Shopping in Calais?? Worthwhile?

Gepetto

Gepetto

Gepetto

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My wife asks if anyone on here does any shopping in Calais?

She has specifically mentioned a place called Cite Europe, which I am assuming is a big shopping complex. I'd like to find out if anyone has any experience of this place, as I don't particularly wish to traipse all that way to discover the same quality and prices I can get in the likes of Sainsescorrisons! :D

We are not interested in the alcohol or cigarette prices, which do seem to be the main drawcard to a lot of people, but we would like to find out if there are different varieties of food available, and whether anyone thought it was a worthwhile trip. :cool:
 
cakes / pastries (glorious desserts - esp tarte au citron / au pomme)
creme fraiche / fresh butter / cheese - the obvious choices, but SO tasty
nuts / sweets - sugared almonds, candied nuts, all loads cheaper than here
plants / gardeny type stuff - their versions of homebase / b&q are so much better than ours

my parents do the odd day trip over to france - and that's what they fill the boot up with! dont know if they've ever done he place youre asking about though.

oh, and randomly - apparently if you want a new bathroom suite, plumbing type goods, loos, bidets, baths are all a lot cheaper than you can buy them in the uk
 
If it's the place I'm thinking of it's basically a huge mall complex on the outskirts of Calais. Not particularly exciting nor particularly cheap.

BTW now is a really bad time for shopping on the continent with the strong euro.
 
Gepetto said:
My wife asks if anyone on here does any shopping in Calais?

She has specifically mentioned a place called Cite Europe, which I am assuming is a big shopping complex. I'd like to find out if anyone has any experience of this place, as I don't particularly wish to traipse all that way to discover the same quality and prices I can get in the likes of Sainsescorrisons! :D

We are not interested in the alcohol or cigarette prices, which do seem to be the main drawcard to a lot of people, but we would like to find out if there are different varieties of food available, and whether anyone thought it was a worthwhile trip. :cool:
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Went there on my year 8 french trip and bought a ton of fireworks & firecrackers. Awesome place :D:D
 
Its a vast site. Lots of bargains, but a lot of things like clothing are mega expensive.

Look for Chiniose cake (i think its spelled like that) its the dogs danglies!
 
Thanks guys, much appreciated. Grimley, thanks for that link. SWMBO will look up the info/dates for the markets. :D
 
Shopping in France:

Beer - Forget it, UK supermarket special offers and deals are just as good if not better.
Wines - Some sparkling can be had at some good prices, however good UK prices in supermarkets almost makes this a no go either.
Cigarettes - As expensive in France as they are the UK.
Chocolate - Special stuff is expensive, but nice. Regular stuff no cheaper than in the UK.

If you want cigarettes then go for an hour drive down the road and pop into Belgium - much cheaper.
Alcohol - Tesco, Asda are usually your best bet.
 
Fags are still cheaper in France than the UK... a carton of 200 Marlboro costs about £38 whereas they'll be about £55 over here. However, you're right that Belgium is cheaper than France. Andorra is even cheaper than Belgium due to things being tax free! :eek:
 
stoofa said:
Beer - Forget it, UK supermarket special offers and deals are just as good if not better.
.
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what?

you can not get 24 bottles of stubies for 5euros in England. Or 12 normal bottles for the same price. That's stella, san miguel, holstens etc.
Wine is also a lot cheaper than even supermarket offers.
 
scorza said:
BTW now is a really bad time for shopping on the continent with the strong euro.
Click to expand...
Or more accurately, the manipulation of the market to decrease the strength of the pound to bring it in line with their vision of a world currency.
 
We were going over to France once a month to the cash and carry for stock for our shop, but haven't been since the New Year due to the poor Euro rate. Everything there is expensive now and not worth the trip.

If you must go, you could try Marques Avenue which is an outlet centre not far from Cité Europe.

Oddbins staff are really helpful if you would like some advice on wines and they all speak English.

The Hypermarchés have some good offers on, so they are worth a try too.
 
AcidHell2 said:
what?

you can not get 24 bottles of stubies for 5euros in England. Or 12 normal bottles for the same price. That's stella, san miguel, holstens etc.
Wine is also a lot cheaper than even supermarket offers.
Click to expand...

I thought we were talking about real beer/lager - not something somebody has ****** into a small "stubby" bottle.
With wine, again I thought we were talking about something drinkable - not something you throw down your throat in an attempt to get as drunk as possible as quickly as possible.

If we are talking about something of at least a little quality then I stand by my claim - you can get things as cheap in the UK as you can in France.
If you're talking about classic "cheap plonk/beer" then fine - yes you can get it cheaper in France as we have no equivalent in the UK as usually we demand at least a little quality.
 
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