I don’t understand Waitrose.

[JensonsAcolyte]

I just went to the big Waitrose because they stock gochujang paste. I thought I may as well get a few bits, chicken, cereal, crisps, pasta etc. All the sort of stuff that isn’t dinners but filler food.

£90!

For four bags of shopping.

And it didn’t feel special or posh or magical or anything.

Why do people shop there? Is it actually a snobbery thing? We have a Sainsburys, Tesco and Lidl within a mile or so radius as well.

The only thing it had going for it for me was the aforementioned chilli paste that I couldn’t get in Tesco. But other than the Ingredients range, the other ranges they offer aren’t very wide.

Will anyone admit that they shop there out of snobbery/classism?

It's calm, the staff are nice and I don't have my shopping chucked at me. Life feels a bit less shit in there.
They have a wider choice of organic meat and dairy too. And nice gluten free stuff.

I usually pop in once a week.

@blobblob

We can't comment because we don't know what you bought. £90 might be reasonable. I shop there because:

• they treat their staff better
• they treat their suppliers better
• their food is generally much better quality - and I don't want to eat rubbish, cheap food
• they support charities that I support
• their staff are properly trained and pleasant and polite

I have done cheaper shops before and I feel hard done by because the food's not as nice or I know the supplier's been screwed over or the chickens have lived miserable lives etc etc

You think people shop there for snobbish reasons. Really - why on earth would they?? I'm sick of people moaning and virtue signalling about what they think should happen but supporting businesses that make it less likely.

Agree. This is why I shop there. I am willing to spend more for all of these reasons. Especially for fresh food

For example I don't want a £2.50 chicken. A £2.50 chicken should not exist. Our concept of a 'good price' for produce is skewed by appalling living/farming conditions for animals or the supermarkets demanding minuscule prices for fruit and veg from farmers

I also like good quality specialist food. I don't want Tescos limp approximation of charcuterie I want the really good stuff. I also know Waitrose will stock e.g quails eggs or truffle butter. Sainsburys would be a maybe and the others would probably be a hard 'no'

Also their essentials range is excellent for staples.

I'm not in the market for 'Frosties' or 'Nutella' so I couldn't comment on that kind of thing.

My 2 nearest supermarkets are Waitrose, and I usually buy their own stuff. However, if I'm passing another shop when I need anything, I shop there. Whenever I shop online I do Sainsburys now. They were the only slots available during the last lockdown and their service is wonderful.

I'm not in the market for 'Frosties' or 'Nutella' so I couldn't comment on that kind of thing

I love these classic Mumsnet posts

I will happily pay £10 for a free range or organic chicken that's had a good life. It will provide at least 3 meals for 2 of us. Hot, cold, risotto, and sometimes soup. Per portion that is probably less than a McDonalds but I've not had one for 30 years so I don't know.

Tried Aldi and Lidl.

I like waitrose because they don’t throw my shopping at me and try to fire everything through as fast as possible.

The bakery and fresh meats are excellent and it’s never busy!

I shop in Waitrose, Tesco, M&S and occasionally Sainsbury’s. It just depends on what I need. My local Waitrose is small, quiet, and has a very well thought out car park, so I can back up to a pathway and load my groceries safely. This is very important to me!!
The staff are fabulous, and the scan/shop is quick and efficient. I often need to collect a JL order from there too, so I tend to pick up a few bits at the same time. I live alone, so my food bill is not that high. When I had a family to shop for, I probably wouldn’t have used Waitrose, but then again, we didn’t have one locally.

They always have 2 for £5 on a range of cold cuts. Maybe you didn't shop very savily. Our weekly food bill from Waitrose is as much as you spent today.

Honestly because it’s quieter by far and as previous posters say the lighting is more calming. I usually shop online but if I don’t (or often I get Waitrose card money off vouchers in the post worth £17 ish) then I’d choose Waitrose. I can (just about) afford to.

@Martinisarebetterdirty

Chicken should be expensive if it’s reared free range and not pumped full of water. I love Waitrose but would love love love to live near a Booths - that’s the dream!

There's a Booths about 10 mins down the road but I've never been, didn't realise it was a 'thing'. What have I been missing out on???

I’ve never been to a calm waitrose , maybe it’s a London thing? There always super busy and crowded.

There's a Booths about 10 mins down the road but I've never been, didn't realise it was a 'thing'. What have I been missing out on???

The best supermarket ever. Our nearest one is 150 miles away and I’d kill for a local one. Don’t go there unless you want to start a lifelong addiction, it will completely ruin you for all the rest.

I am pretty certain that Waitrose battery chickens haven't had a better life than Aldi battery chickens but they still cost more.

I don't venture to supermarkets but Waitrose has much better delivery slots so I now use them over Tesco. Also their organic range has much more variety. I have just done a 2 week shop for 5 of us for £93. Not too bad I don't think!

The best supermarket ever. Our nearest one is 150 miles away and I’d kill for a local one.

