Will ASDA go to the wall?

[Fridayhermit]

My nearest big supermarket is ASDA and because I no longer drive due to disability, it is convenient. I have shopped there since I moved here over 30 years ago (and even worked there for a couple of years while having caring responsibilities). But I went in today and the shelves are half empty there are so few staff about and there is no vibe or buzz about the place which I remember it definitely used to have. Is it just my local store or are all branches equally devoid of staff and stock?

My local one is always moderately busy, never rammed or dead. Shelves are fully stocked, items are mostly good value, and I can get money in my Rewards / Blue Card app when I shop there. Haven’t they invested millions recently in improving stock and the customer experience?

It’s a slightly grim experience shopping there, but then that’s Asda for you. For a pleasurable food shopping experience I go to M&S.

Oh, and another flaw (IMO) in Asda - in the one near me, and the 2 in the large town some 12 miles from me; they are rubbish at restocking the shelves. We have experienced SO many times when there has been half the stuff missing (that we wanted.) So we just gave up - and started doing our main shop in Morrisons. (We get other bits and bobs from Aldi, Lidl, and Iceland.)

Where do you start with this post? But, you know what, I don't think I'll bother. I am too old and too tired to deal with people so insecure they have to 'other' groups of people and stratify them on the basis of their supermarkets.

I had noticed the shelves are weirdly empty in the Asda I go to. Not in a tidy or shopped out way, they look a bit ransacked, with whatever is left strewn across ths shelves. I wouldn't like to see them disappear, I love their create your own pizzas.

@ForPearlViper probably older than you and far from insecure but nice try 🙄

Then you must be very old indeed. I am certainly old enough to know that people who call other people chavs say more about themselves than the people they are commenting on.

Indeed, I so old I commented on the wrong post. This is in reply to this post.

Then you must be very old indeed. I am certainly old enough to know that people who call other people chavs say more about themselves than the people they are commenting on.

I really hate shopping at ASDA, the shops always feel dirty and bare, shopping there is like going shopping in a 24 hour garage, grim.

I went to one a few weeks ago expecting to get some bargains on snacks and was shocked at the prices; I get the items cheaper at Sainsburys. So I drove to Sainsburys and did my shop there as I usually do. Won't bother going looking for bargains at asda again

Yes I think some do have a buzz that make for a happy shopping experience.

We have two Waitrose - one is in the most affluent area, but is usually half empty and soulless. The other is in the city centre and I love it (I alternate with Tescos).

The staff have been there for decades and always ask how I am etc, and it has a great diversity of customers - lots of university students and young people renting nearby, aging eccentric hippies and lots of Europeans.

They have some of those shops in London too. I think they are run by Amazon.

Yes I had this on Wednesday too.

Delivery driver delivered an hour and a half early, seemed keen to rush off, after moaning about his job and said he couldn’t process returns and I’d have to do it myself. He did take the crates back though.

very odd.

I noticed our local Asda was looking rather neglected and stock was bare over the summer. I don't regularly shop there as its not my nearest store and I haven't been a big fan since Walmart took them over anyway. But it was really looking very rundown, it was at that point I looked up what was going on as I didn't know they had changed hands again. Anyway I've stopped going in there mainly because most of the time they didn't have what I was looking for so seems pointless to even go and look.

Any activity where groups of human beings are gathered together will, or will not, have a "buzz" about them, depending on whether those involved are having a good experience, or not.

Not been to Asda for ages last time I went there were out of date items in the fridges the store was dirty and a lot of the shelves were empty
My supermarket of choice is Sainsburys always good quality and they have some great offers easy lay out of store in and out in about 30 minutes

I think so too, it’s the lighting I think. Apart from the doors there isn’t natural light they use a cold white and I’m always mildly uncomfortable in there. Local Tesco is the same set up but lights are a warm white which isn’t nearly as bad. Prefer the local Aldi which has windows along the front.

We have both a big Asda not far away, , and a smaller one even closer, so that’s where I do the bulk of my food shopping. They both still seem pretty busy, and I haven’t noticed any scruffiness or empty shelves.

Still seems busy here but stock looks low and it doesn't seem clean

People criticise Aldi but this is mine - I was taking some photos for a friend in America - and it's immaculate compared to Asda and always fully stocked

No issues with quality of fresh produce in our local Asda. Shelves of fresh meat, dairy always seem well stocked too. It's the tins/packets/jars they seem to have issues with, random items out of stock for weeks on end.

DS worked there about this time last year for a short period. When they were part of the Walmart group they had a night shift crew who came in at 10pm when the shop closed and worked until 6am stocking up. The new management that was too expensive as obviously people want more money for working overnight. They decided that the shelf stacking would begin at 4pm/5pm and go through until 11pm/12pm. DS said it was a nightmare. There were never enough staff, he wasn't trained, obviously customers had to take priority so for the majority of his shift he was trying to work around people shopping or move the big cages around to let them access shelves and keep the aisles free of packaging so it was safe for customers. After a few weeks they told him he wasn't doing well enough - DS asked what he needed to be doing better and they said they didn't know, he just wasn't good enough. So he left.

The brothers who bought Asda have let it go to the dogs while they took millions (so it doesn’t matter to them that it is sinking). Big shake up happening now though so let’s see.

We get home deliveries from Asda. I can’t stand it. Food is low quality and half the stuff we put on our order we don’t get. When we go to the store the shelves are bare. I’d go to Tesco but Asda works out cheaper along with Aldi. Morrisons got too expensive.

I always assumed some supermarkets had better managers than others - hence some are fully stocked whilst others aren't. I still pop in Asda every now & again, but my main (online) shops are from Tesco, who are superb in my area (awful in my sis's, in the next county.)
You pays yer money & takes yer choice!
I never shop in Aldi or Lidl, I always assume they are like Netto, lol, & every week someone would find something disagreeable in Netto food & it would be in the local newspaper.. ;-)

Aldi is great, I do 95% of my shop there with no issues
Love the Christmas cheese selection they do

@buffyspikefaithangel my sis tells me the same re Aldi! She gets some lovely things, it's just me, like a mental block! ;-)

I hope so. It’s a business with a terrible record for staff exploitation in America. I don’t know how they treat their workers. I used to shop in Asda regularly until it was taken over Walmart (I think it’s been resold again). After that I really disliked the ‘feel’ of the place. If it does go to the wall, another Supermarket chain will inevitably move into the site, since a ready built store is the most cost effective way to expand.