When to use "récupérer"?

Question

Je vais d'abord passer chez le poissonnier pour récupérer les huîtres.Is récupérer interchangeable with acheter? Can I use récupérer for clothes shopping? e.g. Je vais récupérer une robe

Accepted Answer

Hi Eldra, 
Just to add to the interesting answers you would use 'récupérer' for a garment for instance if you were talking of a dry-cleaner -
Je vais récupérer ma robe/mon costume chez le teinturier = I am going to pick up my dress/suit from the dry-cleaner's 
You would even say -
Je vais récupérer les enfants à l'école = I'll go and pick up the children from school
Hope this helps!

Answer

«Récupérer», 'to recover/get back/collect/retrieve' etc - and therefore usually indicates taking or regaining possession of something that is 'yours'; it is not synonymous with «acheter», which is 'to buy'.

Answer

She has ordered the oysters in advance and is just going to "pick them up".