The Experience:
Courtney and I visited several grocery stores and retail shops throughout the week, in addition to eating out at some restaurants, shopping at retailers like Pimkie, and seeing the open markets. Price Leader, a grocery chain owned by Casino, was our first grocery experience in France. I immediately noticed the grocery stores are much smaller in France, but carry more fresh products, like their large meat and cheese sections and have smaller aisles containing processed chips or cookies. There is also a large wine area, as one might expect for France! The products closest to the entrance were the staples, like wine, produce, and cheese. In America, often times you find the meat, breads, or junk food closest to the entrance in my experiences. More people used reusable shopping bags in France; in fact, I don't believe any grocery stores I have visited even offered to give plastic or paper bags, and we bagged our own groceries.
People have smaller shopping trips, and they often return to the grocery several times a week. In our first week, I have visited the grocery with our family twice, and they have gone shopping two or three times for cheese, bread, or wine without us as well! We purchased a lot of different foods, as Bernard, our host dad, wanted us to try everything special to France. Our bill was around 65 euros. This would be equivalent to a small to normal grocery bill in USD, but the other customers and cashier looked at us like we had an extravagant trip!
I also noticed that fruits were sold more individually, like tangerines. In the States, we have large bags or crates of tangerines, but here you just take as many as you like. They also place everything in plastic produce bags, even bananas. Courtney put a group of bananas straight into the cart, and Bernard went back to the produce section later to bag them up.
In all my shopping experiences, especially department stores and clothing shops, the salesman are less friendly and do not approach you as much. They do not usually greet you at the door or ask you how your shopping is going, like in America. Often times, I was relieved to keep to myself as I do not know much English and always felt rude when I could not communicate properly.
In general, most stores and restaurants in France are much smaller than the United States'. We did visit a mall, but even the large retailer chains didn't have multi-level stores or giant showrooms, like I would see in a mall in Chicago or even Cincinnati. Restaurants sometimes only have three or four tables inside, which is almost unheard of in the States.
The ambiance of grocery stores, retail shops, and restaurants is much quieter overall. People are not as loud in France, always keeping their voices down. When our American friends join us in restaurants in France, we always bring the noise level up and sometimes the French even look over at us during our meals. We then adjusted our noise level if we noticed people looking.
Another interesting shopping experience was when I visited the hypermarket with my family. It reminded me of a Sam's Club, a giant store with food, clothes, appliances, and everything you might need for your home. It was interesting that it was not a stand alone store though- it was built into the mall. I also saw a Carrefour near ESC that was built into a shopping center in the same manner. This is a different structure than an American super or hypermarket. All the markets seem to offer parking though, which is unusual compared to other small stores in France. The mall parking lot was really organized, counting the cars coming in and out and had an automatic ticker showing the number of free parking spaces. The hypermarket, E. Leclerc, had signs in French and English, making it a more comfortable shopping experience for me but this was the only shopping experience where I saw any English. I purchased a hair straightener at E. Leclerc, and when I checked out, the salesclerk said something in French. My host dad translated and said "your guarantee is in the box". This struck me as odd, because I have never had someone in the States remind me of the guarantee on a simple appliance like a straightener.
Reflection:
For one, I think many of these observations suggest that French people have different eating habits than Americans. They prefer quantity over quality, so they buy less food at a higher quantity. They also want fresher foods, like their cheese, wines, and meats. My mom at home often buys pre-packaged lunch meats for our family's lunches throughout the week, and I don't think that would be very common in France. They take the time to prepare their meals with fresh ingredients each day. This would also explain why they buy less at the grocery and make more frequent trips.
In America, I dread grocery shopping. It is an inconvenience, and I do not take time to pick out the best quality products. I usually get what is on sale or what I am used to buying. Our host family takes time when selecting his ingredients for a meal. He looks at where the food was grown and of the flavors present. I shop by calorie count or price tag only. I never pay attention to where my meat or produce originated.
In terms of ambiance and customer service, the French do not go out of their way to help initially, but will help when they are asked. They also do not draw a lot of attention to themselves, like being reserved or speaking at a lower volume at dinners or in public. The French may be more of an individualistic society than America. They do not feel the need to pry into other people's business, like their shopping experience, unless asked. This would also make sense why they do not want to be loud while out to eat, because they are more private and don't need the entire restaurant to hear their conversations.
The reusable shopping bags suggest the French place more value on eco-friendly lifestyles, wanting to protect the earth. There is a push for this in America as well, but our grocery stores do not force people to change their habits since they still always offer paper or plastic bags at the counter.
The smaller shopping trips could be due to the fact that they want fresher products, especially cheese which is very important to their dinners, or because they have smaller cars. A normal family grocery trip for my family would not fit in most European tiny cars. The large shopping trip we had hardly fit in our reusable shopping bag and the small trunk!
I believe the experience I had when I bought the straightener and the clerk reminded me about the guarantee being in the box may have been attributed to the French's emphasis on protection. They protect their rights, even the rights they have when they buy a product that could malfunction. As a consumer in France, you want to be sure you have rights if something goes wrong and are protected! A U.S. employee would never remind a customer of such a right.
