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?

I think it depends on the individual supermarket and its location.
I used to shop at Sainsburys (and Tescos- which was slightly closer). Then I relocated to where I live now and there was no Sainsburys for 20 miles (I was disappointed and lost the rewards on my card cos it only worked instore at the time! )

I became a regular Tesco shopper (nearest). There was an Asda nearby, visited but didn't like it.
Then they refurbished my Tesco, I couldn't find anything, they have a big store too a little further away and hated that too. Tried Asda again and it was much better and now I prefer it.
Also after starting going into Lidl and Aldi for their special buys (their power tools have quite a good reputation especially for things you don't intend to use often - eg I got a 'dremel' from Aldi - a third of the price of a real one, only been used 3-4 times in 4 years but handy to have - just need to make sure you can get blades/bits etc to fit easily anywhere) and that led me to buy the odd things there as well.
I'm now a Lidl convert and just did my Christmas veg food shop there. They have just opened a big Aldi - I haven't been yet but the one already in the nearest town I don't like. That's true of the Morrisons there too (and that is further out).
But a town about 10miles away (with a nicer demographic and lots of (naice) students) only has two big supermarkets, a Morrisons and an Aldi and they are both ok and I go if I am going there anyway.
We did get a Sainsburys a few years ago, it is a bit further away for me (about 12 miles) but I went and thought it was nothing special - not worth me making the effort to go a bit further...if I was going to drive that far I would go to the other town to Morrisons and Aldi...and I also now feel a bit disloyal using Sainsburys
They lost my Uncle's loyal business years ago - he lived with my grandma and was her main carer. They had a Nectar card in her name that had a big balance -think more than £100 - he'd been collecting for something. A little while after she died he phoned to change the name. They said that it wasn't possible to transfer it and wouldn't let him leave it as it was just while he used the balance (bear in mind it had been shopping for him too and he'd been using it since she died) and instantly closed the account. Totally crap treatment of someone who is grieving .

We have everything here.

Our Asda has a big clothes/toys/media section which is useful, but 95% of the rest of the store is prepared or processed food and brands. Cheap if you prefer brands but we aren't fussed so don't get the benefit. I go there for stuff rather than food. Also the car park is a multistorey and I find it hard to park there If people tell me they shop at Asda I assume they don't cook from scratch, which makes me judgey/snobby.

Our Sainsbury's is stuck in a time warp. It is huge and has lots of tills, but only three are ever open so the queues stretch into the aisles. You can never find anything. We go there for the old-fashioned cafe. If you shop in Sainsbury's you have too much money, free time and tolerance. Ah if only.

We used to go to Tesco for convenience (it's by the station we commuted home to) but their quality dropped and dropped as the prices kept rising. When we switched we got better quality food for the same or less money. If you shop at Tesco you are brainwashed by their marketing.

Iceland, Aldi and Lidl are in town so the parking is inconvenient. They sell products we like at prices we like, but I simply cannot be arsed to go to more than one shop and none of them sells everything we need. We go to Iceland for an occasional freezer stock, and to the others when there's a specific deal we've been emailed or seen advertised.

We recently gained a Waitrose. It isn't very big, and is mostly a cafe and naice ready meals, as far as I can tell. I was underwhelmed. If you shop there you are a snob and probably unimaginative.

We shop at Morrisons. They sell what we want to buy, with good quality for the price. The parking is easy, the DC like the cafe, all the "market hall" bits round the edge are good, there's a decent children's clothes aisle, etc. But the Morrisons fifteen miles away is awful.

A lot of it is just familiarity. If you know you can get what you want and the price doesn't offend you, of course you go there.

The shops do aim themselves at different kinds of customer. Asda for brands, Waitrose/Sainsbury's for quality, Tesco for range/speed, Morrisons for pseudo-market scratch ingredients. So the snobbery isn't about the shops themselves but the lifestyles they target.

I went to the Asda closest to me for the first time in a couple of years last weekend to pick up an Internet order. Sainsburys and Tesco are closer. Bloody hell it was grim. If it was my closest supermarket I would drive past it to another one.

