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.

I stocked up on Clipper teabags recently as they were on offer cheaper than at Sainsbury's. Even without Clipper, I buy all my tea in Waitrose. I can't find any other tea in Sainsbury's that doesn't taste horrible. I shop selectively in Waitrose, as a lot of their stuff is very expensive. Some things are better or you can't get them elsewhere and a few are even cheaper than Sainsbury's.

Honestly,I couldn't believe it and it's online,too!.

i live in a town in the southwest that only has waitrose as its supermarket,and i drive 10 miles to another town to shop at lidl, because the food they sell, (for example ready meals), is tasteless, over priced and pretty poor quality, i feel sorry for the local , mainly older people who can't travel so far, as there being ripped off but have to live with it, waitrose also squeezes there suppliers of fresh produce to drop there prices or lose contracts, then sell it at inflated prices, nasty money grabbing company imo !

It's a more ethical way of doing business - it doesn't have shareholders that are only interested in profit.

Partners (staff) are treated more fairly & it's much better place to work if you are disabled, carer, more flexible with child care. Not perfect but better than the big supermarkets.

More ethical treatment of producers & suppliers (again not perfect) eg UK pork market, support to suppliers during COVID.

Supporter of small local suppliers eg a small local company can supply a small number of branches in their area (something not possible in other supermarkets)

Doing the 'right thing' will often cost more. It's sad to see how few people value that & just want cheap food, cheap labour, shein & temu prices with disregard of the social, environmental & human implications

I've not seen anyone mention the free coffee?? That's what attracts me

I go in there for the good quality herbs spices and other flavourings that don't quite hit the same in my local Sainsbury's.

Our local Waitrose is much nicer than our local Sainsbury’s.

Sadly it’s also about twice the price for my weekly shop, so I don’t often go in. But when I do it is lovely.

I thought they stopped that years ago. I regularly go to two branches, no free coffee in either of them.

I love Waitrose. Their online shopping service is spot on. Never fails me. But I do worry that the local store may not survive as the town is no longer very Waitrose, and I suspect most people are shopping online from the bigger out of town store.

Recently noticed that in nearby St Albans, there is actually a petition for a John Lewis, which must be the very definition of upper middle tee hee.

When I’m in the posh part of London for work on my ‘working days’, I always make a point of visiting the posh Waitrose in my lunch hour and bringing something random home for the store cupboard. There is a world of difference between this London Waitrose and the one at home, sadly. Maybe this is your problem — if it’s an ‘ex sommerfield’.

Shop somewhere else then. I love Waitrose.

@BIossomtoes all branches stopped the free coffee during the pandemic but all the branches near me started it again a couple years ago, although you have to bring your own cup now. They definitely had it in my branch last weekend - I always enjoy drinking it when I'm strolling round the shop.

I love my local Waitrose . Always full shelves , spacious and best of all quiet and calm no tower block tracys screaming obscenities at snotty nose kids .

They have it in my local one; it's Caffé Nero. You have to take your own cup and I always forget 😖

I have a mywaitrose card. Every week I get a coupon for 50p off their own brand bread, bringing it down to 50p. So I get that and my free coffee too.

I also get other coupons that come in handy, such as 50p off milk or butter, £1 off their nice pizzas, etc.
Many things are the same price as other supermarkets, you just need to be selective.

They sell smoked hummus, which I adore. Tesco used to sell it (and I lived on it for ages), but stopped, and the smoked hummus Sainsbury’s sells is not the same.

So I treat myself to a Waitrose delivery once or twice a year, so I can have smoked hummus.

It is a First world problem, I know.

I think people go to Waitrose because of the 'perceived' better quality of stuff, a slightly different product range, and the elitist thing. Some people I know even go because it's quieter and not filled with riff-raff.

They're willing to pay a premium for it, because it IS way more expensive.

I could shop in Waitrose and spend easily £100 for our standard shop. A comparable shop in Morrisons would be 80. A Lidl shop for us of similar items would be 70.

You'll be elderly, dawdling, one day.

You're ageist now.

I go to Waitrose because it's the nearest shop to my flat, @bifurCAT . If it was an Aldi barely two minutes' walk away instead I would go to that.

I disagree. I don't think the better quality is perceived at all - I find the quality of meat and vegetables is definitely better than any other supermarket, with M&S a close second. I also only buy organic meat and mostly organic vegetables, and there isn't any other supermarket where I can do a full week's shop and get everything I need. It depends on what you buy, but I don't find Waitrose particularly expensive compared with the other major supermarkets and I often spend more if I have to do a big shop in sainsburys than Waitrose. I suspect that might be partly because if you're in a supermarket full of products that you're not familiar with, you're more likely to buy extra stuff just to try it. But I do think you get what you pay for with meat and I don't think the quality of things like steak from Waitrose isn't comparable with Tesco or Asda.

The thing that makes Waitrose more expensive for us is the “ooh look” factor. There’s a much bigger range of products and we buy lots of things that aren’t on our list. That happens on steroids when we’re on holiday and we go to Booths.

I alternate between Waitrose and Tescos, but the only items I really think Waitrose do better are kiwis, fish and organic meat.

The sliced and fresh bread is much better in Tescos.

Waitrose unquestionably has the best cheese - both quality and variety. Imho the other supermarkets cannot compete.

All too often, ‘cheese’ turns out to be a disappointing lump of salty fat, but I have never been disappointed by cheese sourced by Waitrose. Now that even ