One of the favorite activities of Birgit and her daughters is shopping for antiques at a brocante market or hunting for treasures at a vide grenier (often on Sunday). If you want to check out what’s on near the campsite, have a look at this website.
Some useful words
Vide grenier – literally, emptying of the attic. Visiting this type of market means a lot of hunting for treasures, and prices are usually low.
Vide maison – literally, emptying of a house. If you see a sign that says this, it is an opportunity to both find interesting items for – often – good prices and see inside a house.
Brocante – usually signifies an antique market, where antique dealers sell their wares (this may be a yearly event, but it can also be in a store that is open year round). It means that what is on offer has already been curated, which also means prices are higher. You can find furniture, linens, crockery (often lots of silver cutlery). Prices vary, so have a good look around; you may still be able to find a bargain.
Dépôt-vente – a type of thrift store where people bring goods, that are then sold by the store, and the original owners receive soms of the profits. The owner of the dépôt-vente makes a selection of the things they think will sell, which means that this could be described as somewhat curated.
For shopping for treasures year round, these are some of our favorite addresses.
Blouse, Eymet centre
A well curated collection of vintage home accessories, some small furniture items and a little bit of fashion. Worth popping into every time you visit Eymet, there’s always something new to discover.
Depot-vente, Eymet (bd. National)
This local thrift store has a nice collection of second hand clothes, homeware pieces like plates and cutlery and some furniture.
Recyclerie Bergeracoise, Bergerac (Rue Bonnat)
Hunting ground for hardcore thrift store lovers. Very cheap, lots to see but finding something might take a very good eye…
Espace depot, depot-vente, Bergerac (26 Rue Junien Rabier)
Lots of furniture and home accessories. Prices vary from reasonable to ridiculous but we have found here some lovely things in the past.
Suggestions for day trips
If you like vintage shopping – make a day out of it! Keep your eyes open for addresses we do not have on our list yet, stop for a coffee and take an extended lunch break (most places close for lunch anyway).
In the direction of Villeneuve-sur-Lot (recommended for Thursdays and Fridays – Fridays are market days in Ste Livrade sur Lot)
St. Vincent de Paul, Villeneuve-sur-Lot (157 Rue Louis Hurault de Ligny)
‘Regular’ thrift store. In summer 2022 it had a beautiful collection of antique linens. No promises for now unfortunately but who knows what you might find…
Mega Troc 47, Bias (Avenue de Bordeaux)
Big hall with a mix of brocante and some new items. Nice collection. Seems to also buy remainder lots of e.g. paint and wine.
Liberté Chérie vintage & brocante, Sainte-Livrade-sur-Lot (43 Rue Nationale)
Run by a British lady with great taste who loves to renovate furniture. Wonderfully curated collection, good prices and lovely crockery. You see something new every time you look around.
In the direction of Bordeaux
If you’re interested in an antiquing daytrip with spontaneous stops, try the D-roads to Bordeaux. From the campsite, take the D933 towards Marmande. At the roundabout with the big Leclerc (centre commercial), take the D813 towards Bordeaux and then continue on the D1113 towards Bordeaux. Along this route, look out for signs that say antique or brocante. This is how we discover new places all the time. Apart from Alain la Brocante, the store mentioned below, the other addresses we have are rather vague. We visited an antiques barn that was on the turn from D813 to D1113, but it did not seem to have a name. A bit down the road from Alain la Brocante was a Brocante with a market style set-up outside and a nice collection of antique linens outside – but on the map, it just says ‘Brocante’. Part of the fun here is finding new spots!
Alain la Brocante, Lamothe-Landeron
On the left side of the road, when coming from Marmande
The first floor (where you enter) has high quality antiques with price tags to match. Wares range from the classic French to the rather eccentric – the most interesting thing we saw was a large stuffed animal holding a wine bucket (it may have been a badger).
Downstairs is for treasure-hunting – but the price tags also match, which means that everything is a lot cheaper but might need to be washed or renovated.
