Les magasins

French	English
L’animalerie (feminine)	The pet shop
L’épicerie (feminine)	The grocery shop
L’épicerie fine (feminine)	The deli
L’opticien (masculine)	The optician’s
La bijouterie	The jewellery shop
La boucherie	The butcher’s
La boulangerie	The bakery (bread)
La boutique	The shop
La cordonnerie	The cobbler’s
La droguerie/la quincaillerie	The hardware shop
La jardinerie	The garden centre
La librairie	The bookshop
La mercerie	The haberdashery
La papeterie	The stationery shop
La parfumerie	The perfume shop
La pâtisserie	The bakery (cake)
La pharmacie	The pharmacy
La poissonnerie	The fishmonger’s
La presse	The newspaper-store
Le centre commercial	The mall/shopping centre
Le fleuriste	The florist
Le magasin	The shop
Le magasin bio	The health food shop
Le magasin de bricolage	The DIY store
Le magasin de jouets	The toy shop
Le supermarché	The supermarket
Le tabac	The tobacconist’s

Forming sentences

Basic rule

As shops are places, when using the verb “aller,” (to go) or “être,” (to be) we need to use the contracted articles “au, à la, à l’, aux” instead of the definite articles.

For example:
Je vais à la boulangerie → I go to the bakery.

The exceptions

For some shops in this list, we are actually using the name of the profession and not the name of the shop as we do not have one in the language. This is the case for “le fleuriste” and “l’opticien”. As a result, the contracted articles cannot be used. Instead, we need to use the preposition “chez” which refers to someone’s place, shop or practice. In addition to those two, in the language we prefer to use “le cordonnier” (the cobbler) instead of “la cordonnerie” (the cobbler’s shop).

For example:
Je vais chez le fleuriste → I go to the florist’s.
Je vais chez le cordonnier → I go to the cobbler’s.

 

“Le magasin”

“Le magasin” can be followed by “de” and the noun describing what it sells. Many shops in France are called like that.

For example:
Le magasin de souvenirs → The souvenir shop.
Le magasin de chaussures → The shoe shop.
Le magasin de fruits et légumes → The fruit and vegetable shop.