The Chez Sophie boutique, 60 avenue Jean-Jaurès in Nîmes, welcomes you Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 2:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Local products guaranteed!
Sophie’s story began in 2009 in Montpellier with the creation of a shop bringing together several local producers wishing to sell their products directly. From this first experience, seven Gardois decided to extend the story with a shop in Nîmes, rue du Cadereau.
Sophie, from the Chez Sophie boutique on Jean-Jaurès in Nîmes (Photo Anthony Maurin).
While this small team wants to move to Ville Active, Sophie prefers to continue her journey in Nîmes and has started looking for a “favorite” location. It was in August 2015 that her research began and at the end of the year Sophie found what she needed: “When I entered here, I had a big crush on the wall shelf, I immediately saw my products on it.“Her shop was therefore born on May 18, 2016. After long steps for the purchase, she was able to carry out this project and sell local products herself.
Chez Sophie (Photo Anthony Maurin).
Currently the shop brings together more than twenty local producers and its customers know why they come to its shop: the contact! Sophie is a funny and endearing personality, proud of her shop and who loves her work. Among several hundred references and more than 500 products, Sophie knows how to advise her clients because she knows what she is selling since she chooses her own products.
A menu rich in products
In this shop you can find seasonal products, suitable fruits and vegetables. “It’s cheaper than supermarkets for fruits and vegetables and it’s mostly local.” Sophie insists on this point today more than before because she ensures a certain control over the prices she offers. Obviously this does not in any way detract from the quality of these products!
Shelving in a well-stocked and busy store (Photo Anthony Maurin).
Moreover, some of the products come from his own farm! “We do everything in Saint-Hippolyte du Fort, market gardening and pig farming so it’s really a personal production.“With its 2.5 hectares of land and its sixty pigs, its production supplies a large part of its shop and offers both fresh products and artisanally processed products.
“For the pigs, the slaughter is done in Alès and after all is done at home in our lab.” Moreover, at Sophie, the pig has a particularity. “It’s red meat! In fact, we don’t have a single breed, but several so that allows us to have no disease and to have red but tender meat!“
The cohcon in all its states (Photo Anthony Maurin).
When we talk about products, the consumer visitor will find, for example, sausages, blood sausage, ham, spider crab, in short, everything that is eaten in pork and as they say… Everything is good in pork then let yourself be tempted by the unknown. In addition to these fresh products, sold vacuum-packed, the charcuterie section is important so gourmets will have a great time.
These productions are also accompanied by various products such as pie, terrines, prepared dishes where we find these famous pigs.
The shop (Photo Anthony Maurin).
Thus, all this artisanal know-how that permeates the shop is found in production and processing because Sophie offers different sales formats for her products. The sausage, for example, the visitor will find in various shapes and sizes, it depends on the mood of the day. Just like its prepared meals. “When I make the pudding, I make several cuts because I think of customers who live alone or with family and who don’t eat the same amount! It’s the same idea with preserves which generally have two formats.“
Soups come full circle (Photo Anthony Maurin).
In addition, Sophie tries not to waste her products. And in order not to throw away, the best thing is to transform until the virtuous circle of these supposed productions is closed. “There are also preserves or soups; that’s where most of the overproduction ends up! There are about ten different soups, the same goes for the sizes of the preserves, for example.“
Some fragrant goats (Photo Anthony Maurin).
Among these productions, there are also jams or caviars (including one with homemade ketchup for example) but also sorbets with a wide choice. All these personal productions are complemented by local products from the region such as eggs, pasta or wine. Short call, Sophie is also looking for a wine supplier because she is stopping her own wine production.
Where does Sophie’s know-how come from?
But then, what about this exploitation? For Sophie it is “from the field to the plate!” It all started with viticulture, then market gardening which aimed above all to supplement the various productions that the Montpellier store could lack before 2016, such as melon or watermelon. It is from this chance that this market gardening production is launched. This chance is completed by opportunity in 2018 when she buys six pigs to eat the overproduction of her land and she renews this purchase the same year with a female who is expecting a litter of eight young who are born in stride.
Sophie’s pigs (Julien Portalier).
From there was born the idea of producing her own meat, because she has a lot of pigs on site! Today she has her own laboratory, her own dryer and her pigs which are raised with love. She pigs all have names and a little story that sometimes marks the family: Beige!
The list of productions sold Chez Sophie (Photo Anthony Maurin).
This 400 kg pig was not Sophie’s favorite but she was one of the breeding females of the farm. “She had her character and when we chose to take her to the slaughterhouse it was great news for breeding.“The story does not end there, because once a pig is killed at the slaughterhouse, it is then necessary to extract the different pieces which are sold in the shop.
“When I saw it cut up, I wondered how I was going to cut it! Luckily the butcher helped me before we took him straight to our lab.“Thus, this dear Beige is found in the shop”It’s in some terrines and prepared dish on the shelf right here!“Today Beige rests in Sophie’s kitchen in Saint-Hippolyte du Fort. Yes, a friend of the family offered a stuffed pig. Souvenir, souvenir.
Jams, jellies and other delicacies (Photo Anthony Maurin).
All this little adventure led Sophie to be “an Angevine who has become a Gardoise and who raises pigs” as she defines herself. This interest in agriculture also comes from her history: “When my parents came down for the holidays, they came to see my new kennel. They were surprised at the proximity that the animals can have with certain pigs passing cheerfully and unsuspectingly beside them!“
Sophie’s way of market gardening (Photo Anthony Maurin).
Sophie also attended hotel school and has a passion for cooking, which she passed on to one of her sons. Why this passion? Simply because she loves the creativity it requires. “Having food and asking me what I’m going to do with it, I love it. And above all, cooking is about sharing!“.
Sophie is happy to work locally and for the local (Photo Anthony Maurin).
Séverine, who knows the shop well, talks about Sophie: “It has a local and circular economy with a wide range of production. I have never seen this anywhere else!“For her who only works with farmers, she is impressed by the number of hats that Sophie manages to wear!
With so much work, what can Sophie’s week look like? Monday, Wednesday and Saturday morning at the shop on the Jean-Jaurès, Tuesday in his lab for the pigs and Thursday and Friday morning for the production of vegetables and Friday afternoon at the Montpellier shop. She manages to take some time for herself on Sundays unless the strawberry season at the beginning of summer or the end of spring mobilizes her.
(Photo Anthony Maurin).
Albanian money
