Pharmacies are everywhere in France,& it does not take long to discover that "La Pharmacie Française" is not the same as an American pharmacy. I seem to have developed a love/hate relationship with pharmacies here.
One can easily find a pharmacy here.....just look for the neon green cross, the symbol for pharmacies in France.
Pharmacies are always clean & welcoming, often with a green & white decor. Unlike pharmacies in the U.S., you won't see aisle after aisle of housewares, books, sodas, hardware, kitty litter, etc. The items for sale are all related to health & well-being, for humans & often their pets as well. The cosmetics for sale are often often made with natural ingredients or tout aromatherapeutic properties, & homeopathic remedies are popular as well as abundant. The only products I have seen for sale in pharmacies that one might not expect are a range of Dr. Scholl's footwear products & shoes.
In the U.S., other than for prescriptions, one simply walks up & down the aisles & picks up the products one wants. Not so here in France. The vast majority of products, even over-the-counter (OTC) medications & products, are kept behind the counter & it entails waiting in a line to ask the pharmacist. Need gauze pads? Ask the pharmacist. Need a tube of Vaseline? Ask the pharmacist. You get the picture. I find it challenging to have to ask the pharmacist for nearly everything (Vaseline, Band-Aids, aspirin), but I'm learning to live with it.
Many items (OTC medications, first aid products, etc. -- see paragraph above) that can be found in U.S. grocery stores can only be bought at a pharmacie. The concept of going to one store for all your purchases does not really exist here.
OTC medications here are sold in small packages -- often only 10 or 15 tablets per box. You won't find super-size bottles of Advil here. Many medications are meant to be dissolved in a glass of water & are sometimes effervescent. Aspirin, for instance, often comes this way. OTC meds here are generally more expensive than in the U.S., & are not covered by French health insurance.
Even prescription medications come pre-packaged in small boxes. We found some meds are available here in generic forms, when they are still only name-brand in the U.S. Overall, the price of prescription meds here is a LOT less expensive than in the U.S., even without insurance.
Pharmacies here often have more than 1 pharmacist on duty at a time; in the U.S., even in large pharmacies, I've rarely seen more than 1 pharmacist working at a time. That's probably because the French pharmacist actually gives consultations. I went in recently when I had a bad cough & cold, & the pharmacist asked me several questions (luckily for me, he spoke decent English), listened to my cough, & recommended the appropriate OTC medications. I have had an instance where I had a minor health problem, spoke to the pharmacist, & she sold me a cream that should have been prescription-only -- they must have more latitude here than in the U.S.
Like most other businesses here in the south of France, pharmacies generally close for a couple of hours (at least) at lunch, & are not open on Sundays. Many towns have a rotating schedule of pharmacies open for at least part of Sunday, but that is not always the case. When there is not a pharmacy open, there is always one available "on call" per French law.
Love 'em or hate 'em, Les Pharmacie Françaises are a part of life in France.
