Mon Marché — Specialty Store in Charonne, Paris

Mon Marché is a branch of the chain on Rue Léon Frot, and the thing that sets this one apart in Charonne is sheer floor space: it is laid out like a market hall, with produce, fish, meat, cheese and deli counters all under one roof, and it is spotless.

The cheese counter is the first place to spend money. It is a proper counter, not a wrapped shelf, and the selection holds up against what you would pay more for elsewhere. The deli section is just as wide, and the fish is the quiet surprise of the shop: it looks and tastes better than a grocery fish counter has any right to. The meat is good, and the beef is not always French.

Produce is where the shop divides people. The vegetable aisle is genuinely varied, with citrus, Asian greens and potatoes for African cooking, plus yuzu at a price that reflects the importing. There is no organic range to speak of, and the dry grocery shelves are thin — no nuts, little oat milk, few vegetarian prepared dishes.

Prices are the reason to come. A few items run €5–20, often half what a neighbourhood supermarket charges, and the waste-reducing bin near the registers sells near-date products at 50 percent off, applied at checkout. The catch is the store itself in summer: there is no air conditioning, and the heat inside is hard to stay in for long. The shop is not the place to stock a pantry.

What you get for the trade-off is a fresh-food shop that covers most of a dinner in one stop, with counters worth walking to and a cheese selection that earns the trip. Come for the fish, the cheese and the deli.