Monday May 9, 2022 - Stocking up

 It's Monday and we're out of food, so the Super U is the first thing on our agenda. While we're shopping, Ron and Chris will explore Commarin.

Once at the store, you need to get a cart. That requires a Euro coin because the carts are locked in the cart corral. (Don't worry you get your coin back at the end. It's your motivation to put your cart back in the cart rack.) 

You put your coin in the slot and it pushes out the "key" (attached to the end of the chain you can just see at the top of the cart). Then you can take the cart (with the Euro coin still in the coin slot)

a better view of the keychain attached to this last cart

Here you can see the key at the end of the chain. When you return the cart, you insert this key into your cart and it pushes the Euro coin out of your cart. So the use of the carts is free as long as you put it away when you're done. We think it's genius, but we must remember to always keep a Euro coin in the car.

A couple of inside photos. This is like our large grocery stores, pretty much, but some aisles - like cheese and wine are much larger than in the US. Also, when buying produce, you must weight it in the produce section. The scale prints out a label for your items. There are no scales at the registers and you'll be sent back to weigh the item before the clerk can ring it up.

Checking out is much like in the US. There are Covid shields at the checkout to protect shoppers and clerks. We wear masks, but not everyone shopping is wearing a mask. Like in the US, safety rules have been relaxed. (Also something like 97% of people over 12 have been vaccinated.) Unlike the US, you pack your own groceries in your own bags. There are no paper bags and no plastic sacks at the checkout. We keep our shopping bags in the car.