Faced with the increase in prices, these Marseillais prefer to take the bus to go shopping several hundred kilometers from the Marseille city. A choice that takes them time but allows them to fill their cart.
They regularly travel 700 kilometers to save several dozen euros. To cope with inflation, which stood at 4.9% in 2023, some Marseillais choose to go to Spain by bus to do their shopping.
“If we count the toll fees, the gasoline costs, with the car it’s too expensive. Since inflation we come more often for cigarettes, food and for meat,” explains Priscilla on BFMTV .
She has 4 hours to do her shopping in La Jonquera, a town located in Catalonia near the French border, before the bus returns to Marseille. This journey takes a total of 10 hours round trip but is well worth it, according to her.
“Let’s take the example of sandwich bread, here it’s 1.59 euros for 500g, at home I pay 2.20 euros for 200g”, she says, estimating to make 40% savings compared to his purchases in France.
Five shopping bags for the price of two
Malik filled five large shopping bags, compared to only two on the other side of the border for the same price.
“(I took) bottles of oil for the family, soap, all the essentials. These are products that I don’t buy in France because they’re too expensive,” explains -he.
And to be sure not to spend too much, Angèle defined a budget before entering the Spanish supermarket. “I have an allocated budget because if you come without a budget you can make compulsive purchases.”
Although it is known that cross-border workers regularly go to Spain, particularly to buy cigarettes and fuel, the fact that people from Marseillais are prepared to travel several hours by bus to get there is “quite unprecedented” for Grégory Caret, director of the UFC consumption observatory What to choose?.
“It proves that the French are making very complicated calculations (…) It’s not even to save money but to fill their cart,” he analyzes.
The success of these journeys to Spain over the past two years has been such that the Marseille bus company Azur Evasion has doubled the capacity of its coaches.
Valentin Demay with Emilie Roussey
