AIBU to think Waitrose is all fur coat and no knickers?

[ANiceLuxury]

Im normally an Asda, M&S and Iceland shopper. I’m fed up of going to 3 different supermarkets a week for groceries (I like different things in each of the above stores) so over the last 2 weeks I ve tried Waitrose online delivery.

Both times the food has not been as good as M&S and Asda. I ve had black potatoes, eggs that have a black tinge to them when cooked and bland strawberries.

Some of the range I bought was duchy (sp) and it’s no different to Asda.

I don’t understand why Waitrose has this upmarket reputation.

I’m starting to think it’s all fur coat and no knickers..

YABU I moved and am now forced to shop at Tesco. It's awful. I still sneak off to waitrose whenever I can be bothered with the now 40 minute journey. I miss the cleanliness of waitrose, they clean the belt as they scan your stuff. The trolleys are cleaner and once when I grabbed a wet trolley a guy came and dried it for me before I used it.

The wider aisles with wayyyyy less obese people in my old Waitrose so less blocking the aisles going on with two fat people and a trolley blocking entire aisles and not seeming to give a monkeys if I want to get through and I found it much easier to stay healthier when I shopped there as there wasnt buy one get 1000 free on 60 packets of crisps in your face everywhere you walked---- . Never shopped at Asda so cant compare that.

I do however find the staff at my local Tesco a lot more jolly and talkative. They've also all worked there seemingly decades and still seem to work hard. The waitrose near my old area was always full of teenage temps which could get annoying at times when they clearly lied to my face about not knowing where something was. Always polite though.

I also once left £1000 of cash I was supposed to be cashing in later on in a carrier bag in a waitrose trolley in the car park (!) and ok this is also just lucky but I realised an hour later and someone had handed it into the till at waitrose. I tried very hard to find the person who handed it in but no one knew and all the staff were very kind about my stupid moment. I just can't see that happening at my local tescos. Could be my area though!

The Waitroses near me have better lighting (no migraines like in Tesco or Asda) and nowhere near as many mountains of shite at the end and middle of every bloody row and obscuring the gap where you line up at the till like Sainsbury's.

I can get ingredients there, rather than be assailed by 20,000 SPECIAL OFFER processed packets before I reach the meat. There's no being diverted around cards, toys, cosmetics and any random shit (barbeque briquettes in January, anyone?) they hope to punt out before you catch a glimpse of a potato.

The plants and flowers are generally alive. Unlike Morrisons'. Sainsbury's ones aren't bad if they've got a special deal on, though.

If you want microwave dinners, they're easy enough to find, but you don't have to go past three aisles of the things before your first lamb chop.

You can get some ridiculously wanky things, but you can also get some interesting things to try without having to know about them in advance. It's easy to find things to accommodate allergies and intolerances.

The sushi/sashimi is better quality than the vague approximations at rice and a cube of cucumber that Tesco sell, and you can actually get edible sashimi, rather than everything labelled NO RAW FISH as though that's the most terrifying thing in the world for an M&S customer.

They do perfectly good own brand products as well as standard brands and wanky posh ones on almost everything.

Blue eggs. Yeah, they look great on the windowsill, but they also happen to taste much nicer - the only eggs that were ever comparable in flavour were Sainsbury's Organic. And duck eggs are easy to find 90% of the year.

Most of my adult life was spent buying from a largish Sainsbury's in a vaguely MC residential area, but I'm nearer to Waitroses now - and, given the choice of one of those or the out of town ASDA, a Sainsbury's, Tesco's (shudder, unpleasant migraines every time) or the Morrisons with loads of packets and a few slightly dodgy fresh items, well, Waitrose wins. I'm also significantly less likely to come back from there with an electric steamer, a novelty lampshade, three cushions and a new pillow that'll last a fortnight before collapsing like a pancake.

Tesco, Asda & Morriscums are the same level of shit.
Lidl & Aldi are decent but you have to wear blinkers.
Sainsbury’s is alright.
M & S are good.
Waitrose is the shit.
Independent is the cream off the shit.

@Dontevenstart 😙👌🏻 100%

Ooh good responses!!

Regarding the strawberries the M&S ones are still nice even though they are imported. However Waitrose were crap.

My nearest Waitrose is 45 min drive one way so I ve never actually been in a store

You have never been to a Waitrose but you start a thread devoted to saying Waitrose isn’t all it’s portrayed to be?!

Rebel.

It’s an online delivery I had well 2 of them. It says it in the opening post

@IHaveBrilloHair I’ve seen those in store! I will try them!

Waitrose strawberries are probably crap because they look down on people who buy strawberries in February. Only common folk do that.

Waitrose store is THE BEST but I think online they're a bit shit for the reasons you described. Ocado is 10000% times better for delivery because they don't rely on humans picking your delivery and set up for maximum freshness delivery.

I know I sound like a fan and I am!

