On Sunday, I learnt something about alcohol sales in France that would rule out French life for most Australians … Many shops do not sell alcohol on Sunday afternoons.
“We are not allowed to. It’s illegal,” the manager of my local Monoprix told me.
Quoi? How is it that I have managed 30 years in France without making this shocking revelation? (Simply because it’s not true, Monsieur … read on.)
When I get to Monoprix – the alcohol section is screened off. Like in a mausoleum. I nearly died. This was the sole reason I had made the trip down to the shop in 34-degree heat. Settling on a Margarita back home, I reached out to an American friend, Sandy, who has been in France longer than me. I told her of my tale of woe.
Guess what? She wasn’t aware either.
“Maybe it explains why my wine shops are closed on Sundays?”
Um, yes! … The light goes on.
What, I thought to myself, she had never questioned what would be for Australians a question of survival! And no doubt for many Americans too.
“Exactly!” I replied. “Prohibition … French style!”
No Sunday arvo’ alcohol sales in France – False!
But all this turns out to be totally groundless. There is no evidence that this is a national law … none. And frankly, I am sure I have previously bought booze on a Sunday arvo … Otherwise, I would never have hung around so long!
It seems the manager misrepresented the facts. This decision is more of an individual supermarket thing – and possibly a Monoprix policy. While my Monoprix is now open all day on Sundays, like other Monoprix stores, the sale of alcohol is banned from 1pm onwards.
“It’s on the website,” he insisted when I objected.
Um, no, it’s not.
Nighttime prohibition vs dry Sunday
Now, under other regulations swept in during COVID, stores in some Paris districts were forbidden to sell alcohol any day of the week between 10pm and 8am. This “prefectural decree” passed down by local majors of various arrondissements targeted the sale of booze to be drunk on the spot – in the surrounding streets.
It was a civil obedience thing, not a health one. For some people, the “Orwellian” rules hung around too long like a nasty hangover. These local laws did not apply to cavistes, specialised wine sellers. And they don’t seem to be in force currently.
Boh, all that’s not too bad. But no alcohol sales at all on Sunday afternoon? That’s a bit rich. According to MAPA food industry insurance company, épiceries – convenience stores – are banned from selling booze on Sundays nationwide. (Being France, many shops flout this rule, so don’t worry.)
But, I can now safely conclude from my research that supermarkets are not included in this ban. And neither are wine stores. I wish the Monoprix manager hadn’t had me barking up the wrong tree (prohibition in Paris panic) tree and spelt out that it was a store policy rather than suggesting it was a law. Surely one that would incite another storming of the Bastille.
In the end, according to one politician, while highly regulated, many rules on the sale of alcohol in France work on a regional level. Others are blanket bans applied nationally. And the sale of alcohol at supermarkets is not among these.
No staff checkouts – no booze sales at supermarkets on Sunday
So even if Monoprix is authorised to sell wine and beer on Sundays, it chooses not to. Apparently, because they don’t have the necessary staff on board to ensure the sale of alcohol to minors is respected, according to one observer. They only have express self-checkouts operating, not staffed aisles.
That means they face fines up to €7500 if they do sell alcohol, the government says.
In the end, two things are true in this ‘no alcohol in France on a Sunday’ conundrum (or bunkum). Firstly, nighttime alcohol sale restrictions that any local authority can introduce at any time, ad hoc, as they see fit.
“An absurd decision to try to keep drunken homeless people off the streets. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t work,” wrote one commentator on social media.
Secondly, the decision by certain supermarkets and stores not to sell booze on Sundays, because they are not paying staff to be on-site to oversee the sale of alcohol. Unfortunately, quite a few stores seem to be doing this … rather than have the necessary staff to ensure that adults have their alcohol, and minors don’t. So expect to see those booze barriers rise before your eyes.
I guess my local Monop’ will lose my boozy business on Sundays then as I go in search of a bigger store with sufficient staff to ensure my Sunday evenings are liquidy Parisian pleasures – and not prohibition pains in the butt.
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