ORBIS city intelligence

Buying in Nice: Olive Oil, Candied Fruit and a Blue Shirt

Nice sells three things with more conviction than the rest of the coast. Oil pressed from Provençal olives. Fruit and flowers preserved in sugar. A particular cut of shirt. Decide which you are shopping for before setting out, because the shops that do them well are not near each other.

Nicolas Alziari: decide between the appellation and the tin S1

Ask which oils carry the Nice appellation and which are blends from further afield. Both are sold here and they suit different cooking. If you want oil for finishing rather than frying, say so at the counter. Taste before committing to a size.

The painted tin is much of what people carry home. Decide on it separately from the oil inside. Check the volume against your baggage allowance, since a full tin is heavier than it looks and oil is restricted in cabin luggage.

À l'Olivier: go for the vinegars rather than repeating the oil S2

This house has traded in oil since 1822. The flavoured vinegars are the reason to stop if you have already bought oil elsewhere. Ask which are sharp enough for dressing and which are meant for finishing a sauce.

The stoneware jars are sold as much for the container as the contents. If the jar is the point, ask whether it can be refilled. Check that the closure will survive a journey before buying the larger size.

Maison Auer: glacé fruit keeps, chocolate does not S3

Maison Auer has made glacé fruit and dragées since 1820. Candied fruit is what to buy if the purchase has to travel. Ask how long each variety keeps and whether it needs to stay cool on the way home.

Buy the chocolate only if you can eat it within a day or two, particularly in summer. If you are assembling a gift, ask the counter to pack fruit and chocolate separately, because one will otherwise spoil the other in transit.

Confiserie Florian: the flowers, not more fruit S4

Florian works candied flowers and citrus confits. That is a different shelf from Auer rather than a competing one. Ask to see the flowers before the fruit, since they are what this house is for.

Crystallised flowers are fragile and travel badly loose in a bag. Ask for a rigid box. If you are buying for someone else, check whether the pieces are meant for eating or for decorating a cake, because the answer changes what to choose.

Façonnable: try the fit before you decide on the colour S5

Façonnable was founded in Nice in 1950 by the tailor Jean Goldberg. The Riviera blue shirt is the piece the house is known for. Ask for the cuts side by side rather than choosing from the rail, since the shoulder is where the difference shows.

For warm weather, ask which fabrics are woven for it rather than assuming from the colour. Confirm alteration times before buying if a sleeve needs shortening and you are leaving soon.

Socca Chips: the local snack that survives a suitcase S6

Socca is the chickpea flatbread of the old town, and this is the bagged version. It is the edible souvenir here that will not melt or leak on the way home.

Check the bag sizes against how many people you are buying for. Ask which seasonings are made for eating with an apéritif rather than on their own.

Le Goût de Nice: the city's own shop, for things made here S7

This is the boutique run by the City of Nice. It holds artisan goods and editions made specifically for it. Use it when you want something demonstrably from Nice rather than merely sold in Nice, which is a real distinction in a resort town.

Ask which items are exclusive to the shop, because those are the ones you cannot buy at the airport. Start here if your time in the city is short.

Malongo has roasted coffee in the city since 1934 and is the stop for beans. Herboristerie du Vieux Nice blends tisanes to order in the old town. Duncan is the multi-brand room for linen tailoring if Façonnable lacks the cut you want. Monogram handles pre-owned bags and watches, which is the one stop here unrelated to Nice.