Shopping for the Home in France

French chain stores that supply the basic furniture, home furnishings, white goods and electrical appliances and DIY for your home...

What follows is a small selection of basic self-service furniture, appliance and DIY hardware chains stores in France. There is no guarantee that anyone will speak English, but once you have found what you need, little more than basic French should be necessary for the transaction.

• Look in the Yellow Pages or on the stores' own websites for the branch closest to you

Hypermarkets, Supermarkets and Department Stores

• Carrefour: Hypermarket selling white goods, electrical appliances and tools including garden equipment. Self-assembly shelving and basic furniture (as well as groceries and clothing). Low priced basics. DIA is Carrefour's discount grocery store. Carrefour also has a finance and insurance division, travel booking, ticket reservation for shows and mobile services
  • Ooshop: Carrefour grocery shopping online
• Hyper U, Super U, Marché U: national National chain of "U" supermarkets and hypermarkets for groceries, clothing and electrical appliances. Also their own range of beauty products and a range of low priced basic food products.
• Géant, Casino: Hypermarket and supermarket chain selling groceries, clothing, garden equipment, electrical appliances and offering holiday and photo services.
• E Leclerc: Supermarkets and Hypermarkets for groceries, clothing and electrical appliances
• Auchan: Hypermarket for groceries, clothing, electrical appliances, garden equipment and furniture and toys
• Monoprix: Groceries, clothing for children and adults, soft furnishings and beauty products
• Intermarché: Supermarket offering a range of low cost food products. Some regions provide a shop online service
• Galeries Lafayette: Department store selling white goods, furnishings and electronic appliances, clothes (adult and children) and wedding dresses, travel goods, stationery and entertainment

Furniture and Appliance Shops

• BUT: Furniture, soft furnishings (curtains, cushions) and appliances including all white goods for the kitchen, dining, sitting and bedroom furniture and home office furnishings. Items sold flat-packed for home assembly
• Darty: White goods and home appliances including computers and cellular phones
• IKEA: Swedish-owned furniture shop for all home and home office furniture, soft furnishings, home accessories, flooring, crockery and children's toys.
• Atlas: Furniture for the entire house and garden, soft furnishings and fitted kitchens and bathrooms
• Basika: All home furnishings at low-end prices. Sold flat-packed for home assembly. Branches in the Ile de France, Bordeaux and the Provence, Alpes-Maritimes area
• Fly: Inexpensive furniture and home accessories. Goods include beds and free standing cupboards, out-door furniture, soft furnishings and bathroom and kitchen detail accessories
• Conforama: Store for furniture and home accessories. Goods include beds and bedding, tables, chair, cupboards and office furniture
• BHV: This hyperstore sells appliances, tools and hardware, home decor items, indoor and outdoor furniture, storage units and shelving, lighting, heating equipment and more

Building Material, Hardware and DIY

• Point P: Suppliers of building material, tiles, electricity supplies, hardware, tools, gates, fencing. Over 800 stores around the country
• Leroy Merlin: Self-service hardware and DIY articles for the home and garden: bathroom and kitchen fittings, lighting, shelves, garden tools and furniture
• Lapeyre: Not strictly DIY; sells fixtures, fittings (cabinets, doors, windows, stairs) and materials (flooring, tiling, heating systems) for fitting kitchens, bathrooms, home interiors and exteriors, hardware and DIY store. Also offering home installation of kitchens, bathrooms and more. Some products sold online
• Castorama: Self-service hardware and DIY store with basic domestic hardware and lighting, satellite equipment, self assembly kitchen units, shelving, doors and a wide selection of yachting ropes and clips. Indoor and outdoor tiles and bathroom fittings and fixtures.
• Mr Bricolage: Self service hardware and DIY store
• Ciffreo Bona: Building materials for house construction and renovation, interior and exterior: cement, wood, bricks and concrete, doors, windows, tiles and flooring, plumbing and electrical materials
• BHV: This hyperstore sells appliances, tools and hardware, home decor items, indoor and outdoor furniture, storage units and shelving, lighting, heating equipment and more

Garden Centres and Farm Suppliers

• Gamm Vert: Garden supplies, plants and seeds, garden equipment, tools, produce and fertilisers. Wooden palisade and fencing, garden borders and decorative items. Animal feed, bedding, treatments and accessories (horses, dogs, cats, birds and rodents). Also local produce such as honey, oils, vinegars or wine). The more rural branches stock supplies for smallholdings and farmers
• Botanic: Countrywide chain store with home improvement equipment such as solar panels, garden decorative objects and outdoor furniture, plants, seeds, soils and garden equipment, bio food produce and pet food and accessories

Office Supplies and Stationery

• Retif: Supplying shop fittings, retail supplies, mannequins, hangers, packaging, scissors and other office supplies.
• JM Bruneau: Specialists in office furniture and stationery supplies available in bulk. Shop online only.
• Metro: Cash and carry shop selling office furniture and supplies and wholesale groceries.
• Top Office: 20 shops throughout France selling office furniture, stationery, ink cartridges and blank CDs/DVDs

Sales in France

The French government controls shop sales in France, and the periods are fixed to five weeks during the winter and five weeks during the summer. An additional two weeks of sales are allowed each year, without fixed dates.

The winter sales generally begin the first Wednesday of the year; the summer sales usually start last the Wednesday in June.