Particulars of grocery shopping in European stores

In much of Spain there are no "deli numbers" to keep order at the butchers or fish counters.

You have to kind of shout to everyone waiting: '¿Quien es ultimo?' (Who is last?). Someone will reply 'Yo' (Me). Your turn will be after that person, and you have to kind of keep an eye on them to hold your place. You now have a responsibility to listen for the next person to ask '¿quien es ultimo?', and reply 'yo' to them, so they know to follow you.

Honestly, it can feel a little intimidating. But success can feel like a little accomplishment in cultural navigation.

(And I bought pre-packaged meats the first 6 months I lived in Barcelona.)

I had an awkward experience buying some produce in a Paris grocery store when I'd totally forgotten that I needed to weigh and get a barcode in the produce section instead of having the cashier weigh items like here in the US.

This depends on the store, some French stores also weigh at the till, so there's nothing awkward there, it happens all the time ;-). You have to look around: if there are scales next to the produce, then you need to weigh, otherwise (e.g. Franprix in Paris) it is done at the till.

Thanks for sharing this, I didn't know about a possible barcode for the produce.

Quite a few years ago I picked up a vegetable in the produce area of a large grocery store in Germany. I was loudly admonished to put it down and use a disposable glove to touch fruit and vegetables. It made sense, I’d never encountered that practice in a store. Then came the whole learning curve about the scales, choosing the right item number and sticky price label. Whew, it was stressful at first but I always try to look around to see what others are doing. Even this summer in a grocery store in Germany I got nervous about taking unweighed or labeled fruit to the sometimes unfriendly checker but she said, no she’d weigh it. Again, whew 😅

PS I got so that I liked weighing and labeling my own fruit and vegetables and kind of miss it when a store doesn’t work that way.

In Italy, you are not allowed to touch the produce in many shops. You have to tell (or point) what you want to the greengrocer. And if you are allowed to pick you own, make sure that you use the disposable gloves provided.

You have to kind of shout to everyone waiting: '¿Quien es ultimo?' (Who is last?). Someone will reply 'Yo' (Me).

Ah, how I miss that! French people aren't known for queue discipline... This afternoon, as I came up to a disorderly mass of people in front of an ice cream stand, I tried to ask that question (in French, obv), and people looked at me as if I had come from planet Mars 😂.

As for the gloves... You don't have to come from another continent to be surprised! In France, produce is usually self-serve and people will test for ripeness with their bare hands (after all, you're supposed to rinse before you eat)... Cross a usually-invisible border, and you get told off for the exact same thing. Happened to my family once in Italy, it was quite embarrassing 😅.

This is something that not only varies between countries but within countries depending on the type of store or the chain even. At Farmer's Markets and other produce stalls in Germany you can't even pick the produce yourself, you have to tell the worker what you want, how much, which might include a weight element in grams or kilos. That can be stressful, if you don't speak much of the language it's best to just admit to it right away, 9 times out of 10 they will speak English or enough to get you through the transaction.

Some chain stores require that you weight and put the bar code on produce yourself, others don't. You just have to be aware and watch what everyone else is doing before throwing stuff in your cart.

In Portugal I was doing the shopping for a villa with 11 (!!!) women for a long weekend, and I had two of them "helping" me and so they grabbed all the produce and threw it in one of the two cards we needed...only to realize at checkout we had to send one person back to do the weighing and bar code sticker...it was a bit mortifying. (We also forgot to ask for bags...)

It just really helps to pay attention. And if you're worried about holding other shoppers up when packing your own goods (which is common pretty much everywhere in Europe but especially nerve wracking at places like Lidl and Aldi where the checkers move SO fast) just throw everything in your cart unbagged, pay, exit that area and then take your time putting your stuff in your bags away from the checkout. Some stores have dedicated areas for you to do this, even!

I love going into supermarkets wherever I go. If I'm not sure what to do, I just watch for a few minutes. You'll soon get the hang of it.

If you're still not sure, look clueless. Usually someone, either a store worker or another customer, will come over and help you. No need to even speak the same language. It can all be done in mime.

One of the things that surprised me in a European supermarket was having to scan my receipt to get out of the self checkout area! When I was in Italy, using the self checkout was no problem - I could even change the language to English, but then I thought I was trapped until I saw someone scan their receipt and the gate opened. And I totally agree with others who have said just watch what other people are doing and if you look really clueless, someone will help you :)

“ I've also read that in Dutch grocery stores, you bag your groceries yourself “

This is true, not only for the Netherlands but pretty much every country in Europe.