For me, it's Wegmans:

www.wegmans.com/

They finally opened one in my area last year and I go twice a month.

We have a waitrose and a Lidl in our high street literally opposite each other. Waitrose is a much nicer shopping experience. The queues in Lidl are huge. I love shopping in Waitrose - no hoards of people and lovely wide aisles. However I don't do my main shop there I use the big Tesco, but Iiterally work down the road from Waitrose so great for bits and pieces during the week, I think it would be very pricey for a main shop unless everything you bought was from their essentials range!!

I'd never heard of Booths until I moved to Cumbria, having lived all my life in SE England. When various friends heard I was moving here, they said "Ooh you lucky thing, you'll have Booths!".

The hyperbole about it is a bit excessive tbh, but it is very nice! It's got more of a local, family business feel about it than Waitrose. Lovely products, nice feel, great deli counter, some local produce, but a bit more down-to-earth and less full of performance-parenting, sharp-elbowed avocado squeezers than Waitrose.

I like waitrose because they don’t throw my shopping at me and try to fire everything through as fast as possible

I had a nice chat with my Aldi checkout person today, while I packed my shopping in perfect timing with her speedy delivery . I don't wish to spend all morning in the supermarket. The size if the store makes my shopping quicker too, down to a limited range of the same types of foods. I really don't need 12 types of pesto and 150 types of crackers to choose from!

@Pinchoftums battery farming of chickens has been illegal in the UK since 2012

I get £50 a month back off Waitrose shop with my health insurance. Plus it's our nearest store.

In addition my Range Rover fits in well in the car park

I am pretty certain that Waitrose battery chickens haven't had a better life than Aldi battery chickens but they still cost more.

Exactly! Waitrose do not only sell free range chicken. And other supermarkets (including Aldi) do sell free range chicken. So presumably it's by no means a given that a Waitrose customer is buying higher welfare meat than anyone else.

I shop at Waitrose in person for all my fresh veg, fruit, meat, fish, bread etc.
I buy staples like cereals, tinned food and pasta etc elsewhere. (Doing click and collect)

Waitrose is a pleasanter shopping experience, all the tills are open and queues fast moving. (Plus free coffee and newspapers)
Other supermarkets I find pretty exhausting and with too many closed tills. Even the self checkout involves a wait.

Snobbery doesn't come into it.

@JensonsAcolyte

Ok here’s what I bought. It’s a load of treats and snacks so judge away

It’s mainly the meat and cheese I think was pricey, and they didn’t have own brand versions of coco pops or Frosties. And I didn’t even buy any wine

So you bought a load of convenience food and you wonder why it was expensive?

@roseinthedark

I worked at a Waitrose branch for four years. In a relatively small town with a large proportion of elderly customers. Not to toot my own horn too much but we would go above and beyond especially for our often-vulnerable regulars. We would check in with a customer who did not come in for their weekly shop a couple of weeks in a row. We had lots of widows who would come in to do a daily small shop (single serving Charlie Binghams) instead of a large weekly one so that they could have a little chat and not spend the entire day alone. Local carers would have unofficial time and days of the week that they would bring their charges so that they could be served and welcomed by the same person. I never understood the appeal either before I started there but there is a work culture in John Lewis/Waitrose of protecting our customers where appropriate and our branch had a lot of loyality because of that

@roseinthedark this was really sweet. Thank you so much for sharing. A few weeks ago after the news broke of the Aberdeen store possibly closing, I relayed to a staff member in my other local store how much I hoped they still got to stay on. She said they’re negotiating it now and trying to find places for people. I also told her I shop there because of how well they treat their team members. It was a small way for me to show a bit of support.

I am a Waitrose shopper, although I also use Ocado. Most of the things I buy at Waitrose cost the same as Tesco or Sainsbury’s. Things like pasta, oat milk, plain yoghurt, oats, cheddar cheese, etc. One of the main reason I shop there is because I can get everything I need in one place. I actually really like Lidl and Aldi but I can’t get everything I want to buy there. If I was really strapped for cash I would make do at Lidl...

I work there and they do treat the staff well, decent pay for shop work, very good discount and good holidays. I've worked there for nearly 10 years and hope to stay there until I retire.
It's very true about what a pp said about elderly people coming in every day for a chat, we get a lot of them and it's lovely to talk to them and make sure they're ok. Tbf, we have a very broad spectrum of customers, not necessarily all older people. A lot of people have said that during the pandemic they've felt safer in our shop than others, due to the door staff, the reduced numbers allowed in etc.
The aisles are wider than other supermarkets, there's no piped music, or the hideousness of Christmas songs (!) and apart from the obligatory covid announcements there's no public address announcements.
My dad, who's as tight as arseholes, prefers buying his fruit in there rather than Morrisons as he says it might be a bit more expensive but it lasts much longer. My husband hates food shopping but the only place he'll shop at is Waitrose. Horses for courses.

I shop there because it’s; closest; quieter; cleaner; has nice things that I often can’t get in other supermarkets.