Paris Chinese Grocery - 13th Arr

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A little background from: http://www.rendezvousfrance.com/chine.html

The 13th arrondissement, on the left bank, really took off in the late 1970's and early 1980's with the arrival of the "boat people" from Vietnam. The arrondissement had fallen victim to the depressing urban development started under the Gaullist government. This working class neighborhood was torn down and replaced by impersonal and ugly high rise buildings. No Parisian wanted to move in this universe of concrete. But the Chinese people who came from Vietnam found there a new Promised Land. The rents were cheap, there was plenty of space. They could build their own city - the largest Chinatown on the entire Continent - in the City of Light. In 1982, the first Chinese store open its doors. Now, there are over 150 restaurants in this southeastern part of Paris. The neighborhood's center is the place d'Italie, and its borders are the avenue d'Ivry, avenue de Choisy and boulevard Masséna. The only day to avoid Chinatown is Monday, when nothing much happens and most of it is closed."

Now I live in the 7th arr, which means for me to get anywhere near asian groceries is difficult. For me to get from my stop to Place d'Italie is 30 minutes with one change (top left circle), and Porte D'Ivry is about 45 minutes with one change (the bottom right circle).

Unfortunately, the biggest and best grocery stores in the area, is right by the Porte d'Ivry stop, which is only served by line 7 and doesn't come that often .

Nevertheless, as soon as you get out of the Porte d'Ivry stop, there's a giant grocery story looking at you, called the Continental Marche.

Continental Marche is suprisingly owned by a large chain called Paris Store, which has a over 20 Chinese grocery stores across France, including within ile de france and province.

This place is pretty big and has a butcher that serves beef, chicken, pork, etc., a decent selection of produce, a very impressive selection of dry goods and sauces, and a rather large selection of frozen seafoods (so many different types of frozen shrimps and fish!). What they don't have are good selections of frozen dumplings and not much in the areas where tofu and fresh pre-packaged noodles. They only had dimsum (steamed cantonese dumplings) and not northern flour goods.

If you are not looking for too many specific items, once you get to this supermarket, you are pretty much done - but if you want more comprehensive items, you will have to keep walking north west on Avenue d'Ivry. 

Continental Marche

五洲超級市場

21 Avenue Ivry, 75013 Paris, France

+33 1 45 82 20 15

They are open 9-7 Mondays to Saturdays, and closed on Sundays.

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The next gigantic supermarket you will see is Paris Store. Advertising itself is a hyper asian market, it really does feel like you're in the asian Carrefour. The entire Paris Store chain is supposedly run run by a Vietnamese organization. 

They have a much larger selection in this supermarket than they do at the Continental, but the last time I was there, I found that they were lacking in fresh vegetables and i had to go around to other ones.  They do have a lot more Asian "stuff" though (pots, pans, etc.)

Paris Store

巴黎士多

• 44, Av d'Ivry, 75013
• 20-28, Ave d'Ivry, 75013 (surgelee or frozen goods)
• 21 Ave d'Ivry, 75013 (continental)

They are opened 9-7pm Mondays to Saturdays, and close at 12:30pm (by law) on Sundays. 

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Right next to Paris Store, is the famous Tang Freres. The chain started by the Tang brothers from Laos. I have to say that this is probably my favourite Asian grocery chain so far. It has EVERYTHING. There were a couple of specific things like cantonese rice rolls that I couldn't find elsewhere and they were at Tang Freres. Walking around their big flagship store on Avenue d'Ivry, this is one of the few stores that you can go in and find everything you likely will need in one go. Unfortunately, the largeness of Paris Store often overshadows the more underground Tang Freres and you end up walking there by accident.

They also have their own butcher, plenty of fresh produce, and lots and lots of other types of asian food you can think of. Great place. After this supermarket, you really don't need to look any further.

Tang Freres
陳氏商場

• - 48 avenue d'Ivry
• - 168 ave de Choisy (smaller one)
• 75013 Paris, France

They are open 9-8 Mondays to Fridays, 8-8 on Saturdays, and 8-1 Sundays. They used to open much later on Sundays, but Paris cracked them down.
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Along Avenue de Choisy, entering from the Place d'Italie stop, one of the first Asian supermarkets you will see is another Tang Freres. This one is a much smaller one, lacking in selections in comparison to the first. Every time I'm lazy about taking the metro, I come to the Place d'Italie and enter from there - which means that I end up having to go to many little super markets along Avenue do Choisy in hopes of finding what I need eventually. Avenue de Choisy is super long and there are approximately 5-8 small Asian grocery stores that sell similar items but vary slightly depending on what the focus of the store is (e.g., Thai vs. East Asian vs. Exotics). I haven't had time to document the entire street of grocery stores, but maybe one day I will.