“It sounds like some chains like Carrefour, in The Netherlands at least, give customers the option of a handheld scanner so you shop and scan and bag all at once, then hand off the scanner to a cashier to pay. It seems like you need to have some sort of store bonus card or frequent shopper card or similar to be eligible to use the scanner though.”

There are no Carrefour stores in the Netherlands. Carrefour is a French chain, with stores in various other countries but not yet in the Netherlands.
The 2 biggest supermarket chains in the Netherlands are Albert Heijn and Jumbo. Both offer shoppers the opportunity of self checkout. In order to unlock the scanner you indeed need a frequent shopper card, but at Albert Heijn stores you can also take your items to the self service check out and scan your items there. If you scan your items at the self service checkout, you don’t need a frequent shopper card. However in each supermarket, they still have regular check out and have the cashier scan your items.
If you use the regular check out, the cashier will way your vegetable items on the scale at the register. If you use self checkout you will need to weigh your items in the store in order to obtain the barcode to scan.

It is worth it to get a cart in Germany, so at the check-out you can put everything back in the cart and then move away to the packing section. Carts need either a 50 cent or 1€ coin. You can buy a bag or bring your own. The cloth bags make good souvenirs and if you carry them around with you, it makes you look less like a tourist.

Most stores in Germany will weigh your produce at check-out. I can't remember the last time I weighed anything. Some items are sold by piece, not by weight. I have little mesh bags to use instead of using those plastic bags or if it is a bunch of tomatoes still on the stem, no bag at all. Farmers markets tend to use paper bags for produce which is nice. They usually pick it out for you, but sometimes you can pick your own. Just watch what everyone else is doing. Shop at times of the day that are less busy. Like middle mornings or middle afternoon.

It’s rare these days that someone packs your goods for you in many places. Many countries charge for plastic bags, which has cut down waste. In France, many people just take the fruit and veg and put these directly into their basket, whereas in the U.K., most use the small disposable bags for each item. Also in France, many people don’t take a basket or trolley, but load up their own bag or trolley then show at the checkout that their bag is empty.

The supermarkets where you need to get a bar code for fresh fruit and veg have codes by the side of the produce name - usually a 6 digit number that you have to remember. I have come across this in France and Portugal.

In parts of Spain earlier this year, you had to wear disposable plastic gloves before you handed any fresh produce, which was a Covid measure. In France, a man was picking up and sniffing many melons before he chose one - I usually give them a quick squeeze for ripeness but don’t smell them.

In the U.K., the hand held scanners are for customers with a loyalty card and few chains use them. The check out staff weigh your fruit and veg.

In France, most of the produce is charged by weight (even bread prices are shown €/kilo on the label) whereas in the U.K., produce such as lettuce and avocados are charged per item.

In many places, you need a euro or pound coin for the trolley.

I'm always shocked at the amount of waste produced by US supermarkets when they pack your bags at the checkout, sometimes placing only two items if they're a bit heavy. I also don't like someone packing my bags, it feels lazy on my behalf and I have a personal preference in how I want my groceries packed plus there's the inevitable tip to give for something you didn't even want.

I've become used to weighing and labelling fruit and veg in many European supermarkets and the use of disposable gloves in some and the UK is moving towards weighing and labelling as well although pre-packaged fruit and veg will be priced and barcoded accordingly.

I always use the handheld scanner if available as I can pack my bags as I go and no need to unload and load the trolley at the checkout. Unfortunately Aldi and Lidl don't have the scanners so you have to throw everything back in the trolley at speed because the cashiers are under time constraints and then pack at your leisure in the packing area. Hand held scanners can only be used if you have a store loyalty card.

I love the butcher and fish counters in most European supermarkets, they usually offer much more than those in the UK. Whole chickens with no parts removed in France, counters with practically every fish in the sea in Spain and plenty of animal parts that are deemed too much for squeamish Brits.

Hi,

One basic rule in Germany regarding the fruits and produce in open air markets, don't reach over touch what you want to buy. There are usually signs to that effect, "Nicht anfassen" or "Nicht berühen" Explain to the clerk what you want, etc. Just don't touch.

When I go to a grocery store there, or a market in the train station, always have your own bag with you and put the items quickly in once scanned. You can rearrange them later once you're out of the line.

OMG, I also had an awkward experience at a Carrefour in Paris, too!

First of all, I forgot to say "bonjour" when I entered the store, so I wasn't acknowledged at all, and that starts things off on the wrong foot with retailers. Secondly, I forgot to bring my own bag.

