Based on my recent informal survey of European cities, all but one have this in common: there are convenience stores every few blocks where you can buy most of the stuff that you’d find in a U.S. 7-11. These are open either 24 hours per day or at least for about 18 hours per day. The exception is Paris. One issue seems to be that commonly sought pills, such as aspirin or ibuprofen, are apparently restricted to being sold by pharmacists. Even the supermarkets don’t stock the common array of pills that you’d find almost anywhere else in the world.
What do folks think? How is it that the French have shut down nearly all commerce at around 9 pm in one of the world’s largest cities? There are a few pharmacies that stay open in case of emergency, of course, but the typical resident or visitor won’t be able to walk a few blocks and find the essentials.
Geneva in the late 1990s was the same way (and likely hasn’t changed much), but one learns the shopping hours pretty quickly, including total shutdown of supermarkets (Co-op & Migros) on Sundays, with exception that Migros-Cointrin at the airport was open Sunday. Prices were identical (since they’re stamped on most products at the point of manufacture). Airport also had a “Pharmacie” open 24/7. While there were some convenience stores open on Sundays, and during the dreaded 13:15 to 15:00 period when Migros & Co-op closed Mon-Fri (no lunch break on Saturdays so open continuously), they were small, overpriced stores with poor selection and horrible produce/fresh food. In neighboring France (Ferney Voltaire), one supermarket was open on Sundays and it was jam-packed, especially on a rainy day. (rest were closed on Sundays) One had to plan ahead but it wasn’t a huge problem, 3 children in the household notwithstanding. The airport boasted a play area and viewing tower, so was a good excursion in Geneva’s dreary, wet winter if one needed to do a grocery run on a Sunday, but always seemed odd that I went to the airport 5-6 extra times/year (about 20 mns away). However, all the boulangeries/patisseries & some farmer’s markets were open on Sundays, until about 1 pm, so one was never deprived of fresh baguettes and tartes aux fruits and luscious fresh produce. Do not try to buy provisions on a Sunday afternoon in France or Switzerland unless you know the few businesses which are open.
Geneva post is Philip’s sister. Would trade the food there in a heartbeat for the fare in Washington, DC, even though the shopping hours were far more limited.
You are confusing (American usage) convenience store/ essentially a corner store/ grocery, with (American usage) drugstore, which in Europe by and large are sold in pharmacies. And it’s not true that Paris has no grocery outlets, though of course their opening hours and urban density varies. Perhaps had you stayed elsewhere than at some posh hotel where commercial rents have priced grocery stores around out of business you wouldn’t have had this difficulty in finding one (I usually stay in XIth Arro, no such problems).
For the next time: watch people with obvious grocery bags going places, then reverse-deduce the target from their steps. Side streets to railway stations are also pretty good for that, as that’s where commuters get their staples prior to taking the commuter trains home. Or download some app for the Migros, even LiDL, chain store, and check where you are on their their map (requires a dose of French, or you can hire une mademoiselle Française to translate for you?)
Who needs pills when you can grab a bottle of Burgundy, a fresh baguette, and some really stinky cheese?
There are plenty of corner shops. The law only allows single proprietors to operate extended hours, so they tend to be one-man shops operated by Kabyles (non-Arab Algerian Berbers).
The pharmacy thing is true all around Europe. They have a monopoly on drugs like no other. You cannot buy aspirin in a grocery/convenience store. You must buy any medicine from an Apothek. For medicine outside working hours, there is a rotation of pharmacies that stay open in the area, but you have to know the schedule (in Germany provided online, or listed on a sign at the closed pharmacy’s window in the local language). But the later hours pharmacy is not “walk-in” open – you must press the buzzer and then some one walks over and asks what you need, they fetch it and you pay for it through a little window. Yes, it’s that complicated.
Running a pharmacy must be a major money maker – I can’t imagine a better small-time neighborhood monopoly. Would be a good investment if you knew the neighborhood demographics well (eg. find an underserved area with lots of old farts, women, and children).
As I like to tell my dad.. in Germany… the motto is “Inconvenience macht Frei”
“Glazer’s Law”: It’s either taxes or fraud.
@anonymous
That reminded me of my local library. When I was young, it closed every night between 5 and 7 so the librarian could go home for dinner.
As other readers have mentioned, the first reason is legal: it’s illegal to operate an extended hours in France unless you’re a single proprietor. This was instituted ages ago to somehow save the small shops. The lack of small shops open at all hours shows empirically how well suited the law is for today’s world.
However, never fret, because our legislative power has noticed this imperfection. Extended hours were proposed in the so called Macron’s law package last year. However, this broad package of reforms was strongly opposed by unions. For some reason, they did not agree with employing more people to operate extended hours. This measure was watered down to something barely recognizable, allowing extended hours until midnight and on Sunday for 12 touristic areas in Paris and some other touristic towns around France.
As for the medicine, pharmacies do have the state-sanctioned monopoly of selling them, even over-the-counter medicines.
The price of over-the-counter meds like ibuprofen or acetaminophen is also very, very high. It’s also usually behind the counter so you have to ask for it. The good news is that you get a short consultation with someone who knows what they’re doing.
This is not uncommon in other countries I’ve visited.
“Thomas Jefferson asked himself “In what country on earth would you rather live ” He first answered “Certainly in my own where are all my friends my relations and the earliest and sweetest affections and recollections of my life.” But he continued “which would be your second choice ” His answer “France.”
― Thomas Jefferson
@Gordon: Yes, that’s true about the costs, something like 10 pills of acetominophen (paracetamol) will go for around 5-7 euros sometimes. Ridiculous when you know that at CVS you can buy 100 pills for 4 dollars or something.
What I really don’t like at the Apothek, is one cannot peruse the selection easily – everything is behind the counter (reminds me of the 1990s ex-soviet grocery stores where you have to ask the clerk to pick things from the shelf for you). So you have to talk to someone about your personal health problems and they will recommend things to you. Also annoying is how it is not easy to stock up on items. If you ask them to give 10 boxes of 10-pill version, they will look at you like you are an alien. In smaller towns, they also have a strange system where some prescription drugs are not in stock, or they are constantly low in stock, and they make you come back in the afternoon or the next day to get it.
Finally, the popularity of homeopathy or ‘all natural remedies’ here is so ridiculous, I am constantly shocked when a pharmacists offers me a product with no science to back it up. It’s really funny because Europeans are quite smug when making fun of Americans who don’t believe in evolution, but readily accept this sort of hocus pocus on their own turf (not to mention the fear of radiation, no GMO food, etc).