I never saw so many proposed services in Lyon and so I immediately decided to try a nifty service offered by Monoprix, a large grocery chain in France, which enables you to purchase online and then pick-up in the store.
I decided to avoid the surcharge and costs associated with delivery and opt for the retrait courses service offered for FREE from 30€ worth of groceries.
So basically it all starts from their website: http://courses.monoprix.fr/ where you create a user login and pick the magasin de retrait close to your area. Since I'm near Cambronne in the 15th, I was lucky to get one 1/2 mile from my home.
Most all the products I use are on the site, conveniently located down the e-aisles, much like any online service. I created a list and just starting saving away, quickly adding up all the groceries and compiling 35€ worth of food to pick up on a Tuesday night after work.
Next, you pay, just like any service a little area to pop in a debit card, and *poof* there is even an option to replace any item unavailable with the next best thing, which I chose not too.
Two days later you show up in the store, head to the "retrait courses" telephone box and press the button. Name, order number, and while you watch the painstakingly long line in the evening hours, the groceries show up within 10 minutes ready to be taken away. Sign on the dotted line, head home within 10 minutes.
The benefits are obvious, but to list a few:
- Weekends not being spent hauling groceries and waltzing around the store
- Extra "chocolate" doesn't suddenly get bought
- More points are available on online products, so I've been able to get 5€ off on groceries after a few purchases
- Easy to keep track of consumption times (to know when to order things)
I believe many of the other grocery stores offer the same type of service, but it depends on the area you are located.
I still recommend Boucheries for meat products, simply for the quality.
a+
Sounds good, except for the chocolate part. Sometimes that's the best part of grocery shopping!
ReplyDeleteOnline grocery shopping is great! The only downside I've found is that they don't always pick the best fruit/veggies, but now that we get the panier bio from the organic store on Lecourbe we don't have to worry about that anymore.
ReplyDeleteAnd you might know this already since you guys are on a budget, but just in case - that Monoprix is one of the most expensive grocery stores in the neighborhood. I just saw an article in the Métro newspaper the other day saying they charged up to 40% more than the others for certain items!
We get most of our groceries from the Carrefour on rue de la Procession and then staples from the Lidl on rue Labrouste (just an FYI, it's super cheap but pretty ghetto). And of course Franprix if we just need an item or two - but I usually avoid the Monoprix unless I'm looking for some kind of specialty item.
Ksam,
DeleteWhile I understand what you mean, the monoprix I goto is actually normal priced... and what's even better is the discounts I receive each time. Monoprix brand products tend to be the best "generic" brands that I have tried, and for each product I usually get an extra 50 points, for every 500 points I get 5€ off. So my last groceries, lasting a week for 2 people, while normally would have been 40€ I got for 35€.
I avoid Lidl like the plague. It is "interdit" in our home, as we say, I've never had a good Lidl product and I refuse to save a few centimes on products that are low quality. Ghetto is an understatement.
Back to Monoprix, while certain items are 140% more in price, others are normal priced... all the Monoprix brand items are very good quality. Carrefour actually has had some problems in regards to their pricing as it's incredibly unstable from store to store, and it's something that we had discussed in my Master's management classes in Lyon.
The best, although, from the management styles and price is either Auchon or the U brands.
Interesting article:
http://www.distripedie.com/distripedie/spip.php?article162
I go to Franprix for sponges, paper towels, etc.
Maybe I'll have to go check it out again then - we stopped by the one on Rue Lecourbe a few times after we moved here and always found it expensive.
ReplyDeleteAnd regarding the points - I guess I'd rather just pay less from the get-go, but I guess that's why so many different loyalty programs exist - because each of them appeals to a certain kind of shopper!
We get things like flour, sugar, paper towels from Lidl - I guess I have never had any problems with any of them or noticed any difference from other stores, but chacun son truc, right? :)