I order food to be delivered from Asda and the stores near my in laws ate perfectly fine. I don't think I'll be going to my nearest Asda store in a hurry though. I guess that makes me a snob.

I do make particular trips to Lidl and Aldi and love a pound shop though.

I really hate Aldi. I hate being rushed through by the checkout staff, and it's next to a hostel here for people who are homeless through alcohol/drugs so there are often people buying giant bottles of cider, which makes me sad.

I nip in for chocolate occasionally, and I do prefer it being small - but we have a mini sainsburys up the road which is small and pleasant. So we go there a lot.

About to move somewhere that doesn't actually have a large supermarket at all - how weird is that - there's going to be one in the next town, that's the nearest which is a medium sized Sainsburys. Then a gigantic Tesco a bit further away.

The town we're moving to has got a tiny, crappy Tesco extra which I was in the other week and won't be frequenting, and a small Morrisons (well I think it's small - frontage is small) which is the other end of town and I really dislike Morrisons.

So I think we'll be reliant on the car for our supermarket shopping. Until they build something better nearby.

We used to go to Asda as it was nice and big and could get everything we wanted. Then we moved and there are Asda's here, but they are smaller and they have tried to fit everything in and its a shambles. We did go to Tesco as that was big and nice, but then realised that Morrisons was cheaper so went there. We do go to M&S for a treat every now and then, but have just found Aldi, Iceland and Lidl all next door to each other so have started to go there.

I have never set foot in a Waitrose and probably never will. Sainsburys I sometimes go to if I am close to it an need the odd thing. Use it more for petrol so we can get Nectar points and save up for things.

We have every supermarket going within a mile or two, generally we get an ocado delivery and then top up fruit, veg, cheese, fresh bakery etc in lidl as ours I brilliant and a two minute walk away. We buy organic where possible from lidl as the price means we can.

I find that supermarkets depend on the area, of the three local asda stores, two are shit and in less affluent areas. One is in a naice area and it an all round more pliant experience. The same can be said for local tesco stores too.

I've shopped in Waitrose and done one online shop with them, simply because they gave me a huge money-off voucher for my first (and only, it turned out) online shop.

I honestly don't see what all the fuss is about. Their food was distinctly average, no better than anywhere else.

From what I've read on here, Waitrose simply exists for the snooty fuckers naice people who don't want to mix with the chavs great unwashed and so they can look down their noses at places like Aldi and Lidl.

For the record, I don't shop at Aldi or Lidl simply because the nearest branches are two buses away from me, but I would if they were nearer.

I mix between Tesco/Asda/Sainsburys/Morrisons.

I think it's hilarious that people think that shopping at Waitrose or Sainsburys suddenly makes them more middle class or superior. We live in a weird eccentric country.

It depends on the actual store rather than which supermarket it is.

I am a Waitrose/M&S person, it's not snobbery exactly but I just like the feeling of shopping there and love some of the goodies. However, DH, who usually does the "big shops", just adores Asda because of the bargains. He will actually call me from there sometimes, going on about the incredible savings on a piece of meat etc! He even boasts to dinner guests how cheap he managed to get ingredients because Asda is so totally amazing (he does the cooking). (Yes he is a bit odd. But I love him for it. And I suspect we save a lot when he does the shopping!).

And I just have just eaten an Asda mince pie and it wasn't half bad.

I must admit if i had the money and it wasn't an eighty mile round trip- i'd do my weekly shop at M&S, it's quieter and there is much more of the stuff like to eat.

i use morrissons because i like the food and the layout, i avoid asda unless it's on my way because ds always kicks up a stink in the toy aisle and the fruit and veg is pants.

I'd happily go to Asda if it wasn't miles away and opposite a sewage farm

There is a Lidl up the road and an Aldi a bit further but every time I invetigate I'm not convinced the savings are there on what I'd buy plus Aldi's fruit and veg went off in a couple of days when I did try them.

We use the local Sainsburys because it's easier, we get Nectar points for wine and they currently can't stop throwing irresistible money off offers at us

Tesco on the other hand can kiss my shiny. Hate 'em.

