To think Waitrose is a rip off?

[RoxyMoosic]

I do often pop into my local Waitrose, namely because it is the closest supermarket to my house, and on my route home from work. However I don’t really see what it’s selling point is.

I tend to buy branded things, and these are almost always more expensive than the usual supermarkets, unless on offer which admittedly does make it worth a visit.

My local Waitrose is a former Somerfield, so it’s a convenience store layout trying to be a full blown supermarket. The aisles are too narrow, and it’s full of mums with big buggies and elderly people dawdling with trollies.

Theres almost always a queue at the checkout, again because there’s not enough room for a proper sized self checkout area.

The fresh produce and own brand items don’t seem to be noticeably nicer than say Sainsburys, whereas M&S is most certainly a cut above the regular supermarket.

If I want nice or ‘posh’ my go-to is M&S. I just don’t see why it seems to be so revered as the epitome of middle-classness. Seems to be a rip-off to me.

Don’t go then. It’s not compulsory.

Your waitrose sounds nothing like ours.
Spacious aisles, helpful staff, nice products.

Since the self scan tills introduced slightly longer queues at traditional tills, but they do put extra staff on as needed.

It works for us, I think the quality is better and I don’t tend to buy branded items. I try to buy minimal UPF and have the most choice at Waitrose whereas it’s a struggle as some other shops.

We get it delivered so the actual shopping experience I can’t comment on, but the delivery experience is great (as it is the other shops I use)

I think your issue is buying branded items to be honest. We do the majority of our shopping at Waitrose with a bit of Sainsbury's for some items and find Waitrose to be much of a muchness for standard items. Some are actually cheaper and as you say they do have offers on the branded items we do buy which we make use of. Just shop elsewhere if you don't like the store layout of that particular store!

Just go elsewhere.

Personally, I love Waitrose.

It's subjective I guess. I find the produce and own brand stuff much better than other supermarkets. Ours is a nice new one though, I would probably find it too annoying if ours was cramped like yours sounds.

For me I can't see the point of the middle ground places like Sainsburys - if I want cheap I go to Aldi, if I want good but pricey I go to Waitrose.

So go somewhere else. They didn’t set the shop up like that to annoy you, you don’t have to go there, you can just move on.

I like Waitrose for fresh fruit and veg because it’s better quality and lasts longer, but packets/tins/brands are cheaper at Tesco.

No-one is forcing you to shop there, unless there is a massive dripfeed coming.

Being more expensive than elsewhere does not meet the definition of "rip off", and you haven't provided any suggestion that you are being cheated, swindled or deceived.

Mums with buggies and elderly people with trolleys are allowed in all supermarkets, it's not just Waitrose.

Just got to M&S and live a happy life, we'll all be better off!

The fresh produce and own brand items don’t seem to be noticeably nicer than say Sainsburys, whereas M&S is most certainly a cut above the regular supermarket.

They pay their producers more rather than squeezing them to the bare bone.

I love Waitrose. I don’t always use it for branded items, but it’s where I buy ingredients. The fruit, veg, and meat is so much better than other supermarkets, including M&S. They pay farmers more than others and so get excellent quality, high welfare, produce in return.

go to Lidl then you miserable bloody fun sponge

although I do like the word dawdling

Waitrose is seen as a mainstream supermarket in London & affluent areas of the south east where the price of groceries isn’t an issue for most people, but outside its heartlands it is very much a niche retailer.

My local store in Leicestershire is very popular with retired people because it’s relatively quiet, there are lots of staff, most of whom are also older people, and they take their time & chat to the customers.

I use both Tesco and Waitrose. Tesco for branded, Waitrose for their own stuff. Their meat welfare is the best of a bad bunch and their fruit and veg is far superior.

Plus I once had a seizure whilst shopping in my local Waitrose (cheers epilepsy!) and the store manager sent me a bunch of flowers and a £50 store voucher. Can’t ask for better customer service than that!

I always prefer shopping in Waitrose to other supermarkets and drive quite a distance to go to my nearest branch, passing several branches of Sainsburys, Tesco, Aldi, and Lidl on the way. I go there mainly because I find the quality of their meat and vegetables is very much better than other supermarkets. I buy organic food wherever possible and it's the only supermarket I know that has a wide range of organic meat. Apart from that, they have an extremely wide range of products that you don't usually find in other supermarkets, the aisles are always wide, the shops are spotlessly clean, and without exception I've always found the staff to be polite and helpful. I use Ocado for my main weekly shop and whilst I like M&S goods, I much preferred it when they were partnered with Waitrose, which is why I still go there for too up shops.

I don’t think they have them now but I used to buy the Essential frozen roast potatoes. They were so good.
However Waitrose is expensive so if you don’t like them don’t go.
I don’t think Sainsbury’s is cheap though.

Similar to you, it’s our nearest shop so use it every now and then. It great if you get a yellow sticker bargain on fresh meat or flowers, but I’m finding they don’t do huge discounts like they used to, and the quality of the flowers is not great now. I bought some Waitrose fancy bacon recently thinking it would be the nicest bacon I’d ever had. It had zero flavour. The pack I bought from Lidl was so much tastier.
I also often find other Waitrose customers to be rude and ignorant. More so than in other stores.

Waitrose staff are John Lewis partners, so they participate in profit sharing. I like that.

Mainly I agree with PP and split my shopping between Tesco/Aldi/Asda and specialist shops/Waitrose. It is the only supermarket where I buy meat and fish. Our two local ones are also laid out much more nicely than the other supermarkets, though I appreciate this isn’t the case for the OP.

Waitrose are not forcing you to shop with them, don't like it don't go.
Right now it's cheaper to buy clipper teabags in Waitrose than Asda, or a watermelon in M+S than the food warehouse.
Shop around

I don’t find Sainsbury’s cheap, either, but I guess it’s all subjective. I would tend to go to Lidl if I wanted food on the cheaper side.

It's the nicer in store experience that does it for me, although none of the ones I use sound remotely like your one. I find that aisles are wider than most supermarkets, there are less loud and obnoxious tannoy announcements, there isn't the horribly loud music as you find in others. The whole ambiance is get calmer and quieter.

The products are great too, although I tend not to buy a lot of branded pre packages stuff. I don't think the pricing is that out of line to be honest, particularly not for the quality.

Waitrose is brilliant, they stock stuff you don't see anywhere else.

But if you dont like it, dont go.

I love their massive bags of wonky carrots for 89p ( amongst other stuff of course )

I use Waitrose a lot as it’s my closest big supermarket & it’s spacious with large aisles, plenty of staff. Their essential range is pretty good value. I do think they are a little overrated, I prefer Sainsbury’s as more choice but M&S is my fave.

I’m a retired WR cashier and I couldn’t agree more. If something is £1 everywhere else it’ll be £1.10 there. The end of day reductions are pitiful. So-called “fresh” bread displayed uncovered so by late morning its already dry and been touched by countless customers. WR potatoes sprout faster after coming home than any other store’s, perhaps because they keep them too cool, same with soft fruit, salad and spinach, all their green veg turn really quickly compared to other stores.

They have a wider range of organic products than most supermarkets, and I think M&S are the only other supermarket to sell wild Alaskan salmon and not just farmed Scottish fish. The WR loyalty voucher scheme is rubbish although I do use the voucher for a free weekend paper, so my Saturday purchases are usually just salmon, cheese and a paper!

Their essentials range is great, plus you can get a Pseud’s Corner laugh at the idea of Essential Mascarpone (or fill in poncey item if your choice)