Retail Awareness

We found that furnishing and outfitting a house from nothing has brought the added benefit of giving us a thorough knowledge of where to buy stuff all over Lucca province and the surrounding area. We found some of the places by accident, but thankfully our project manager/translator/nanny steered us to most of them.

In the course of our quest for sofas, tables, garden furniture and book-ends, we've shopped at high-end furniture shops, DYI stores, low-end furniture shops, antique shops, garden centres, flea markets, junk stores, electronics super stores and everything in between.
From Mondo Convenienza and Che Meraviglia for indoor and outdoor furniture, Brico and OBI for DIY, and Mercatone Uno for a little bit of everything, it seems like we have visited every big-box Italian retailer. And, of course, Ikea. We've even wandered through the Altopascio Mercatone Uno so many times that the furniture lady recognises us!

We've also found things in unexpected places. After looking everywhere for mattress covers, we finally found them in Esselunga, the supermarket. And we found some really great framed Puccini opera posters in a market stall on the streets of Lucca.

For all the fun, shopping for household items did present us with challenges, especially with language. With only a few shop employees speaking English (naturally enough), and my Italian remaining problematic, communicating exactly what we wanted did not always happen smoothly. However, persistence usually paid off, and through a combination of fractured Italian phrases, English and lots of hand gestures we managed to complete quite a few transactions.

Most of all, the experience proved a big confidence builder, both in using the language and in gaining the ability to accomplish what would be routine tasks at home in a different and sometimes intimidating environment.