Do Auchan AND Cite Europe (Shopping in Calais)

Member Name: scotia1949

Product:	Shopping in Calais
Date:	16/06/01 (4371 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: cheap booze, good shopping

Disadvantages: watch out for Carrefour's prices

I live in Kent, about 30 minutes drive from the Channel ports so booze cruising about four or five times a year has become one of our leisure pursuits. A few years back Cite Europe opened up.

Now, to those of you who do not know it, Cite Europe is a nice modern shopping mall rather like Lakeside in Essex or Bluewater in Kent. It has some nice boutique types of shops, interesting clothes etc but its big attraction for British shoppers is the Carrefour Hypermarket.

When we first went to Calais we used to go to Auchan, previously called Mammouth, to do our shopping. After Cite Europe opened we skipped the town and went straight to there. Not so any more. On one occasion a year or so ago when we had left ourselves more time than we normally have to do our shopping I decided to revisit Auchan on my way back to the ferry. I was staggered to find that many of the prices were significantly lower than at Carrefour. My wife, for example, had just bought a 1 kg string of garlic at 40 francs and found the same product in Auchan at 30 francs. Most of the branded wines we had bought were 10 to 15% cheaper in Auchan.

There is one problem however, because of its size Auchan has nothing like the same selection of beers as Carrefour carries. so, now we have established some new ground rules for shopping in Calais. It is quite easy to go from the port to Auchan and then on to Cite Europe, it is a very small detour. So, now we get most of our wine at Auchan, browse round the other shops in Cite Europe, get our beer from Carrefour and come back via Auchan if there is anything we missed.

One other tip about going on a booze cruise is to buy very little from the onboard shop. There is not a lot on there which is cheaper than you will find it in France. Also, all the beer on board is sold in cans, I can always taste the tin, but most beer in France is sold in bottles. Spirits are also usually cheaper in Carrefour when you remember to adjust for different
bottle sizes.

So, take my advice, get your wine from Auchan, your beer from Carrefour, don't forget to check out some of the other shops in Calais town itself and go to Cite Europe for the other nice shops. Oh, and one last thing, do NOT give your custom to the Calais branches of British supermarkets, they charge prices midway between French and British prices, so you think it looks like a bargain until you compare it with French prices.

Summary: