Hi everyone, just a quick question. Im soon to be going across the channel for the first time in quite a few years (unfortunatly for shopping only!) and wondered if the regulars on here could advise on the best place to buy some tobacco and cigarettes.
Is the French-Belgian border at Vuerne / Ghyveld still the best place to head for? If so, is there any place in particular and what are the prices like?
Last time I went over there driving a truck was about 7 years ago so I suspect things may be abit different now.This time it will be in a car just for a day trip!!! 
Thanks for taking the time for any replies.
Bullitt.
Best place to head for if it is tobacco you are after is Adinkerke … just over the French/Belgian border. The French put the taxes up on their tobaccos last year. If you really fancy a drive, go to Irun on the French/Spanish border lol
Adinkerke is probably the most convenient place. There is a new motorway from Calais into Belgium. Cross the border (this is marked by nothing more than a sign reading “Belgium”), take the next exit, then turn left at the roundabout, just before the canal.
This brings you towards the old Belgian border, but you wouldnt recognise the place if you havent seen it for a while- virtually every shop in the village is now a bulk tobacconist.
They are all much of a muchness on price. Cigarettes are £100 for 800, most brands. Cant help with the price of tobacco as I dont ever buy it. Beer is a little cheaper but not the bargain it used to be.
Vince
Also Mikes tobbaco store - turn off at veurne. Take a right at t junction (from calais) then right at lights. go past texaco and turn right (opposite turning for romac fuels). T junction right and they are down there on right.
If you are buying a load of ■■■■ they are 33 euro in holland at the moment for 200. they can be as much as 37 euro in belgium
Thanks lads, much appreciate you all taking the time to reply. Looks like I`ll be heading on up to Belgium then!!
Not going to go mad on buying stuff, just want enough to keep me and my girlfriend going for a couple of months.
[If you really fancy a drive, go to Irun on the French/Spanish border lol]
Thanks Bear, if only I was 
Still get a bit of a yearning when I see the trucks rolling on and off the ferries.I enjoyed alot of it and still miss it.
Thanks once again lads.
Bullitt.
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bullitt:
Not going to go mad on buying stuff, just want enough to keep me and my girlfriend going for a couple of months.
You can theoretically buy what you want provided it is for your own use. In practice, Customs allow 3200 cigarettes per person, before regarding a crossing as suspicious.
Its not just "■■■■ n booze" which are cheap. Lots of the Adinkerke shops sell big boxes of Persil Automatic because it`s cheaper in Belgium.
I always buy it, it only saves us £50 a year, but hey…
Rather mine than theirs! 
Vince
Vince I used to fill trailer box with soap powder shower gel shampoo Olive oil, every thing the wife told me to…I got the mick taken out of me all the time on the boat in port at the customs till they found the cost difference
then if there was women as there usually is at customs they start asking how much where to get it etc…lol & that was customs ppl
I have always got wifeys soap powders etc abroad … anything along those lines is cheaper … Mr. Muscle is called soemthing else but has the same labelling. All our fabric conditioners (Soupline brand) and washing liquids are French
Iv’e found lots of things are cheaper abroad, apart from the obvious booze and ■■■■. Olive oil, pasta, salami, musical instruments, (there’s an incredible music store near Koln, dirt cheap) washing powder, cheese, car parts (If the catalysator goes on your Renault, you can save a couple of hundred quid buying the replacement in France) Cooking equipment; those heavy French oven dishes, for example.
My mum and all her social circle of little old ladies come round on Sunday lunchtimes when I’m at home with shopping lists of things they want in France.
I wonder, is it illegal to buy say ten expensive sets of French tableware and sell them in the UK? If you can find the customers in the UK, the profit isn’t far short of what you’d make on the wine allowance, and in my experience everyone who buys one of those orange Le Creuset cooking pans also takes all the wine I can bring.
I wonder if the people who plan the stock on the shelves just over the water do proper market research, or do they just sell any old line of gear?
PeteLeTroquaire:
.
I wonder, is it illegal to buy say ten expensive sets of French tableware and sell them in the UK??
I am not a lawyer, but I would say that since these items are not subject to duty and you do not require a licence to trade in them, then you would be free to import and sell them by the containerload, should you desire. The eu is for trade purposes, all one country, and I see no difference between doing what you propose, and buying goods in (say) Scotland and re-selling them in England if there was a profit in so doing.
Vince