I love Waitrose and M&S, get a weekly delivery from Tesco's for bog standard and cleaning stuff, our Sainsburys is very run down looking which puts me off, I never go to Asda which is my closest supermarket unless I'm desperate and don't go to Lidl or Aldi as not interested in shopping in a jumble sale.

I think later this year that Ocado won’t be selling Waitrose products any more. They are teaming up with M&S.

Marks is best for fruit, Waitrose marginally better for sushi. Other stuff I'm not fussed and will go to other places. Tesco is always heaving though for some reason - Waitrose is a good experience although some of the shoppers are a bit arrogant but that's the public for you.

don't go to Lidl or Aldi as not interested in shopping in a jumble sale

That figures as if you’d been recently you’d know how ridiculous that comment is. Both are excellent for many things, notably alcohol, cleaning products and chocolate. Aldi does completely convincing Jo Malone knock off candles, reed diffusers and hand wash which smell identical to the real thing and is brilliant for hanging baskets and bedding plants in the summer. Lidl’s Christmas pudding came out top in consumer tests that included Fortnum & Mason and Harrods.

The new stores don’t have even a whiff of jumble sale. And believe me I’m pretty snobbish about these things.

My local Lidl is distinctly jumble sale ish... actually, more like feeding time at the zoo. And the "whiff" is best not described.

I suppose it depends where you are.

@Alsohuman Ssshhhhhhh, let them think that, too many people have got onto it already and I have trouble getting a parking space these days.

The newer Lidl stores here in Edinburgh (eg, the one on Easter road) are brand new purpose built buildings, clean and spacious, as good as any other supermarket for many things, just a smaller selection. The worst Lidl I have been in was in central Paris, narrow isles, crowded and shopping baskets abandoned everywhere because people dumped them when they saw how big the till queues were.

I think Asda is crap too, I hate it in there with a passion and avoid at all costs. I remember trying an online delivery with them once and they tried to substitute Quorn chicken for the real thing, never bothered again.

Waitrose is overpriced and generally not much better. I like Aldi best.

Food wise Waitrose is good for bread and UK / organic / in season / specialist goods. Stuff you can’t really get elsewhere without a lot of effort. For example none of the other supermarkets or even local greengrocers sell fresh beetroot - if I wanted it (and I often do for various Indian dishes) I would need to travel to London to get it.

I’ve never had supermarket sushi that wasn’t minging incl Waitrose

I agree with you about the pre-prepared stuff but some Waitroses have a freshly made counter that really is very good if you're not in an area with a proper sushi restaurant on every corner.

OP, how about rotating round the different shops you like, or get a bulk order delivered every so often, swap between the different shops for your top up shops, that I would have thought most people need to do? No need to visit every shop every week even if you do want to buy things from different shops.

@MoltoAgitato Gosh yes I find the behaviour in our 2 local Waitrose to be awful - kids sitting in the middle of the aisles whilst their parents ignore them, bolshy dads in big cars honking at you in the car park if they think you're in their way.

I don't get the fuss about Waitrose. Our 2 locals also always seem to have massive re-stocking trolleys in the way in the middle of the day. Not a pleasant shopping experience.

M&S wins for fresh produce and ready meals IMO

I read today that Aldi might be introducing self service tills. I would definitely go more if that was the case. Our local Lidl already have them so I get get in and out with the few items I go there for.

If they’re anything like my local Lidl’s tills, there’ll be a massive queue because they’ve ONLY got self service tills open, so anyone doing a huge shop is trying use them, and because everyone who uses them seems to be baffled by the idea of a) a barcode; b) the concept of finding your purse from the bottom of your bag before you reach the front of the queue; and c) getting a bloody move on because there’s 12 people waiting.

Throw in tills that can’t recognise weights (I mean, a 2 litre bottle of water weighs the same as another, surely?) and the one assistant having disappeared to the other end of the store to replace the one barcode-less example someone managed to find and “nipping in for a lettuce and some potatoes” becomes a half hour exercise in stress management

I like Aldi and Lidl (self serve tills aside...) but I bloody love Waitrose. I’ll give you that their fruit and veg can occasionally be a bit variable but it’s more than made up for by the rest of the products, including their own brand stuff, the range available, the meat and deli counters with staff who know what they’re talking about and, just as importantly to me, their ethics, particularly regarding animal welfare.

Food wise Waitrose is good for bread

It used to be good for bread now it’s terrible - Gail’s hard loaves, sourdough or sliced packet stuff. The only thing it’s any good for is small speciality loaves.

I have to use a local baker.

@TatianaLarina - I meant price wise too. In the evenings they reduce big loaves to 25p to sell them rather than throw away.

I have Ocado which has Waitrose products, they aren't any better quality than Morrison's, just that there is more choice of products. I only use my Ocado account for special occasions, Morrisons is good enough for every day & the meat is top quality.