce, but other stalls offer you basket for you to select your own. So a good guide is, if you see baskets, then pick your own, if not then ask. The stall owners are very friendly and keen to help, remember it is in their interest that you buy and buy regularly, so don't be embarrassed by your inadequate French, they will help you. The basic French you need to know is in the table above.

Covered and open air food markets by "Arrondissment" 

2^nd Montorgueil - rue Montorgueil 
3^rd Enfants Rouges - 39 rue de Bretagne 
5^th Maubert - place Maubert  / Monge - place Monge / Port-Royal - opposite Port-Royal hospital 
6^th Saint-Germain - 3 rue Mabillon  / Raspail - bd Raspail, rue de Cherche-Midi, rue Rennes 
7^th Saxe-Breteuil - avenue de Saxe, avenue Segur, place     de Breteuil 
8th Europe, 1 rue Corvetto 
10^th Saint-Quentin -  85bis blvd Magenta  / Alibert - rue Alibert, rue Claude Vellefaux 
11^th Belleville, blvd de Belleville  / Bastille - blvd Richard-Lenoir, rue Amelot 
12^th Beauvau-Saint-Antoine - rue d'Aligre and rue de Cotte  / Daumesnil - blvd de Reuilly, rue de Charenton, rue Amelot, rue Saint-Sabin  / Cours de Vincennes, blvd de Picpus, rue Netter 
13^th Bobilot, rue Bobilot, rue de la Colonie 
14^th Alesia - rue d'Alesia / Edgar-Quinet - blvd Edgar-Quinet
15^th Convention  rue de la Convention, rue Alain Chartier, rue Abbe Groult  / Dupleix-Grenelle, bd Grenelle / Saint-Charles - rue Saint-Charles, rue de Javel 
16^th Passy - rue Bois-le-vent and rue Duban  /  Auteuil - rue Auteuil, rue Donizetti, rue la Fontaine / President Wilson - ave President Wilson 
17^th Batignolles, 96 bis rue Lemercier   / Berthier - Porte d'Asnieres, bd Bertier 
18^th La Chapelle - 10 rue de l'Olive  /  Orano - blvd Orano, rue de Mont-Cenis, rue Ordener 
19^th Riquet -  42 rue Riquet  / Secretan-  46 rue Bouret, 33 ave Secretan /  Jean-Jaures
20^th Pyrenees - rue de l'Ermitage, rue de Menilmontant

Scottish, Irish, British and other specialties shops

Comptoir Irlandais
157 Blvd Voltaire
75011 Paris
Tel: 01 4371 2581

The Gourmet Shoppe
139 rue Ordener
75018 Paris
Metro: Jules Joffrin/Mairie du XVIII^eme
Tuesday to Friday (10h30-13h00)-(16h00-19h30)
Saturday (10h30-13h30) - (16h00-19h30)

Saveurs d'Irlande et d'Ecosse
5 Cite du Wauxhall
75010 Paris
Metro: Republique/Jacques Bonsergent (close to the 6 Blvd.  Magenta)
Tuesday-Friday (10h00-14h00) - (16h00-19h00)
Saturday 11h00-15h00, 16h00-19h00

The Real McCoy
194 rue de Grenelle
75007.
This small shop stocks mainly food from North America but also some British brands. 

Grand Epicerie (Le Bon Marche)
22 rue de Sèvres
75007
Metro Sèvres-Babylone.
Extensive international selection on the ground floor. Excellent wine selection and one of the best place for good whisky (even cheaper than in Scotland ...)

Tang Freres
48 av Ivry
75013
Chinese supermarket in one of the two main chinese quarter in Paris. Also available an extensive selection of Indian, Thai, Japanese and other oriental ingredients both preserved and fresh. Very reasonably priced, so it is well worth the trip. The surrounding area thrives with shops and restaurants where the oriental theme and the affordable prices are the common thread