To wonder why Morrison's and M&S are much more relaxed than Tesco and Asda?

[shoppingshenanigans]

Has anyone else noticed this? I have all four of these shops close to where I live so I tend to use all of them depending on what I fancy.
When lockdown and social distancing began I visited Tesco and just felt really stressed with the experience. I’m pretty sure it’s the same everywhere but there are arrows on the floor, meaning you can only go one way (even if you only want something from the very last aisle) and you can’t go back if you’ve forgotten something. What made it worse was that the other customers would not pass me (even though there was plenty of space to get past). I could feel eyes burning the back of my head and pressure to just choose something and carry on. I haven’t actually shopped in Asda since lockdown as I gave up after queuing for 45 minutes so I can only imagine what it’s like the inside.

I decided to shop in Morrisons today instead and I was just so shocked at how relaxed it was compared to the other shops. Granted I had to queue but it was only for around 5 minutes and there were no arrows on the floor except for when queuing to pay. You could go back if you’d forgotten something as well. Everyone still seemed to respect each other’s space and use common sense so there were no issues with social distancing, and it seemed as though everyone was much more relaxed and friendly too. My sister has said that M&S is the same as well.

I appreciate this virus is serious and measures have to be put in place to keep everyone safe but it just feels like a military operation in Tesco and Asda. What are you’re experiences so far?

I think the arrows are more important if the aisles are narrow. My Tesco isn't one of the huge ones, so the aisles really aren't great for passing. Whereas the big one a few miles away has much wider aisles, so it's not such a big deal to find someone coming towards you.

My M&S experience was horrible because it has even narrower aisles, no one-way system, and arrogant customers.

I've got a slot with Asda next week.

Good luck with that. I’ve done three asda shops for various relatives from three different stores around Scotland in the past month. Stuff showing in stock but then you hit check out and it comes up with half your trolley unavailable. You fix that and check out, then despite it only being an hour from when the store closes, I still get an email an hour later saying they’ve done my shopping but here’s the stuff we didn’t have. Unless there was a run on bramble jam and soya puddings in the previous 90 minutes, their stock systems are clearly shit.

My local Sainsbury's is lovely. Asda is ok, people fo ignore social distancing but it's big enough to be able to manoeuvre. Tesco and Aldi are ridiculous. I feel like I need a valium everytime I've been!

@HugeAckmansWife oh I never knew that! A friend told me that the arrows were there so that people wouldn't go round in circles if they forgot something. Good to know for future reference although I'll probably just continue using Morrison's for now anyway!

I stopped going to large supermarkets as it was too awful, Sainsbo and Tesco mega stores were murder, Waitrose was polite but a 50 minute queue, Tesco express was excellent, as was M&S

Too scared to try my usual haunt: Lidl as last time I tried there was a massive brawl and police and ambulance turned up

I went to M&S today and it was a pleasure. Short wait outside and then in we went. Kept apart but did not need to follow arrows. People were very considerate and all keeping two meters away.