As a chain of grocery stores all around Paris, Franprix provides a pretty comprehensive supply of groceries in a location near you.
When reading Les Miserables in high school, always wondered why cheese was such a crucial part of every French meal (even prisoners would get the daily allotment of food with bread and cheese). This location was just across the street from our hotel, and was an easy way to pick up supplies for a simple dinner on our 3rd night in Paris. Grocery store bread and cheese...in Paris it's still better than what you might get in a gourmet shop back in the states.
The tax for food is 5.5% while alcohol is 20%. Ended up getting 6 things, all of which were great. Some oranges imported from Israel for 3,99€ per kg, with 2 oranges being 1,48€ (even though they seem dry, they were very juicy and sweet). Butter and french bread prices are strictly regulated: a large square of butter for 1,7,5€, a baguette for ,69€. Got some ham pieces for 2,5€ and a large wedge of cheese for 2€. The most expensive thing was the wheat beer for 3,25€, and it was excellent.
Some interesting things they had: a self-service salad bar and self-service mochi bar filled with different flavors.
They have self-checkout lines, but figured it might be best to have someone scan everything because of the written language barrier. One thing to note: they were closing off the sections that let you pick up alcohol at 17:00....there must be some sort of local regulation on that. read more