DIY and bricolage shops in France

DIY Shops and Bricolage for your Renovation in France

Your first experience of a bricolage (DIY) shop in France may be a bit daunting if you are used to the large Homebase type shops in the UK which (last time I saw) focus a lot on paint colours, home ornaments, extension leads and light fittings, garden furniture and so on. These kind of department store style DIY shops are less common in France, although becoming more frequent around larger towns.

The range of products on offer in French DIY shops is not smaller, but it is different.

The French store will have a much smaller selection of paint colours available, for example. But if you want raw chemicals - acids and cleaning chemicals for example - they will have them all. The electrical fittings will look different - a light bayonet fitting or a wall socket will often be sold as its several component parts, rather than one pre-packaged socket.

The range of devices for trapping and killing the vermin that may enter your home is off-puttingly large, and a large range of clothes for hunters will be available.

The hardware section will be large. This is in part because of shutters - there is an enormous array of fittings available for fitting shutters to the property, with many being sold in their component parts rather than an easy to understand packet stating 'complete shutter ironmongery kit'.

Many is the time I have had to leave the shop and inspect an existing fitting or bracket more closely, and then return to the shop to buy the parts I really needed.

So, nothing insurmountable so far. But there is a problem lurking ahead..the French language.

This array of unidentifiable parts and fittings all have a name. The staff will know the names, and happily point you in the right direction. If you know what you are asking for, which you almost certainly won't. I suggest that you learn at least some key words for the project in hand before your visit. If you don't know the words for shutter, bucket, saw, nails and so on it will be very difficult to describe more precisely what you are looking for. Many of the words won't be in the dictionary - eg 'the fitting that I cement into the wall to support the shutter hinge' - but if you can say attach, shutter, wall etc you will get there eventually.

There are always stories going around of the person who asked for 'preservative for wood' (preservatif = condom) rather than wood treatment (traitement). A friend told the shopkeeper that he 'wanted a small tap'. The shopkeeper called the other staff over and asked him to repeat the question. 'Do you have a small tap' he repeated, to the hilarity of all. Of course he didn't know (and who would) that petite robinet (rather than petit robinet) is a schoolboy joke about having small private parts...

This is all less of a problem in the department type stores where you can look at products yourself first. But your local builders merchants won't offer that advantage, you will have to announce what you are looking for, usually with half a dozen local tradesmen looking at you. To stop yourself looking completely daft, make sure you call 'bonjour, monsieur' at all and sundry as you enter, with a big smile. Then they should take pity on you. Still better if you know the French for sand, lime, cement, etc before you go, though.

To get you started I recommend 'Je cherche le truc pour....' (I am looking for the thing that..). Je cherche is 'I am looking for' and 'le truc' means anything (the 'thingy') that you don't know the name of.

Large DIY stores in France include Gamm Vert, Point P, Castorama, Leroy Merlin, and E Leclerc often have a large bricolage area. There are others as well.