European Wal-Mart

When we first arrived in our small area of Belgium, I kinda panicked a little. We would drive through these little villages here and there, and I was trying to keep an eye out for where I might purchase the things we would be needing. Only a few stores really popped out at me, like the small grocery stores and some of the Doe-Het-Zelf stores. (Can you figure out what that might mean? Of course it's a Do-It-Youself Store, like Lowe's or Home Depot, but on a much smaller scale. =) We also have the Commissary and PX at Schinnen, but those definitely do not always provide what we need. Where can I go buying discount clothes and books or office and craft supplies and things like that?

First of all, all the buildings look the same over here: they're made of brick, without much variance in construction techniques or architecture. Telling a house from a restaurant can be quite a challenge. Then, when we did find some places to buy things, they were very specialized shops, like Bollen (the bakery), Excellent Electro (the very expensive cell phone and home appliance store), La Bonifica (women's bags, shoes, and accessories =), and the Groenteman (vegetable store). Where could I get odd little things that don't warrant their own store, like wrapping paper or a cheese grater? Where are the European Wal-Marts?!

Thankfully, Adam quashed my fears and took us to a place that made me wipe my brow with the back of my hand and exhale in relief. He took us to the Carrefour.

Oh, what a wonderful place the Carrefour is! The first one we went to was in Liege, in the French-speaking part of the country. Now, I have nothing against the French, but I think they have something against English. In the Flemish region, most people know at least some English and try to communicate with us as best they can. In the French-speaking part of the country, they make very little effort to do so. We even think that some people that we've tried talking to actually knew English, but refused to speak it with us anyways!

Whatever, we're talking about the Carrefours. The Liege one is newer, and just plain huge! We also found one in Hasselt, which is in the Flemish-region and a similar distance from our house. It, too, is large, but older and not as nice as the one in Liege. Regardless, we choose to go to the one in Hasselt because we are learning the Dutch language and can get around better in that one.

Both Carrefours are just awesome. They're in busy areas with lots of other businesses, and they have several small businesses inside as well. In Liege, there's a waffle restaurant (I missed those the first time!!!!) They have jewelry vendors, salons, restaurants, and so many more little shops, almost like a mall. Then, inside the actually store is soooo reminiscent of walking into a Wal-mart, with large displays of goods and fun things and awesomeness! If we can't find what we need anywhere else, we know the Carrefour will have it!

The first trip we took we got a few things. The French Eclairs were just plain absolutely excellent!!! We got to those so fast I didn't get a picture before they were gone!!! We also bought a loaf of delicious bread. Truly, one thing just boggled us. In this huge store full of everything, clothes, electronics, home decor, kitchen goods - all of that - we just absolutely could not find a knife with which to cut our bread!!!!!! (We didn't know about the slicing machine yet =) Finally, after 30-45 minutes of searching, we finally found, on the very bottom of a random kitchen shelf, a small space that had maybe 4-5 steak knives for sale. We were still in the apartment at the time and only had butter knives, so we bought one of the steak knives and survived with that. Geesh! =) The last thing we bought was something completely horrific to an American consumer. We needed more milk for Zachary to drink. Most of the milk they sell over here is NOT!!! refrigerated!! Crazy, weird, gross. Oy, I'm tingling all over just thinking about it. They sell it in the dry goods section. It's good for many months. And it just totally creeps me out. Milk is pasteurized much differently over here by heating it to a super high temperature for a very short period of time This kills almost all bacteria and keeps the protein structures more intact than the American process of heating it to a lower temperature over a longer period of time. Weird, just weird. Zach did drink it, and he didn't die. But milk over here, ever the refrigerated kind, just doesn't taste the same.

There are several large differences between a Carrefour and a Wal-mart (or Target, or K-mart, take your pick, really). I don't know if you can even find wine in an American Wal-mart. But, at a European Carrefour, you can find aisles and aisles, so very tall, chock full of sooooooo many wines: reds, whites, French, German, Belgian, etc. etc. etc. It's altogether daunting to Americans like Adam and me to walk through these aisles of wines and even attempt to discern which one might taste better than another, or which one might go with our steak or our chicken dinner. But, it sure looks pretty!!! (Sorry I don't have a picture for you! =)


Another area of the store that I am going to miss more than any other is the Bakery section. Yeah, Wal-mart sells some breads, and rolls, and pies, and sweets. Truly, it's pathetic. The bakeries in the Carrefour are tantalizing wonderlands of French and Belgian pastries and breads, eclairs and waffles. The floors are covered in crumbs from people slicing their own bread.  There are so many bins filled with so many different baked goodies from which to take your choice (or many choices, for me). The first time we walked through the bakery, Adam had a very difficult job pulling me away from it. I couldn't take my eyes off of the so many tempting treats and bready goodness before me. Oh, it was heavenly!!!















Now, my biggest pet peeve, whether we're at a Wal-Mart, or a grocery store, or whatever, is that people are just too damn lazy! to put their carts back in the store or in a cart-collection stall. How hard is it, people?! It's NOT!!! Wal-Mart actually pays some of its employees to go out and round up these (very many!) stray carts and corral them into their proper places. Honestly, the whole things just boggles me! Well, around here, at the Carrefours and other shopping centers, this problem has been so easily addressed I just don't understand why the solution hasn't crossed the pond yet. We've all been to malls or airports that require you to pay for a cart and you might get some of all of that money back if you return it. The same idea has been applied to shopping carts in Europe, only it's even easier! The carts are all put away nicely, but they're connected to each other. To get a cart, one must take a 50 cent/1 Euro/2 Euro coin and put it in the slot. This releases the locking mechanism and sets your cart free, with your own money still in plain sight. After using said cart, one must simply return it to the stall, insert the locking mechanism into the back, and push out and retrieve one's very own coin. It's so simple! Even the old ladies can do it! Truly, this concept needs to be accepted and embraced by Americans, even if it means a few teenagers or college kids might lose a job!

The Europeans also have the perfect solution to the plastic bag syndrome that is choking America. And that is: Bring your own darn bags!! Sure, you can get a bag at the checkout at the Carrefour, but it's going to cost you some money. Why not just bring some in from home and save a fish instead? Anyone who says that's just too hard is just too lazy! If the European grandma riding her bicycle to go shopping can use a coin to free her cart and pack her own bags into the store, then we should be able to do so as well!!!

Ok, that was fun...

One more thing that I've noticed around here, at the Liege Carrefour and the IKEA in Heerlen, the Netherlands is something I think would be neat to start doing in America. Both of these huge buildings have parking lots on the roof. I just think that's cool and a great use of the limited space they have over here. Yes, there is still ground parking, but why not take advantage of all of that wasted space above the building if you can, right?

Anyways, I just wanted to share with you all some more about what we have available over here for shopping. A few people have asked if places like this exist over here, and I'm here to say that "Yes, they do. Thank Goodness!!" That's all I have for right now. Ta ta!