Vide-greniers: not very interesting anymore.

[Bayleaf]

We haven't been to anything like a vide grenier for years - we have enough tat of our own without needing to add to it !

Ditto!

[Hotrodder]

I have appreciated the benefits of boot fairs and vide greniers for years. Before coming to France I bought and sold at boot fairs to make ends meet. After coming here I picked up various "typically French" household items to give my first peasant cottage a bit of character. None of which cost as much as you lot blow sitting in a bar or resto. Later, with a new partner and a different hovel to renovate the old cottagey stuff didn't suit so it was all sold off at a moderate profit and I was buying materials for the job at hand. Slate hooks, flue fittings, plumbing fittings, electrical stuff, part rolls of wire and conduit, paint, all of which helped to stretch a tight budget.
I agree that about 95% of the goods on display should be in a skip at the nearest deschetterie but the occasional useful gem turns up at a tempting price. Never sold by a "trader" but a private person just there to shift some excess or as part of a house clearance of a family member. There was a series of boot fairs in our area set up to promote interaction between expats and locals. It was largely successful but eventually it was taken over by the "dealers" with their tons of rusty tools and broken crockery. Killed it stone dead but it was a rich pickings for those who turned up looking for a bargain. We took a pitch whenever the weather was decent and always did well. I used to flog s/h paperbacks that otherwise would have ended up in a recycle bin.

[RobertArthur]

In the past I bought too many books (French history, politics, economy) and of course electrical stuff for the installation électrique. Having a box full of disjoncteurs, télérupteurs, interrupteurs différentiel, sockets, switches not any reason to continue with buying these things (ça peut servir un jour....) Sometimes useful when a neighbour or friend says: Robert, j'ai un petit problème avec....

But on a sunny day it still is something to do, touring, stop working in the garden, stop DIY stuff, stop reading. From a financial point of view it has become a route barrée.

[Char]

We picked up a bike for our G/d for five euros today.

[Sparkle]

A few weeks back for the first time I went to Emmaus to see what the furniture was like for a UK holiday home friend who is wanting some cheap chairs. Not a great deal there but it's not a large warehouse (it was the old Lidl store) but then I guess the best gets sold quickly and you probably have to visit frequently. However, to my delight I found 10 wine glasses with etched grape vines around them that match the ones I bought from e-leclerc some years ago and which they no longer sell. 50 centimes each - fantastic and they more than replace my broken ones!

[exile]

You can still drop lucky - even today. Actually just back from a VG and Mrs E bought 2 paintings. The story goes that the painter is a friend of the seller and was not happy with his work and put them in a skip. Friend retrieved them and was selling them cheap. Leonardo they are not; but nevertheless still decorative.

The problem is that "good" things these days tend to be put up for sale on Ebay or LBC, so what's left ends up at the VGs.