And because I forgot to say bonjour, the women working at the front of the store completely ignored me when I asked for help (just talked among themselves), but when I walked to the back of the store, I found some a couple of cool male employees who were more than happy to help me out. 😉

I don't remember if I got produce or not, but I will remember the above recommendations for when I go next month!

This is good information, worthy of being covered in RS guidance and guidebooks. Its also helpful to know how to ask for small quantities, uno etto in Italy for example.

One of the things that surprised me in a European supermarket was having to scan my receipt to get out of the self checkout area!

amandy, that happened to me Germany at one grocery - you had to scan your receipt to leave the store (it was in the Berlin train station). The only problem was that I hadn't bought anything so I did not have a receipt. The cashiers were busy but one of the other customers kindly let me through when I explained the situation.

I love this thread! I really enjoy grocery shopping in foreign countries. Talk about feeling like a local. Plus, I just love to see what products are on the shelves, as compared to at home.

I have some mild anxiety about getting it right at checkout, too. I have tried learn common checkout phrases like "cash or card" "do you need a bag" "do you have a shopper's card" etc. but either they don't say it the way I've learned it, or they speak so fast I can't understand! I speak a little bit of German so I can understand "Tute" "bargeld" etc. and go from there. However, in April, I was at a tiny Rewe in Berlin on a Friday afternoon, picking up a few groceries. Out of habit I inserted my card instead of tapping, and everybody in line behind me sighed and rolled their eyes (or at least it felt that way) as the machine printed out a slip for me to sign. The cashier had to get up and find a pen, then asked to see the signature on my credit card. It was new and I hadn't signed it. Mortification! I signed it, grabbed my groceries and bolted.

I am a regular Aldi shopper at home so I am very used to bringing my own bags (I bring them to all stores, not just Aldi) and bagging my own. I prefer bagging my own, actually, after having shopped Aldi so much.

And one last embarrassing grocery moment: at an Albert Hejn in Amsterdam my son and I were putting our empty plastic bottles in the "reverse vending machine" that gives you a voucher for them - we were on our third bottle and we did somethign wrong. The machine started flashing lights and beeping and our bottle was stuck halfway. We couldn't find anyone around to help, so we grabbed the rest of our bottles and left!

“ And one last embarrassing grocery moment: at an Albert Hejn in Amsterdam my son and I were putting our empty plastic bottles in the "reverse vending machine" that gives you a voucher for them - we were on our third bottle and we did somethign wrong. The machine started flashing lights and beeping and our bottle was stuck halfway. We couldn't find anyone around to help, so we grabbed the rest of our bottles and left!”

Im sorry, but it was totally unnecessary for you to leave the store feeling embarrassed. These refund machines are very sensitive in order to prevent them from being clogged by people who just put random items in them instead of only reusable plastic and glass bottles. So when the machine can’t get a good scan of the barcode of the bottle you’re trying to enter, it will stop the bottle halfway and start beeping and flashing. It happens to me all the time and there is no reason whatsoever why that should make one feel uncomfortable or embarrassed. I wouldn’t get any shopping done if I would run out every time these darn machines beeped at me :-)
The beeping and flashing is done to alert the customer to stop feeding new bottles, but also and perhaps mainly to alert a nearby member of staff that a customer requires their assistance. So all you should have done was wait until a member of staff showed up to assist you. Or you could have reached in and retrieved the bottle yourself.

In general there is nothing to be embarrassed about being in a foreign country and not knowing how things work. Just ask a member of staff or another shopper to help you out. If you do so with an open smile, no one is going to refuse to help you. Wouldn’t you do the exact same thing if a tourist asked for your assistance?

Thank you everyone for the replies. Good notes - bring a bag, bring a pen, bring some cash (Albert Heijn doesn't take foreign credit cards), use gloves, see what other people are doing, look for packing areas past the checkout stands.

I will say that looking clueless didn't work out for us once before. We were tired and jet lagged coming off a ten hour flight and trying to find the right train in a Paris Metro station. A local offered "help", that is, help himself to a refill of his Metro card at our expense! Denying that transaction was the only good thing that Wells Fargo ever did. It took a few moments but finally it clicked in my tired brain that all was not right and we reorganized without the "help" and got on our way shortly after. haha

“Albert Heijn doesn't take foreign credit cards”

A growing number of Albert Heijn stores do accept credit cards both foreign and domestic. The 2nd largest supermarket chain in the Netherlands is called Jumbo and all their stores accept credit cards.

I remember our first trip to France and we were clueless about how grocery stores were. We had no bag, we had no idea we needed to bag it ourselves, but the lady told us what to do, nicely.

