To think the supermarket will be quieter if I turn up at 6am?

[MyChristmasUsername]

Or will the rest of my local area have precisely the same idea? 🙈

Made the mistake of going a few days ago at 11am and I’ve never been as stressed in my life, no parking spaces and the store was ridiculously busy. I left without a few of the things I needed. They open at 6am today (this is special Christmas hours, usually they open at 8am). It has not been widely publicised but happened to notice it on their website and the local shopping centre website too. DH has just got up for work and I am so tempted to go.

You might be unpleasantly surprised being as it's quite close to Christmas.

Good result - you can relax a bit now

I went to M&S yesterday around 13.00 for turkey, ham, blankets and stuffing - did it in about 10 minutes flat. I was quite relaxed as knew was only getting a few but important items - my sister is responsible for the millions of other stuff!

I went to Morrisons last night at 8pm and no queues at all. My daughter went for her nails done so I decided to pop in and see if they had any turkeys. Came home with one that was too big as my DD talked me into it! Got a delivery coming Saturday, hope my sprouts come as none left in Morrisons so if not I’ll be going on a sprout hunt

Just back from Sainsbury's and it was absolutely fine. Quite pleasant in fact

Lol you’ve obviously never worked in a supermarket at Christmas!

Survived Sainsburys just.
It was starting to get really busy though by 8.30. Difficult to walk up and down the aisles.

My friend went at 7 this morning and she said it was busy but not too bad. I was supposed to be going early this morning but sick DD with a 3am start this morning stopped that. DD wants to be cuddled and will only doze if cuddled. DH got up at 9 but has the slowest start to the day with a long shower, bathroom visit and long breakfast - he has been off this week and his mornings are usually hectic and fast paced so he's very much lounging about going at snails pace this week. So I'm off to join the hordes in the next 40 mins or so. Wish me luck.

Maybe. It’s usually quieter at night, too (9 onwards).

At this time of year they definitely will I can tell you.

I have done this in years gone by on 22nd/23rd/24th Dec. It’s preferable to 11am, that’s for certain! It might not be quiet, though.

My local Waitrose had a massive queue waiting for it open, but once inside it was well stocked and OK.

M&S and Sainsburys both less busy but poorly stocked. I couldn’t get half the things I needed.

I’ve done 7am before around Christmas and it was a lot quieter. Still busier than normal but definitely quiet enough to not feel stressed shopping. You also get first pick of all the fresh food.

I was there at 7:30am first in Asda and then M&S at about 8:30am.

The hour difference was nuts. Asda was quiet, M&S was ridiculously busy.

Thankful that I’d only got a food order to collect from M&S and a basket shop! The self service tills were baskets only, everyone else was queuing up the aisles!

I used to go Christmas food shopping in the evening after 7pm and it was always quiet.
I’d say 11am is the

Time it start getting busy.

I imagine Sunday is going to be hell on earth because of the short shopping day.

I will never EVER do a big food shop on Christmas Eve again!

Always now pre-order food from M&S and collect on the 22nd! Everything always in date - bliss! Then just need to do a few basket shops. Much easier to navigate around the aisles!

I’m always waiting for the doors to open on Christmas Eve. This year it’ll be a 4:30am start as the supermarket opens at 5:00am. I’ve been doing this for over 30 years now.

I don’t mind people in the supermarket and queues at the till but I can’t deal with spending an hour driving round the car park trying to find a space.

The only downside is that the instore bakery isn’t open that early so I can’t get the nice bread.

I find that nowhere is as busy as you expect.

I went to Tesco yesterday evening and it was pretty much dead, the same as always.

I went to Aldi at 8 this morning and it was absolutely rammed. Worse than a weekend afternoon. I was quite surprised to be fair. I imagine at 6.30 am it would be reasonably quiet, however, will stock levels be ok?

I had to go at 11 as I had to go to an appointment first but gave up and came home as the car park was so awful

Will go later

We've just got back from doing ours - got there 10.30am. No queuing at all- straight through the check-outs!

I have found that anytime from 6:30-7am is quiet and then again from 9pm onwards.

Busiest times seem to be 9-10am (once kids at school), 2-6pm (after kids picked up or work finishes) and fairly busy during other times.

I got bulk of mine sorted until Boxing Day, anything else I need, I will be going to a garage to get as it'll just be basics (milk, bread etc)

I don't do this any more, but several years back I was always outside the supermarket at 6am. Along with the entire neighbourhood. It was carnage. These days I'm older and wiser, and I book deliveries instead 😂

Went just after six this morning, the main issue was the number of staff shelf stacking, it was almost impossible to get round! But it wasn't too busy and there were no queues at the check out!

I'm walking distance to a Sainsbury's and m and s. Traffic is fine today although I haven't gone it. It was worse during the week.
I'm going tomorrow to see what bargains I can get from m and s!

I went to Sainsbury's at 6am this morning for a small shop (fresh veg, milk, etc). It was pretty busy, but manageable, and I was able to self scan, and no queue for self scan tills..I managed to get everything I needed, come home and go back to bed! Would definitely do that again, as it was insane there yesterday - queues to even get into the carpark and then about 5 or 6 cars driving up and down every row of the car park! Nightmare...