<p>My S is in France for the year, and needs some bedding and so forth. He couldn’t take such items, due to baggage restrictions. He is short of cash. I was thinking about buying some stuff for him at the local Ikea, if they would deliver it to his address, or he could pick it up at the store. Has anyone done this? Is there a better place to buy such stuff than Ikea? The French equivalent of Target…?</p>
<p>Amazon ships internationally, although you will have to check whether they ship larger items like bedding.</p>
<p>Or he could order it from amazon.fr, that would probably have the best shipping prices.</p>
<p>It looks like amazon.co.uk also ships to France very cheaply, and I can read the pages on the U.K. site. :D</p>
<p>Carrefour is the Target of France - Here’s a link [Carrefour</a> -Accueil](<a href=“http://www.carrefour.fr/]Carrefour”>http://www.carrefour.fr/)
It’s in French, and I’m not sure if there’s an English translation, but you can try to dig up an English version here [Customer</a> - Carrefour Group](<a href=“http://www.carrefour.com/cdc/customer/]Customer”>http://www.carrefour.com/cdc/customer/)</p>
<p>My D is also going to France for the year, as a teaching assistant, and I hadn’t thought of this before, so thanks!</p>
<p>Don’t send him things he can buy locally. It’s good practice for his French to go out and buy the things himself. Send him the money to do so.</p>
<p>Years ago, one of the best experiences I ever had was to go to the Samaritaine dept. store in Paris (it no longer exists although the building is there) to buy a hair dryer (this was long before you could easily find dual voltage appliances). I remember how helpful the clerk was and how complimentary she was about my limited French when I said I was a foreign student. </p>
<p>The care pkgs I wanted to receive from home where things I couldn’t get there, mainly junk food. I remember longing for doritos and plain white marshmallows. Bags of chocolate chips were another thing so I could make cookies. Oh, and Crest! He’ll know what he wants and is not available nowadays.</p>
<p>It will almost certainly be cheaper for you to just send your son some money and he can buy the bedding in France. </p>
<p>As for IKEA, these stores are nearly always out of town. So if he hasn’t got a car he may be unable to collect stuff from there.</p>
<p>At the moment, I’m looking at buying him everything through amazon.fr. IKEA is indeed out of town, but he could take the metro to Carrefours. Unfortunately, Carrefours doesn’t let you buy linens online, or even look at their selection. </p>
<p>Partly I want to buy it for him because it makes Mom feel better to feather his nest. But also he has a lot to deal with right now with unforeseen bureaucratic snafus and visas and jobs and more, so this is something I can do for him. (His French is definitely not limited. 
)</p>
<p>Although you might want to stick to brand new items for certain items, you might google the expats websites in Europe. There are always people coming and going and not only have plenty of tips, but usually have links to “buy/sale” sections. A bit of a CC for people abroad. </p>
<p>In addition to Ikea, according to my European grandma who loves shopping by catalog, you might also google for the well-known french department stores. Here is one that sells online with links to … pillows.</p>
<p>[oreillers</a> - Galeries Lafayette](<a href=“http://www.galerieslafayette.com/s/oreillers]oreillers”>http://www.galerieslafayette.com/s/oreillers)</p>
<p>Another source is a large online outfit called Damart:</p>
<p>[Damart[/url</a>]</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.damart.fr/Acheter/oreillers/classification=10048[/url]”>http://www.damart.fr/Acheter/oreillers/classification=10048](<a href=“http://www.damart.fr/Acheter/oreillers]Damart[/url”>http://www.damart.fr/Acheter/oreillers)</a></p>
<p>PS Remember that you can direct Google to only show sites that would be in French or in France.</p>
<p>Fun to look at the sites. My D will be an English teaching assistant as well, in a small city. They will sell bedding somewhere in that area. </p>
<p>The bigger deal I’d think is to take any needed medicine. When my D was an exchange student, the package containing her prescription face cream never made it through customs. Or so we figure. It never showed up back here or there. This time, we’re planning to ask insurance for a full year supply in advance.</p>
<p>Well, it turns out that one cannot purchase bedding online from IKEA, and he prefers the IKEA items to those available on Amazon.fr. He also figured how he can get to IKEA via public transportation with only a 10 minute walk. So he’ll be buying it himself after all. I guess I’ll just deposit some $$ in his account. At least we had the fun of shopping the websites together, thanks to the wonders of facebook and skype.</p>