Nearest French supermarkets to Heidelberg - Germany

Hiya,
can anyone recommend where the nearest French supermarket might be to Heidelberg. I reckon down the A5 and over somewhere round about Karlsruhe.
I am sure there is somewhere nearer than Strasbourg
Any tips appreciated.

supermarché et hypermarché - Wissembourg ... Wissembourg / Weißenburg

I heard a report on the radio last week where French people were coming to Germany to shop because it was cheaper than in France. Still they do have nice cheese and fish counters in most of their hypermarkets, something I've yet to find in a Real.

Look and see if there are Cora hypermarkets nearby, they are well stocked and reasonably priced.

http://www.france-supermarche.info/alsace/

Cora, E.Leclerc, Auchan, Carrefour and Geant hypermarches in Bas Rhin and Haut Rhin.

Haguenau and Schweighouse-sur-Moder would probably be the closest.

The Coop in Wissembourg (is that the one on the road to... Altenkirchen?) is a bit small if i remember right.

I saw a similar news item (on French TV) a few weeks ago. The couple they interviewed were stocking up mainly on toiletries, cosmetics, household cleaning products, pasta sauces, things like that. They said they made the trip once a month, saving about €100 overall.

Very likely. My roommate is French and she uses John Frieda hair products which are apparently even more expensive in France than in Spain (and here they are already more expensive than in Germany, and hard to find too).

I was planning on going to Wissembourg sometime (obviously when I am back in Heidelberg) but seeing as someone opened a topic about it, I might as well ask now: is the store in Wissembourg accessible by public transport or is it a big store that's somewhere outside? I assume they will have some kind of bigger store somewhere downtown, though? What about Lauterbourg?

(These are the two towns I can go to for free on my semester ticket.)

Does take a slight bit of walking, but they're not outside town.

Wissembourg has 5 supermarkets in total:

a) - Atac : 2 Rue des 4 Vents
a) - Coop : 2 Rue Bannacker
b) - Coop : 29 Rue Principale
b) - Match : 33 Allee des Peupliers
c) - Match : 25 Rue des la Pepiniere

a) - basically in the same direction, get out of the train station, walk across street into small road, walk straight on for 5 minutes until you get to a crossing; Atac is immediately to the right, Coop about 2 minutes down the street to the left.

b) - in/near Altenstadt suburb, get out of the train station, turn right, walk straight on down the road. Match is about 5 minutes down the road, for Coop turn left at the roundabout a bit further down the road, then walk on for another few minutes.

c) - in the industrial/commercial zone: outside train station turn left, left again at next station, walk down the street, then right, and then left again. About 5 minutes too.

edit: oh, and "public transport" inside Wissembourg is negligible except by train. There's two bus lines going from there to Germany, which have like one stop only in Wissembourg other than the train station.

Ahh, merci beaucoup. I did not realize Wissembourg was so small that it does not have public transport, but if you can walk there (the grocery store, not Wissembourg), that's cool, too. I hope there is also other stuff to see there besides the local grocery stores. I would probably go there to look at the town and just stop at a grocery store on the way home.

The curiosity's killing me. What is it about French supermarkets that's so hot?

Nothing, just some products you can't get in Germany. I wouldn't go there if it (the trip) wasn't free for me anyway. And I want to see Wissembourg.

I was worried I was missing out on something amazing. Well, I know I am, but now I know it's not French supermarkets.

Not to my knowledge... But maybe the others disagree.

We've been to Auchan in Illkirch Graffenstaden... just outside Strasbourg, not really that far from HD... make a day of it and visit Strasbourg as well.

It's a great place with loads of choice - well worth a visit - especially if you're fed up with the German Supermarket variety...

Address: 6,route de Strasbourg, 67411 ILLKIRCH GRAFFENSTADEN

opening times: Monday to Friday - 08h00 to 21h00 and Saturday 08h00 to 19h30.

for a map just go to http://www.auchan.fr/magasin/recherche/adv...h.jsp?from=null and enter "67411" in "code postal" and click on "valider"

Obviously the the gasoline prices are still too low.
Just driving from Heidelberg to France for shopping in a supermaket..

Combined with a visit of Lembach and it´s famous restaurant Cheval Blanc (Weißes Rössel) it makes sense ... and a nice excursion

We go to the Auchan in Illkirch about once a month to stock up. Much cleaner and much larger variety of products. Especially seafood, dairy, wine, alcohol, ... . It can be a bit more expensive, but we grow tired of the sub par supermarkets in Germany.

What about famila hypermarket in Heidelberg?

We make a run to France to go shopping once a month. What's the difference between German and French supermarkets? I dunno...8 different varieties of fresh juice, better produce, better cheese, cheaper seafood, better "convenience" foods for those wild days when you roll into the house at 7-8 PM and eveyone's starving. No comparison between the two...just walking through a German supermarket depresses me--kind of like going to the beach in England. I don't care how many restaurants in Germany have racked up Michelin stars--the French care more about their food and are willing to pay more money for it. I'm just glad I've got a car, live close to the border, and can make it with no difficulties. I like the Cora chain, myself.

Slight threadjack but not entirely off subject: Does anyone know of any larger flea markets just over the border in Alsace? Thx.

overpriced crap, for a rather narrow selection?
(at least in foodstuff)

They used to be better. Nowadays it's just the same stuff you can get in any supermarket, for 5-10% higher prices. The "mall" aspect with the 50 other stores in there used to be a lot better too, before they rebuilt it a couple years ago.

When I am in Germany for months rather than weeks. We drive from Bad Kreuznak to Metz. Just as you cross the border at Saarbrucken there is a Le Clerk. In Metz there is a great covered market, we just love the French way of life and it is light relief after Germany and you can but proper food.

I find Famila ok to be honest. There is also Globus in Waghäusel, about 20 mins drive, the place is huge and has a Baumarkt and other things around there too. The Rhein-Neckar-Zentrum just north of the border of BW in Hessen is also worth a look - again 20-30 mins drive from HD. ( and it is open on some of the BW bank holidays because it is in Hessen :-) )