Shopping in Calais

Middy

Also, newspapers don't do the deals anymore where you buy 20 papers for the coupons and travel for £10. My parents did this through the DM or Express - their neighbour gave them the coupons and for £10, they also got a free case of wine,

Tiexen

Middy wrote: »

Also, newspapers don't do the deals anymore where you buy 20 papers for the coupons and travel for £10. My parents did this through the DM or Express - their neighbour gave them the coupons and for £10, they also got a free case of wine,

They still do:

The P&O/Daily Mail offer’s valid for a car and up to nine people travelling until Thurs 29 March 2012 (excludes half-term dates Fri 10 - Sat 11 Feb and Sat 18 - Sun 19 Feb). You must book in advance - you can't get this deal at the port.

Obukit

Definitely worth it last time we went - Carrefour Calais we got decent red (equiv to £5 a bottle here) for 80p a bottle, nice red (equiv to £8 a bottle here) for £1.35 and really good sparkling white for 95p. Really worth taking some glasses, buying a few to try in the car park and then stocking up on what you like though, if you can get over the weirdness of using your dashboard as a bar.

Probably not worth it for only 6 cases though, you need to stock up. Don't worry about limits other than the weight limit for your car - if you take proof you're organising a wedding and not selling the alcohol you will be fine. We filled a van but Customs were fine after seeing receipt for venue hire.

Tony474

One quick thing that may be worth mentioning here. In Carrefour at Calais/Mivoix yesterday, they were running a BOGOF promotion on certain wines. BUT this is not recognised at the checkout - you need to go to the Customer Services desk to claim the refund for the "free" second item in each instance. However, this information isn't posted anywhere - and our eyesight and French are both fine.

Fortunately my wife and I always check our till receipts carefully, but it looks suspiciously as if Carrefour are cynically relying on shoppers not doing so and in consequence inadvertently paying the full price for the notionally free second item. Seems a wee bit naughty to me.

lin.c

When I still drank caffeinated coffee, there was a vaccuum pack which came out to about 70p a package - I was in the habit of purchasing about 10-12 in one go back then. It wasn't Carrefour's own brand, which was still good value, but another brand which was wonderful. Just slightly smaller than the usual vaccuum packs but excellent value for money :cool:

hkminca

I am going next month, will be going to Majestic as they always have good deals and free tastings! Been using them for years, they have a few favourites of mine and I sill think it's cheaper over there, but then I din't spend more than £3 a bottle.
I also tend to just buy pate, olive oil, stinky sausage, different yogurts - love the pistachio ones, and a few other things like bread and cakes. I'd love the prawns but don't think they'd survive the journey.
I also go to a Garden Centre in Calais, they have a good choice of plants which are always further on than UK ones, plus pots etc you can't get over here. Bought window boxes you hang over walls from there years ago - still hardly ever see them in the UK, but loads of different ones over there and ideal for use on brick walls.
They DIY store Leroys also has some interesting things too, more for a browse for ideas and different styles.
Depends what you are after, but there are still plenty of bargains to be had if you shop about. We also found Carrefore had some good clothing bargains. OH got 2 nice coats for 6E and they look like they cost £100, he was well pleased with them.

Edwardia

It's not worth it to go over just to get booze/food now unless you live near a port and get a cheap deal. If you like products such as Banania, cassoulet, duck confit etc that you won't find in UK try a service aimed at French expats (about 300,000 live in UK, mostly London) eg https://www.frenchclick.co.uk

If you live in London suggest nosing around in Kensington.