Living in the Midi-Pyrénées region, B and I have been to Andorra and Spain a few times. I don't know what Luxembourg or Belgium are like just on the other side of the French border, but in Andorra and Spain there are always huge supermarkets right after the border crossing.
You enter and see huge sacks of candy, 1 and 2 kilo tubes of butter, 3 liter bottles of olive oil, huge bottles of shower gel and shampoo, and of course lots of alcohol and cigarettes. We never understood the huge butter, but got in the habit of bringing back shower gel and shampoo because it was impossible to find bottles as big in France (and it's not like you're ever going to have too much).
Those days may be over though: La fin des produits à taille réglementée
According to the article, France is changing it's laws because of a European directive from 2007. Manufacturers will no longer be restricted to official sizes for their products.
"Depuis mars 1985, le volume ou le poids de ces produits a été longtemps strictement encadré. Un exemple : le beurre classique ne pouvait être vendu, hors des mottes et des portions individuelles, qu'en tablettes de 125, 250 ou 500 grammes."
Isn't that crazy???
That explains the kilo of butter sold in Spain, of course.
The end of the article tries to cast some doubt on the positive nature of this news by saying that stores don't always sell huge packages for less per kilo/liter, but hopefully consumers will ignore that and clammor for value packs. I'd sure go for toothpaste sold in 500g or a kilo. It's not like it's going to go bad or you'll ever not need it. But I'll settle for bigger olive oil bottles and tubes of butter.
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