Re: Result!

[Fran]

I wonder what she sells.....!

[Fran]

In a word, Tesco.

[Fran]

It's cheaper in Italy.

[Fran]

And you can use them to pack Ebay stuff that sells.

HOLY COW! Back on topic.

[SteveH]

You post M&S, Sainsbury's and Waitrose as examples of where you'll shop and Morrison's, Aldi and Lidl as places you won't shop.

The fact is that the standards and service vary from one store to another, so judging a store based on name alone is a fruitless exercise. Hence, you're making decisions based on the value of the name alone.

As a store manager, I was obsessive about display standards - but did that mean I was selling a higher quality product than a colleague who was less obsessive? - of course it didn't.

You don't have to 'rummage around in boxes, crates and pallets' in the discounters, it's just a different kind of presentation, designed for efficiency rather than looking pretty.

Some of which they may sometimes deliver.

But, equally, my local Lidl offers good quality and efficent service at a fraction of the price.

You didn't address the 'value added' bit, there.

Which is a large proportion of the food sold in the UK.

So why do you believe they offer better quality, then?

Same product, same handling back of store, but different display standards....

If it happened at M&S, would you stop shopping there?

Because, one day, it will.

I assume you'd repeat this until you'd run out of stores to shop at.

[SteveH]

Even if they did, many people believe that a product in M&S packaging will be to a different spec. to one in Aldi packaging.

More often than not, it isn't.

[SteveH]

Whilst this is true, we're talking about mass-market here, so it's not a valid comparison.

[Timo Geusch]

That's what you get when you're shopping at Walmart by anything but the name.

I tend to avoid the Asda here even though it's very convenient if I'm taking the train to work. Mind you, I do occasionally pop in to buy some of the beer they stock, as they often seem to have a decent selection.

[doetnietcomputeren]

They all taste pretty good (hint: I'm not in Europe, strawberries here are rarely smaller than a golfball).

[ginge]

That's how it feels in my local (small) Asda, to be fair. By choice I go to Sainsbury's which is a couple of miles away, the big asda on the other side of town isn't so bad, but that's one of those gigant-a-dome WalMart type setups.

[Steve Firth]

Because when I work at one of my client's premises the nearest cash machine is at a Morrisons. I buy DVDs there, since that's something they can't piss-up and I have bought bottled water and envelopes from the same place. I've had a look at the wine shop while I've been there.

What I shame I'm not that close to Bath. The stores that used to be Safeways around Gloucester that are now Morrisons have changed beyond recognition.

TBH I shop more by recommendation from friends and from tastings in the informal wine club that is run by one of my colleagues than on price. At one time all of the wine chosen used to come from Safeway and it was of a startlingly good quality. Now I find that the shelves of Morrisons tend to contain wine that appears to have been bought down to a budget. We've certainly not had a wine from Morrisons in any of the tastings, but I know the person in question samples and follows wine magazne recommendations without regard to the retailer (he's even found good wine at Threshers which I regard as little more than a paraffin shop).

[SteveH]

That would equally apply to any pre-packed sandwich, regardless of buying it at Morisson's, Boots, M&S or Waitrose.

[Timo Geusch]

Damn, has Pedro sent the wrong shipment *again*?

:)

[Phil Young]

Who could ?

Althought I'm almost certain that Zoe Herriot (the 2nd Doctor companion) uses some valid 60's high level language (Algol maybe ?) to 'blow up' a computer (which had voice recognition btw). Hmm, it was a contemporary story, 2nd Doctor, Zoe so it must have been 'Invasion' or 'Web of Fear'. Where's that pile of DVDs....

Phil Young

[Steve Firth]

Well some bozo has been posting the adresses of my businesses on t'internet and I don't live more than a mile from work so you can work it out yourself. I'd be hard pressed to think where around here is pikey, other than using the alternative definition in which case the Romany church up the road probably qualifies.

[platypus]

The average customer should care that the local store is sufficiently successful to actually be open next week. Our local Somerfields closed before Xmas, throwing us on the tender mercies of Tesco, who then rebuilt their store to be bigger, less pleasant and more difficult to shop in. The old Somerfields site is being taken over by Aldi, and everybody I've talked to in the town can't wait for them to open.

[Andy Bonwick]

Would buying my sandwiches from a different shop help me then?

I'd even consider making my own sandwiches if I thought that the bread, butter, cheese, cold meat, salad etc was any healthier if I shoved it together rather than the company who supply Morrisons did it but I suspect their hygiene standards are probably higher than I'd manage using our kitchen area at work.

I suspect that the fact that I eat pub food most weekday evenings and feel obliged to drink beer whilst I'm doing so is doing far more damage to my health than Morrisons sandwiches could ever manage.

[platypus]

So the cardboard boxes I picked up from the tills at Tesco last weekend were imaginary? Coo. Maybe I should start going to church.

[SteveH]

Well, you have (had?) a UK residence, too, which appeared to be disconcertingly close to where a certain f****it welder lived.

And that area was definitely pikey last time I looked.

[Humbug]

Simple is effiecient, innit. You seem to be the sort of customer who justifies the major supermarkets' spending on excessive amounts of shiny packaging so that you *know* you're getting Value For Money.

I want good quality products which I can use, not "high quality" packaging which I will have to throw away.

I first encountered Aldi Markt in Garbsen (a suburb of Hannover) about

25 years ago. It was my PILs' preferred shop over the Safeway [1] in the shopping centre for both convenience and quality.

There was a Lidl even closer, but I remember that as being more of a clothes shop than groceries. Karstadt in the shopping centre was preferred.

When Lidl first opened up in England, I found that they sold some of the familiar products which I'd seen in Germany, at reasonable prices rather than the inflated prices you'd have to pay for "specially imported" goods.

Unfortunately, they seem to have dumbed down to the Great British Public's demand for cheap rubbish which they can recognise.

[1] Safeway in Garbsen was very similar to Safeway in Neasden. Even there, Lidl stocked more German foodstuffs rather than ordinary global bland^Wbrands. The shop which used to be a Safeway store in Neasden is now Lidl.