chamdent

Hi Everyone
My partner and i are hoping to move to Marseille next year. So i am doing some research on what it has to offer us as a new home and with a view to opening a book shop/coffee bar...
Any kind of feedback regarding apartment rentals, shop rentals and general life in Marseille ( Day and Night ) Would be GREAT
Thanks Cham x

Nibbler

Best of luck....

jdr

Don`t want to put a downer on it but......

Mmmm, cup of coffee 1€, x how many cups of coffee you need to sell to pay the bills and have a lifestyle = too many.

The only people that make money on bars etc are the guys that sell the same leases every couple of months, and at the moment this applies worldwide.

Ka Ora!

Most Coffee is over a 1,30 these days, Most of our local establishments wacked the price up by 0,10 last month

jdr

Most Spanish charge 1€, you get a toasted small bagette with tomatoes on for about another 50 cents, or coffee and brandy or annis for 1.50€. viva Espana. ;-)

G-J-B

Come to Paris where they charge 5 or 6 euros a cup.

jdr

Christ you can get menu of the day for that here, starter, meal, sweet and half a bottle of house wine.

Tweedpipe

What? All that for 5 or 6 euros? Daylight robbery!

Here for that price you get the gastronomic menu, full bottle of Corton-Charlemagne Premier Cru, Grand Marnier chaser, and a chauffeur driven Citroen 2cv drive home with the Auberge owners 19 year old nymphomanic daughter in the back seat. But that's just weekdays. W/ends there's a huge 1,50 euro supplement, with mother-in-law wearing the chauffeur's cap.

jdr

Is there room for nookie in the back of a cv2 ?

G-J-B

Okay rub it in! If you go to a dedicated coffee bar, you'll easily pay 5-8 euros for a tiny little cup. In the restaurants you're looking at 3-4 euros.
I've got to move to Tweedpipe's neighbourhood!

Tweedpipe

Ruddy 'ell! 3-4 euros = average of 23 f.francs (remember those?), and 8 euros =
52 francs. For a coffee! Unbelievable!!
When I arrived in France first to work (no, Queen Victoria wasn't on the throne), we could get an excellent 3 course meal menu with carafe of wine and coffee for 10 francs.

G-J-B

I learnt the other day they massively dropped the VAT prices on food, but do the restaurants drop their prices - nope. Some of them even upped their prices shortly beforehand and then returned them back to normal to give the impression they'd dropped! Crafty buggers.

Paris is too expensive by far.

Bring back the 10 franc meal I say!

jdr

It was the same in Spain, when the € came in nearly every thing under a € was rounded up to it, it was a great excuse to up all the prices.

G-J-B

I've heard many a French person moan about the introduction of the euro along with the price hikes.

Roger O

Well, all that doesn't help the lady much, does it,
Personally, I don't know much about Marseille, having lived only in Antibes on the Côte d'Azure, Le Soler, near Perpignan and now Palaja near Carcassonne.

If I were moving to Marseille, the first thing I would do would be to read everything on this site very carefully (I put the English link - but if your French is good enough, you can switch (or to Spanish!)
http://www.marseille.fr/sitevdm/jsp/...sp?page_id=687
Next, I would study this very carefully (French only) Chamber of Commerce site
http://www.ccimp.com/ccimp/notre_off...vous_implanter
Thirdly, if you still feel "this is (or could be) for me" take time to spend at very least a month there on a working holiday to soak up the atmosphere and get the feel of the place. Marseille is a very large city - the second in France - and you will need to know which parts (districts) to go for and which to avoid (and there certainly are some of those!!)

After doing all that and coming up positive, then you get to the serious business!!