The Best Supermarket to shop at

Waitrose is calm, the aisles wide, the selection amazing but best of all is their customer care and attention.Maybe they are a few pennies more - not even sure about that! I go armed with a list and stick to it..............having said that there are a few things that I can only buy in Aldi.
I hate the ethics of Tesco - the riding roughshod over local small business - having had one I know their power and I dislike it intensly.
I'm also puzzled by the angry people who seem to shop there, children being screamed at and elderly people being intolerated - maybe that is just the branch nearest to me and not a generalisation - and one last point is that nobody dings my car with their trolly in the Waitrose car park but I'm guaranteed one in in Tesco!! OK - rant over!!

POGS my husband used to drive for Waitrose, and while he frequently found himself parked next to a Tesco lorry or an M&S one, all collecting the same goods in different packaging, there were several manufacturers who had completely different sections supplying the stores with meals made to different specifications.
I do all my basic shopping at Aldi although I think Lidl have better fruit & veg - but they are further away. I do some shopping in Sainsbury's because it is close, but having found them a horrible company to work for I don't enjoy going there. At least once a week I go to Waitrose for a few extras (and of course the staff discount )

Flickety

I stick with my original post.

Sadly, Booths hasn't reached this corner of Cheshire - Knutsford is nearest - but at least I have Waitrose as my corner shop.

I don't like either of the two mainstream supermarkets (about 3 or 4 miles away), so I avoid with a vengeance and travel 7miles to Booths. By far the best fresh food - and much of it local. Small enough for me not to be overwhelmed wth choice, big enough to stock everything and more that I need/want. And asistants that know you and to you; and who know the products they are selling.

Whether or not the product varies depending on the outlet being supplied, I think a lot of us are saying much the same thing; that it is not just the food itself but the whole shopping experience which colours how we feel about any particular supermarket. Many of us I think dislike the loud musak and bustle of big shops, whatever name is over the door. I find it really distracting and know I'm not alone - early morning on Christmas eve found me in Tesco with dozens of others, all calm and smiling, giving way to each other's trolleys and so on. On the smack of eight o'clock the music started blaring out. Groans all over the store and the atmosphere changed instantly. It really doesn't matter if it's Asda or Marks, if the place is busy you feel hastled and worn out, if it's quiet it's a quite pleasant way of pottering about for a bit. And I think the only reason we tended to look down on the Lidls and Aldis was the presentation - we assumed the stuff was rubbish because it was just piled up in boxes along the aisle instead of being expensively displayed on brightly lit shiny shelves. I'm beginning to learn how wrong I was

JammieB, I am with you on that. They use their size and money to bully local authorities over planning and I think it is no coincidence that more horsemeat was found in their burgers than any others. When you have the power to drive the price the you pay your suppliers right down almost below profitability because your order is so big the supplier faces ruin if they lose the contract, it is hardly surprising if the supplier tries to cut costs by substitution.

Pogs, the fact that a factory manufactures for several supermarkets doesnt mean the product for each supermarket is identical. Each purchaser will have their own specification for the bread and other goods they want to buy and the supplier will make white sliced bread for three supermarkets, each loaf to a formula set bythe purchaser's buyers.

Waitrose without a doubt - supplemented by the local Co-op and farmers market. I hate Tesco with a passion but maybe that's just me??

I think you might be surprised where all the supermarkets obtain their products. For example bread might be made in the same factory for M and S and Tesco and Morrisons. This 'multy company supplying' is hidden by clever wording on packaging which says for example produced for Tesco. It is but not exclusively.

I am obviously not saying that applies to all foods but there are a large number of products from bread, cereals and convenience foods that are packaged as being a food retailers own brand but they are also in another food retailers with their name on the exact same food.

Well, I would love to buy all my food etc at M and S, it's my ambition! Have shopped between asda and morrisons all my adult food buying life but.... Doing an experimental " austerity January" to see if we can cut down the ridiculous amount of money we spend in said supermarkets. The problem is that there is so much choice that I buy far too much, get sidetracked by a new jumper, baby clothes, magazine in asda. Trying the local Lidls for 2 months to see how much we save. So far the only things I haven't found are maple syrup, dental floss and mascara. I have planned my meals around what I found in Lidls on the day I shopped and have already saved £150 this month. Can't go armed with a list or meal plans, that doesn't work, but Im becoming a convert. Cat seems to like the cat food, the cleaning products are excellent and there is enough choice of fruit and veg for the week. So Lidls gets my vote at the moment.

