Understood a general strike is possible, except for the usual “holiday” for that date, planned to make it the culinary grand purchase day, G Detou, Nishikidori, Grande Gourmande and probably too much more, second thoughts now if places are open, sent some mails directly, not sure metro will work… Will be glad for more info from “the insiders” 
Thank you very much
The most important holidays in France are 25 Dec, 1 Jan, 1 May and 14 July. Because so much of Paris is traditionally closed on May Day, it is a very surprising to see that you have designated it as a shopping day. Yes, some shops remain open, but not enough to make it a good day for shopping. This year it’s also a Monday, the traditional closing day for many shops, and never a good day for shopping in any case.
I doubt the transport strike will be anything more than a minor inconvenience. Some reduced services but it just means waiting 8 to 10 minutes for a train, rather than 4 or 5. After all, the organizers of the marches need to somehow get their supporters into and out of Paris, no ?
As on any May Day, I would avoid eastern Paris. The main march is set to follow the usual May Day march route from place de la République to place de la Nation and there will a lot of bus detours, closed métro stations and severe traffic congestion around the route in the afternoon. Start time for the march is usually 2pm. Rarely are there any problems before noon.
However, breakaway groups, notably the few hundred anarchists and the “black bloque”, could cause trouble in other parts of Paris. Just totally unpredictable other than almost always in the late afternoon and always very localized.
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Excellent explanation, thank you. Will purchase of course everything beforehand without relying on that Monday, general culinary planning started ages ago as it is as much as fun, almost, as the trip itself "-) I treated it then just as a Monday knowing the usual possibilities of places closed, as the time approached, reality stroke that it’s actually also 1st of…
Would have been nice to do the dairy and charcuterie purchases and packing “the freshest” on Monday but all for the good thank you for all the great insights