We are fortunate to live near most of the Supermarkets mentioned I find Lidl & Aldi veg the best as it is crisp and fresh compared to the shortdated stuff in Asda/Tesco,I hop on a bus to Liverpool M&S once a week for goodies for OH which he likes and do the main shop at Morrisons which suits us for price and quality,the fact that both my sons work in two of the *poshest supermarkets" does not come into it as there is no chance of them thinking to get any staff discounted "goodies" for their old mum ??

Love the inverted snobbery over Waitrose

I use Ocado, with Waitrose and the local farm shop to top up. DH and BIL have both seen the various supermarkets behind the scenes, and what they have told me has ensured I will never buy fresh food from Tesco, Asda or Sainsbury.

Nothing to do with snobbery - I'm certainly not middle class and nor are many of the other shoppers I see in Waitrose.

I work for Asda so mainly shop there with my staff discount :) I love the prices and majority of the food is good but I have to agree it gets too packed and many impatient people shop there. I don't work in store thankfully! I sometimes shop in tesco but some of their prices are just stupid against the quality of the product. I wish I could afford to do my weekly shops in the likes of waitrose and m&s though! One day... ;)

Always think it is funny that Tesco in particular gets blamed for killing off high street shops. Surely shopping at any supermarket does that?

That said, I am shameless user of online delivery services - mainly Sainsburys or Ocado as a treat. Ocado always deliver everything you have ordered, Sainsburys often have things out of stock.

All the supermarkets have good produce and not so good or over priced produce

Morrisons has the best fresh bread, tescos finest meat products ham, sausages etc are much better than sainsburys, sainsburys own stuff is great as is waitrose. The fish, cheese and cold meats are great from aldi, and m&s can not be beaten on prepared meals and asda is great value on veg and branded products

I like to shop mainly at aldi and sainsburys because it suits my budget and they are close though I find I spend far too much in the tesco metro up the road when i have only gone in for milk and bread

the snobbery on here is horrible supermarkets being chavvy

I shop at Waitrose. Parent parking spaces (extra wide so can transfer child from shopping trolley to car seat without fear of touching someone's car) closest to shop. Great cafe (plus waitrose card gives you a free tea or coffee every day). Good quality food and easy to navigate. Stress free even with toddler in the trolley. In and out without tears and trolley rage.

Tesco for top ups because is closest. M&S for nice nibbles and their cheese scones which are incomparable and the best ever.

I love my local ASDA and particularly love their clothes. I find my local Tesco to have limited stock. Our local morrisons produce is shit. I've never been to aldi or lidl as there isn't any near but I've heard good things.

I don't understand supermarket snobbery at all. If my local tesco or morrisons had a better range then I would shop there maybe.

It's not snobbery. It's a fact. M&S and waitrose are better than Tesco. Fact. I shop at all sorts of places. If I had lots of money, I would buy more at m&s. Sainsburys is my nearest.

it is snobbery when you start referring to supermarkets as chavvy shops or where the chavs shop

I find this fascinating. So how many classes are there in England, and where do they shop? So far, my impressions from this thread are:

Homeless and crazy people who stink of cat litter tend to shop at Aldi and Lidl

"Chavs" shop at Asda and Tesco (Tesco is the chav's waitrose).

Slightly better are Morrisons, Coop and Sainsburys.

Middle class people who don't know how to cook and like a lot of sugar and fat in their meals shop at M&S.

Middle class people and possible those who are better off shop at Waitrose.

People who don't want to put up with any of this shop at Ocado.

Have I offended anyone yet?

Out of curiosity, if Waitrose is middle class where do the filthy rich shop at?

Harrods marshmellow
Im a chav then, meh

I don't go into supermarkets. I do all my shopping online. Well worth paying an extra fiver to avoid the dreaded supermarket run.

I order from either Tesco or Asda. I don't have a Waitrose or Sainsburys nearby, but I wouldn't shop there even if I did. Mainly because I'm a tightwad and don't want to pay a premium when, in all honesty, I can't taste the bloody difference.

Where does iceland come in?