hi !!
in the 1960s, a majority of French people still bought their groceries from the petits commerçants in their neighborhood.
This is completely TRUE. The first supermaket in Paris opened in 1957. In 1963, the first hypermaket opened 24 km away from Paris South-East .
People were used to have their butcher, baker, cheese place, fish place etc..
Now in the villages, people have to drive quite far away to go to the supermarket because all those "petits commerçants" are closing.... the supermarkets have killed les petits commerçants. And it's really a pity for old people, people who can't drive.....
I personally prefer to do the shopping (my mum does the shopping !!) in that kind of places or on the market days once a week. Everything is super fresh, you know where it comes from.
I live in Paris and there's a "poissonnier" (same as a butcher, but selling fresh fishes...) 5 mn walk from our flat. I often see American tourists taking pictures of this place, because they've seen that kind of "commerçant" before !!!
In Paris there are still "des petits commerçants" but they are quite expensive.
Depends where you live... People like to know their "commerçants", chat with them etc...
hope this will help to understand why French people were (and still are, when it's possible) buying their groceries from les petits commerçants in their neighborhood !!!
