to ask for an explanation of supermarket snobbery?

[elfsmamma]

I am British but I have lived abroad for the last 5 years, when I lived in the UK I had a pretty demanding job so I did my shopping in the nearest supermarket.

I am staying with my parents over Christmas, me and dp wanted to go shopping for tge ingredients for a couple of meals and also some pyjamas as I had forgotten to pack mine.

There is an ASDA and a Sainsburys both about a 5 minute drive from my parent's house I suggested we went to ASDA as it is bigger and more likely to have pyjamas.

My mum said "oh god, don't go to ASDA, it's terribly depressing" she went on to justify this by saying the food was crap and the other shoppers were rude, people often had trolleies full of junk and whinging kids. I am not sure how the other shoppers are anything to do with my dm. Dm finished off by saying she prefers to spend an extra 20 pounds a week on her shopping at Sainsburys.

We went to ASDA despite the warnings. It was great, we got a huge fresh salmon for 4 pounds a kg, fresh dill, organic new potatoes, pasta and the ingredients to make bolognese, some good wine and lots of fresh fruit.

Cab someone explain supermarket snobbery to me?

We get Tescos online deliveries and have found them to be pretty good. Our nearest supermarket is Sainsbos which is always rammed and unpleasant and more expensive. My favourite is Asda - cheap and friendly, but online is crap and its a bit further away. We don't have Waitrose nearby (bizarre given the current demographics) and their online shopping is hugely more expensive although they do have the best bags

Our nearest two Morrisons are absolutely vile, but the one by the ILs is quite nice.

I do my shop online waitrose and they are having more and more price matched stuff and have found offers that make things as cheap as asda offers.

Not sure if anyone's mentioned it but the main reason I object to Asda is the awful music.

And the horrible American style voice overs telling you about great offers and so on. It's like having Heart FM or Radio 1 pumped into your ears while you're trying to decide what to get for dinner.

I know Sainsburys have the voice overs too and sometimes music but it feels a lot calmer and less dramatic.

The whole ethos is different, the atmosphere is different - and yes where we are, Asda is filled with people I would not want to socialise with, live with or shop with - and the staff treat you like shit, as well.

Like they expect you to be trying a fast one, iyswim - and people DO shout at their children more there, and it's in a deprived area, and so on and so forth.

It is depressing. But they have more clothes if that's what you're after, and they are cheaper on the whole.

I love Asda.

My nearest Sainsbury is their flagship store in Crayford. It is hideous, cant find a bloody thing in it.

Our local Tesco feeds the council estate, so it only has nappies, booze and crisps.

Morrisons, it's just a bit too 'northern' for my liking but it serves a purpose.

I don't mind Lidl, Aldi is a jumble sale.

Waitrose, just over priced pretentious bollox

OH and also - have you ever read the threads about Asda taking payment twice, and then not refunding for a couple of weeks?

I'd suggest you look into that - they are real charlatans. Saying people's payment didn't go through, even when they have a receipt to show it did, and the bank says it did, then refusing to let them have their shopping unless they pay for it again.

Happens a LOT.

justwondering72 - French supermarkets are designed to be all things to all people, like French school is. English supermarkets are highly targeted towards specific demographic segments.

It's not so much snobbery but (better) marketing at play.

Love the wide eyed OP. 'Gosh, do people actually have preferences? I have never seen this before' etc. Good one.

Look, stop calling it 'snobbery'. It isn't. It's just about making choices and having preferences, like we all do with every consumer choice we make.

I like all the big supers, for different reasons. They all have plus and minus points. Waitrose of course is considered to be the posh choice, and in some ways it is. I find it a really pleasant place to shop, with great staff etc. but they don't stock everything I want, and they are pricey.

I don't see where the snob part comes in. If you have access to a supermarket that you like and can afford, then why wouldn't you default to that one?

Personally, I don't particularly like Asda. Our local one always seems messy and disorganised and a little grubby. We use Sainsbury mostly, although our local one isn't particularly good for find the more specialist things. I know if I go to Waitrose I can find pretty much anything I want, but always end up spending a fortune in there so I don't visit often.

I don't like Morrisons at all, I find it's colour scheme grating. I felt the same way about it's predecessor (in Scotland anyway), Safeway.

I love George at Asda for clothes...I think they're decent quality for fast growing kids and a good price. I got the dc lovely nativity outfits there (a shepherd and a king) for £8 and £10.

For anything else I'm a Tesco's girl, purely out of convenience. It's two minutes from our home and I can whip around and do a full weeks shop in 20 minutes because I know exactly where everything is.
I also love the clubcatd vouchers and offers. This year I had £100 of vouchers, which transferred to £200 to spend on Hudls (Tesco's tablet £119 each). I then got 2 x '£20 off £100 spend on electricals' which could be used on hudls - so I actually got TWO Hudls completely free! Dc's main present, sorted.

