Queues in Lidl/Aldi

[Lykkeli]

I just went to Lidl in the city centre, there were without exaggeration around 30 people in the queue, it was snaking all the way down the aisle and round to the bakery.
This isn't new, plus the aisles are narrow and you're constantly having to squeeze through/move out of people's way/struggle to reach items.
I tried going very early in the morning but there were 20 odd people waiting at the door for it to open.
I can sometimes go late at night when it's quieter but not always possible.
Anyway I didn't bother today , just walked out and went to the M and S next door. If course it's a bit more expensive so I had to be careful, however certain products I didn't find more expensive. Nevertheless, it was paradise in comparison, stress-free, could peacefully browse the aisles in my own time, hardly any queue.

Does anybody else find this with certain supermarkets? I suppose I might need to switch to online delivery. Or just going very late at night.

It must be much worse if you're disabled/frail/vulnerable.

If you go to our Lidl late at night, there is isn't much choice left. I only save a few quid in Lidl so I'd rather save on petrol and get Tesco delivered. Or pop into sains when I fill my car up.

I'm not sure it's the big saver it used to be

My local aldi and lidl are both massive so it's not usually a problem. Tesco on the other hand is awful, hardly any tills on which means people have to use the self scan and that seems to create a road block because everyone is waiting to use the same six tills.

Yes you're right about the choice, I didn't take that into account.

I might just be unlucky with ours, they're in Manchester city centre if anybody is familiar with them!

Out of all the supermarkets, I find Aldi and Lidl some of the better ones for opening checkouts when there are queues.

Our Morrisons however has recently replaced about 10 checkouts with 8 large self serve checkouts (as well as the existing 8 for baskets) and the queues are waaay worse than they were. I think they underestimated how many people dont want to use the self serve ones (I love them personally, but i guess not everyones cup of tea)

I have always thought that Aldi and Lidl are over-rated, certainly I find Lidl more expensive than Aldi.

I've started using Poundland/Home Bargains etc. For certain food items.

I hate the whole queuing thing in lidl and aldi and they always close tills at the wrong time.

In lidl they want you to have 1 queue for all tills which snakes down the alcohol aisle. Aldi at least seem to want individual queues for each till when they actually open any.

I dont buy much from them and end up in tesco or asda

I've tried a few times to shop in aldi but I hate it. It feels like such a stressful experience. I shop in tesco and most of the things I choose are aldi price matched anyway!

Did a very small top up in Lidl today. Eggs 6p cheaper than Tesco, coco pops ( own brand) 1p cheaper weigh for weight in tesco. The Curry powder was over half the price at least. But it just shows there aren't massive savings to be had

If you can get to Ancoats, the Aldi there is usually loads quieter.

But, yes, the Aldi and Lidl in the centre of Manchester are super chaotic. Aldi usually less so, but people use the stairs wrong there and it gives me the rage.

Pretty much as soon as there are two people waiting behind the belt loading people, our Lidl opens a new checkout. Tesco I use self service for a basket as the normal checkouts are full of massive trolley people. Except self service is only half cash which causes issues with only one queue!

My Lidl and Aldi aren't like this. It's rare that there's more than 3 people in front of me. The Lidl has 5 self checkouts which probably helps.

The Lidl by the Piccadilly Gardens tram & bus stops tends to have massive queues compared to the M&S. But that's because overall M&S costs more. And bluntly people are poor.

Yes, that's the one I was in! I'll try the Ancoats one.

I have an m&s really close to me & not much else. If its a small shop for me and my fiancée I'll go there and if we're entertaining get an ocado delivery usually as I find them so reliable. One of my best friends lives about 40 mins away but on a motorway so not too bad and she has a variety of supermarkets to pick from. She's always shocked by how similarly our food shop is priced to hers so I'm not sure the savings are that massive anymore. I love the remarksable value range but should add that I love cooking, will happily try whatever I see in store including offers and don't have to worry about packing food up that's lunch box friendly etc. Either way, my m&s is lovely, well stocked at all times, never any queues and a decent price so it may be worth trying out a new supermarket

Do you mean the Ancoats Aldi?
If you do, I hope that you only want food and drink. They are hopeless for "Aldi Specialbuys", it's as though they're not interested in anything inedible.

This is why I don’t shop in Lidl or Aldi I dont have the patience. Id rather pay more and shop in sainsburys.

If there's more than two people waiting they open up new tills in my Lidl/Aldi. It's only really busy when people are heading home (or when they release the summer furniture weirdly).

If it's only slightly busy, people are really nice about letting people with a couple of bits go ahead of them too.

And I like the lack of choice. I just want a bloody tin of tomatoes of good enough quality (or whatever)- I don't need a wall of options.

I hate food shopping and crowds so I shop and scan in Tesco. I would rather pay more than have to queue but then i have never found Tesco more expensive than either Lidl or Aldi. I can be door to door in 30 minutes for a weeks shop.

We use the hand scanners in tesco and asda. My local aldi and lidl don't have self scan tills

My local Lidl always opens a new checkout if there are two full trollies in a queue.
Always shop there for choice, according to my bill today, nearly £70 was free of vat and goods to the cost of of about £11 was £1.90.
It's a no brainer for me personally.