Fast forward a number of years and I went to visit our daughter and a friend who had just finished their study abroad term. We went to Monoprix and had some produce. I was just not thinking and didn't weigh the produce, and the girls were doing something else, so when we got to the checkout line the lady was not nice. She said something in French, assuming that non of us knew what she was saying. Big mistake. I could see the look of shock on our daughters face, but her friend didn't miss a beat and in French told the lady something, I am not sure exactly what, but the lady shut up and looked quite embarrassed.

Does anyone know if the Albert Heijn To Go in the Netherlands accept cash if they may not accept non-Dutch cards? I think they are self-serve with no staff, at least the ones in the train stations.

roubrat, it is my understanding that the ones at train stations do take cash, just because of all the international travelers. I did not shop at the self-serve ones but did shop at the one dePijp a lot and used cash there. I also used my Mastercard at one Albert Heijn and that worked fine, but not at the one near my Airbnb. That was 5 years ago so it may have changed - and it sounds like from what Dutch Traveler is saying that many more AH stores are now accepting foreign cards, although I would use a Mastercard or Visa rather than AMEX.

A friend who was there recently told me that at the AH stores where you scan your items, you still scan but then get an employee to print you a receipt. Once you have that you go to a line and pay for it with cash.

Thanks Mardee. I'll have both a Visa and Mastercard, as well as cash, so I should be covered.

“ Does anyone know if the Albert Heijn To Go in the Netherlands accept cash if they may not accept non-Dutch cards? I think they are self-serve with no staff, at least the ones in the train stations.”

The AH to go stores are self serve in the same way that every supermarket is self serve. The only difference is that there is only 1 counter where you can go if you don’t want to scan your items yourself. These stores definitely do have staff, but they are mainly there to restock the shelves. When it comes to credit cards there is no difference between a “domestic” credit card or a “foreign” card. If a store accepts Visa and MasterCard it will accept them regardless of in which country the card was issued.

When it comes to credit cards there is no difference between a “domestic” credit card or a “foreign” card. If a store accepts Visa and MasterCard it will accept them regardless of in which country the card was issued.

Drat, that was my mistake - I do know that but my fingers were typing before my brain got a vote.

Well, there is that PIN vs signature thing, if you have to swipe or insert. US cards generally require a signature, and yes, sometimes I have had merchants who's readers would not take the US card.

“ US cards generally require a signature, and yes, sometimes I have had merchants who's readers would not take the US card.”

I’m not trying to be pedantic here, but your card being a UScard had nothing to do with it. The machine simply couldn’t read the magnetic strip on your card and that’s why it wasn’t accepted. If you would have presented a US card with chip the machine would have accepted your card just fine.

regarding usa credit cards in the netherlands. i stayed in the assendelft in july and the cashiers at the albert heijn told me they don't take foreign credit cards.

another thing i have noticed in italy is that you don't hand your money or card to directly to the cashier. you put it down on a dish or even the counter, the cashier picks it up, uses the register, puts the change or card on the dish, and you pick it up. can't remember which but i was told that it is considered bad manners or unhygienic or both.

“ the cashiers at the albert heijn told me they don't take foreign credit cards.”
Again, this had nothing to do with your credit card being foreign. Most Albert Heijn stores don’t accept credit cards. They only accept Maestro debit cards. I have a Visa card issued by a Dutch bank, but I can’t use it at Albert Heijn because they don’t accept credit cards.
A growing number of Albert Heijn stores in tourist areas, like Amsterdam, accept credit cards. For instance the Albert Heijn at Schiphol and the Albert Heijn at Museumplein in Amsterdam.

"...coming off a ten hour flight...." Sounds like my kind flight though closer to 11 hours from SFO to Paris. I'm sure I looked clueless big time too, even have been told as much in France, I still do not accept "help" in trying to work the Metro ticket machine.

One time I could not get the machine to work , went to the counter, the guy basically ignored me, ie, didn't want to deal with me, he just pointed to the machine. So, I went back to that same machine, tried to get it working first in German, then in English, ...no such luck. When the machine next to me was free, went over to use that one....it worked. Obviously, the first machine was defective.

We bring our own bags to groceries in the US or pay to buy a bag, not much, 10. cents, New England. Often bag our own groceries too.
In Europe it has been that way for many years.

We bring 4-5 plastic supermarket bags (virtually no weight and can be jammed in anywhere) and will take a couple to the market to carry the supplies back to the room or wherever ... also great for those other situations (like wet clothes, dirty laundry, etc... ... just be sure you know which bag is used for what ... we use the brown ones for the occasions where it will probably be tossed out or recycled, white ones for groceries)