I shop in Waitrose first and formost because it is in the town centre and | can get to the banks, hair dresser, and do everything else I want to do in one journey.

It is also a 'quiet' shop. I tend to suffer very easily from visual overload and Waitrose uses quiet colours, it doesnt have loud (visually) banners and stickers all over it and the aisles are wide.

I write this with some feeling because today I had to drive to the out of town Tesco to buy something Waitrose doesn't stock but Tesco does. Even though I wanted only one product, as I walked there were lots of odd tubs of goods everywhere and loud yellow and red notices sticking out of every row of goods I could feel my shoulders and neck tensing as my head tried to withdraw into itself like a tortoise. I found what I wanted and shot out of the store like a cork from a bottle. Even if Tesco sold the best and cheapest food by miles I simply coudn't cope with shopping in such a visually loud store.

Waitrose! 4oz stewing lamb included over 2oz of bone! They have refunded but I'm not happy!

I shop at Waitrose with occasional treats from M&S. As there is only me, it's not too bad. I do make use of Waitrose's Essential range which is very good value. My daughter uses Sainsbury's online, Co-Op or Pound Shop for cleaning things and branded tinned goods, and Waitrose and M&S for treats.

i love Waitrose - quality and choice is the best - staff excellent - use the click and collect a lot - prices seem to be more compatible nowadays, but rarely do a full weeks' shopping there, as find I spend a lot more on the "nice things", so not economicaly viable - stick to Sainsburys most of the time.
Don't like Asda, Tesco, or Morrissons - occasional trips to Lidl and Aldi.
Use local Co op a lot too. Variety is the spice of life!

In my part of France, if you want to stay solvent you have to shop at Lidl. The big supermarkets like Carrefour, Intermarche are so expensive and they usually smell of rotting veg or stale fish which is most offputting. Lidl's fruit and veg is restricted in choice, but its all fresh and their grocery product range is great. We do have good markets here so tend to use those for greengrocery. Even so, you have to be careful because the stallholders are toting their stock round from town to town - there is a market somewhere every day. Aldi here is very similar to supermarkets in Romania 25 years ago - I leave you to draw your own conclusions on that comment. Leclerc is ok and has good offers but their nearest store is 40 kilometres away from me. The one stop shopping I used to do in the UK is history for me now!

thats strange Anno we always remark how pleasant and good the staff are at Asda in Colchester, but it is a large one, we dont got there that often but is a tonic how helpful staff are!!

Unlike Morrisons when they glare at you and are supposed to scan stuff through so quickly you can barely pack it. grrrrr

Sainsburys and Morrisons but do a big shop once a week at M&S for meat and vegetable dishes. I don't buy food in Aldi very often but always buy washing up liquid and loo rolls. I also buy multi packs of bottled water in Aldi.

Aldi will be opening near us in Feb. I like Sainsbury's but am looking forward to making comparisons.

Not in UK, but I'm a recent convert to Aldi and Lidl which have both opened near me. I am mostly happy tho' I still shop occasionally at other supermarkets. A shopping list for comparative items costs me 2/3 at Aldi/Lidl of what I would pay elsewhere and the last few months have seen me save enough on groceries for, say, a short trip somewhere. A lot of people are wary of shopping there but if I see e.g. some veggies that aren't so fresh looking, I don't buy them. I don't have money to waste but I like good quality food. Aldi and Lidl are mostly good enough for my needs and I think many people will flock there as things get more difficult.

Oh, not again...!! As I've said before...

I take your point (twice!) anno.

Just jesting merlot x

Asda in this town is small and not in the least friendly. They want everyone to use the self-service checkouts even for very small purchases and are quite iffy if you go up to the staffed checkout.

Asda in this town is small and not in the least friendly. They want everyone to use the self-service checkouts even for very small purchases and are quite iffy if you go up to the staffed checkout.

I was attempting to be ironic, anno!