The International Engineer

April 30^th, 2023

St. Bruno is a neighborhood in Grenoble that is home to a market everyday from 7 to 13h. One day, my French culture class took a trip to the market as it is a conglomeration of the diversity Grenoble has to offer. Upon entering the market, I saw products from all over the world. The first thing to catch my eye was agarbatti, incense sticks that looked like they came straight from India. To my surprise, half the market was devoted to clothing. Cheap sweaters, tops, and jackets lined the aisle and they seemed of reasonably good quality.

I was immediately reminded of markets in India as opposed to the farmer’s markets I’ve been to in the US. In the US, farmers markets are more specialized. They sell primarily vegetable and fruits. Or there are flea markets with second goods. But I haven’t come across a mix of everything like I saw in St. Bruno. In India on the other hand, people are selling pretty much anything. There’s fresh produce everywhere but markets also have clothing items, sunglasses, little trinkets, etc.

Another thing I noticed was many non-French languages spoken. I heard Arabic pretty frequently but I also heard Italian, Hindi, and another language I couldn’t identify. The diverse languages spoken make sense because many of the items being sold were ethnic in nature. I saw mehndi cones (henna) and another student in the program from Bahrain commented “this looks like a market from home.” Something else I noticed was that there seem to be market regulars. By that I mean I saw a woman come up to the vendor and start speaking in (presumably) her native language. He smiled warmly and greeted her. Almost immediately he handed her a bag. And while I cannot be certain, in my mind the interaction was a little “too quick” for two people who’d had never seen each other before. And after seeing this type of interaction happen a couple of times, I started wondering whether there were market regulars who got a particular item each week at the market for their household…something that is too niche to buy at Monoprix or another mainstream supermarket.

And while there were many ethnically diverse and specialized products, there were also cheap makeup and toiletries. Some tables were taken up by lipstick, toothpaste, shower items, etc. but everything was being sold for cheaper than it would be found at a supermarket or general purpose store. Interestingly enough, these tables tended to more empty, devoid of the typical customer-vendor interactions I saw in other places at the market. The most popular stalls, no surprise here, were the food ones!

There were also some really cool clothing stalls with kurtas and lehengas that I saw. I’ve attached some pictures where you can see the full length outfits. Again, there are not as many people appearing to buy these, although the sparkle is very catchy. After walking around a bit, I couldn’t help but wonder why there were so many clothing vendors if it was not nearly as popular as the food. Is it because of the French emphasis on fashion? Or do the clothing vendors need to make fewer purchases since each item will sell for more money. In other words is it a marketing strategy to appear unique rather than blend in? I know I shopped for some blouses, tops, and scarves, but it was really interesting being one of the few who did so. It also made me stick out (likely more than I usually do). But in some way it felt like a different type of sticking out. The lack of French helped. Being Indian-American, I was unique but part of the “other” at the same time.

And to conclude, my favorite find at the market was the same brand of Sandalwood soap that I get in India. And part of me still regrets not buying it. Although I suppose that I could always go another day and pick it up during my time here…and perhaps make some more observations while I’m at it.

Here are 6 photos of the market and a large photo of the St. Bruno area and park.