I could go to the local Lidls which is again really close. But I do find that Lidls always has a faint reek of fags and depression and I would rather spend a bit more at tesco.

at Morrisons being a bit 'Northern.' What exactly does that mean and what is your problem with the North?

I love our local Tesco (am I going to get banned from MN now . Can stand Lidl but that's only because I have no imagination where ingredients are concerned and can't cope with there being different stuff on the shelves every week. Sainsbury is fine but my local one isn't well stocked. We don't have an Asda but if I'm near one I'll call in as their kids clothes are normally quite nice - brightly coloured and they fit my boys well as they're quite small fitting.

Lidl is the new Waitrose

Joni I can't speak for the PP but I think she might mean it markets itself as 'Northern' in a deliberate and slightly bewildering pastiche of working class and earnest folk taking their jobs very seriously.

I have no problem with the North but I do have a problem with Morrisons using a traditionally Norther work ethic as their selling point.

And their salads are shit.

Asda is owned by Wal-Mart, who are sort of evil. And on a company level their customer service is crap (when you see threads in here about posters being charged twice for their shopping and taking ages to get a refund, or not having a delivery arrive for several days, eight times out of ten it's Asda). On an individual level I think their staff are the nicest/friendliest, though (although I'm aware that they are forced to be friendly Or Else). I think they are probably the cheapest place for branded products, but I do my main shop at Sainsbury's, mostly from their Basics range, and find that cheaper than Asda gnat just be that it's easier to spot the Basics stuff in Sainsbury's). There are some things that are better/cheaper in Asda, though, and I stock up when I'm in.

I've been to great Aldis and Lidls elsewhere, but the ones nearish me aren't that impressive, certainly for the faff factor involved in getting there.

Trouble is DECKS - food isn't just food. Look at the fuss of how certain supermarkets chickens are kept or Horsemeat ?

Aldi is very efficient, there is pretty much one of each thing and always good quality, so you don't have to do maths to figure out best value vs quality.
I like that the boxes products come in double up as display, so you are not paying for staff to stack shelves, and the tills are very fast.
I can get in and out with a full trolley in 20 mins, and also it is nearly impossible to get over £80 worth of stuff in a trolley
Once used to this, going into one of the mainstream supermarkets is very frustrating, tiring, boring and expensive.
Having a whole isle dedicated to each item, for instance toilet rolls, where no matter how carefully you compare price / roll you still feel ripped off.
It takes a very long time to get round, there are lots of staff 'managing ' departments - which I can't help thinking is what we are paying for. The tills take ages because people pack as they go, and the bill is about 30% more. I have difficulty keeping it under £100.

There must be differences in different towns as I have never seen anything dirty in aldi. we have two Asdas nearby, one City cantre, quite chavvy, one out of town quite snobby!

You're just plain wrong Decks. Food is not just food.

Meat in particular varies wildly in how it is produced. I would rather go vegetarian than eat shit meat.

You get what you pay for. It really is as simple as that.

I cannot afford to be a snob anymore but the last time we went to Lidl we made a 'friend' of a chap who literally stank of cat litter tray and I'm scared of bumping into him again so overdraft it is

I completely agree with your mum. The experiences at the Asda's I've been to have been so depressing at a few in London, one on the south coast and another one in the west midlands. Customer service is also generally crap and the queues horrific. Tesco is almost as bad in all fronts but I'm in there a lot because of how many stores they have and it's convenient.

Waitrose offers a more pleasurable experience and one I'm happy to pay more for. The food is also fab quality. Sainsbury's is good but there's just too many people in there which is another reason why I love going to Waitrose, the branches are always quiet, compared to the other supermarkets.

I don't think there's any snobbery going on at all.

I think some of you need to google blind taste tests and you will find that Aldi are consistently top of the tree.It is amazing how clever marketing can influence some people's perceptions of quality so much.

I'm a late convert to Iceland.

Lean mince, cheaper than Sainsbury's, just as good. But it's the fresh vegetables. They sell three leeks for £1. I thought it was a mistake.

But it's not perception pixie

It's opinion based on personal experience.

In my experience Aldi is a kip that sells horrible cheap food.

Their fruit and veg go off within a few days, the meat is tasteless and watery, the bread is like polystyrene, the household products are dire and made my laundry smell like a tramp's arsecrack and the face cream stinks.

TeenageWaistband My Sainsbury's has been playing Christmas music all week. I always seem to be in there when Greg Lake's I Believe In Father Christmas comes on.

It makes me want to slit my wrists. Why do people play it?

I hate asda with a passion. It's my nearest supermarket, one if them big 24 hours ones. I avoid it like the plague and drive the extra distance to sainsburys.

Asda is depressing and it takes an age it push past the cut price wagon wheels and cheesestrings to get to the proper food. Also thier own brand is foul.

Sainsburys is no more expensive imo.