Lidl / Aldi

[Turkish]

There are many reasons - most people cite 'convenience', but a well planned shop along a good High Street can take the same amount of time, and is far more enjoyable IMO, getting to know the people who know their products and add value to your shop, and also to the social fabric of our towns and villages. It also depends on the choice of local independent traders, which can vary greatly, for a host of reasons, but usually because of larger stores (and the customers who use them) putting them out of business.

 

We have a lot of hypocrites in this country, people who say they want to support independent shops, but then just jump in the car to a supermarket. The same people are probably decrying the lack of jobs in the UK, whilst handily ignoring the fact that independent businesses create more jobs per £1 spent than the larger multiples. Basically, many people look after their own selfish needs first. Their perceived convenience and saving 2p on a few items will always be more important to them than the wider retail picture and the impact on the country, because they don't see the effects first hand and aren't able to see the links. Marketing plays a large part, but the big boys can afford to splash out a bit in the short term, to kill off smaller competition. And we haven't even got to quality yet... if people really cared about quality of the food they eat, they would spend more time looking at what they're actually feeding themselves and recognise that they don't have to spend more to eat well, it just needs a bit of planning and interest in what you're buying.

 

But cost is king nowadays, and to the detriment of all else it seems - so many people claim that food is 'too expensive' to buy 'decent stuff' but then they waste half of what they buy, throwing out tonnes of uneaten food every year, and fill themselves with such low quality crap that only makes them want to eat more thanks to the mass of sugar/salt/MSG contained in processed food. And the marketing that the supermarkets use skews the situation too... independents are often deemed to be more expensive, which is not always the case... but where it is, it's usually for good reason. We eat 3 times a day or more. There is nothing else in life that affects our health and well being more than what we eat, yet it's one of the areas where so many people seem to want to spend as little as possible on all sorts of crap, whilst they don't bat an eye lid spending on football, beer, nights out, clothes and whatever else. That is entirely their choice, it is a free world after all, but if you want to treat your health and nutrition as a lower priority than your entertainment and how you look, then don't expect any sympathy from me when you complain about being ill or when you expect the NHS to sort out your Diabetes or obesity.

 

Rant over! You may have noticed this is a sore subject with me!!

 

You are right for once Mindy, Mrs T and I got to a local butchers for fresh meat, a local fish mongers for our fish, a farmers market for our veg and make our own pasta. The quality of the meat is fantastic and no more expensive than going to a supermarket, all the meat is reared in a 2 mile radius of where the butchers is and always have deals on, 4 fresh chickens for £20 for example, on Saturday we did a barbecue and got 10 steak burgers and 5ib of sausages for £20, everyone well fed and about 20 sausages left over. We brought 2 rib eye steaks the other day for a tenner, one steak was big enough for two. For some people its easy to go the supermarket and then bemoan that there are no local shops anymore. The fact is people are lazy, they want food they can shove in the oven for 20 minutes and stuff down their glutonous faces. They aren't prepared to go out of their way to cook properly and eat proper food and to go out and find it from decent sources. That is why so mnay people are grotesque these days, lazy,self obsessed, greedy and fat. There is nothing convenient about pumping your body full of crap, mass processed TV dinners. Its lazy, disgusting and vile.

[Jonnyboy]

good post, but it is flawed on the very first line. Which High Street in any major town/city in England can you find a Butcher, Baker, Fishmonger, Fruit and Veg shop - if you want to find a H&M, HMV, Top Man, Superdrug etc - then yes - but to do a 'shop' along the highstreet nowadays is simply not possible. If you wanted to do that, you'd have to make multiple trips taking a lot longer time than going to Asda. In Southampton for example; butchers - Hill Lane / Burgess Road way, then to Fishmongers - not actually sure, then to bakers - greggs?? in Shirley, then to Fruit and Veg - place by the royal mail in Shirley. all in all that'd take a good hour and you then have to get the other basics.... at the supermarket.

 

Apparently theres a good fishmongers off of Hamble Bridge down from Burseldon, you have to get there in the mornings before the fresh catch sells out.

[Turkish]

Apparently theres a good fishmongers off of Hamble Bridge down from Burseldon, you have to get there in the mornings before the fresh catch sells out.

 

We used to go there early Saturday mornings, its very good. Even if you go later there are some good stuff on offer, we've had all sorts from there.

[Jonnyboy]

We used to go there early Saturday mornings, its very good. Even if you go later there are some good stuff on offer, we've had all sorts from there.

 

My mate had this bloody huge live crab from there a few weeks ago, it was on the kitchen floor scaring his toddler

[eurosaint]

I worked in retail for many years and have had experience in most European countries (admittedly not food!) and have been privvy to many surveys, reports, reviews and statistics !

I can tell you that the UK has the highest customer loyalty per single retail outlet rating of any country bar none ie. "I shop at John Lewis and Waitrose but would never set foot in Lidl" !

Compared to Germany where you regularly find people who buy suits at Hugo Boss and champagne at Aldi without batting an eyelid !

The bottom line is that we Brits are the most class conscious shoppers in Europe !

I do detect that things are slowly changing here though, that more people are becoming open minded and selective in their shopping habits and personally I welcome that !

[solentstars]

I worked in retail for many years and have had experience in most European countries (admittedly not food!) and have been privvy to many surveys, reports, reviews and statistics !

I can tell you that the UK has the highest customer loyalty per single retail outlet rating of any country bar none ie. "I shop at John Lewis and Waitrose but would never set foot in Lidl" !

Compared to Germany where you regularly find people who buy suits at Hugo Boss and champagne at Aldi without batting an eyelid !

The bottom line is that we Brits are the most class conscious shoppers in Europe !

I do detect that things are slowly changing here though, that more people are becoming open minded and selective in their shopping habits and personally I welcome that !

i think your right and snobbish attitudes and do detect slowly alot more people are getting streetwise.

[Manuel]

The shelf stackers in Waitrose wear shirts and ties which always looks nice, so we tend to go there.

[Ulrich van Gobbel]

I worked in retail for many years and have had experience in most European countries (admittedly not food!) and have been privvy to many surveys, reports, reviews and statistics !

I can tell you that the UK has the highest customer loyalty per single retail outlet rating of any country bar none ie. "I shop at John Lewis and Waitrose but would never set foot in Lidl" !

Compared to Germany where you regularly find people who buy suits at Hugo Boss and champagne at Aldi without batting an eyelid !

The bottom line is that we Brits are the most class conscious shoppers in Europe !

I do detect that things are slowly changing here though, that more people are becoming open minded and selective in their shopping habits and personally I welcome that !

 

Totally agree about Germany. I lived there for 6 years in two 3 year stints as my Dad was based there in the Army. Aldi and Lidl are their main supermarkets - absolutely nothing wrong with the quality. Aldi are in double digit growth in UK and are helping to erode the market share of the likes of Tesco as people 'trade down'. Long may it continue.

[TopGun]

I always wonder about the adverts that proclaim Tesco, Asda etc as best value or cheapest supermarket 2013. I assume Aldi and Lidl were excluded from the competition by the big supermarkets cartel.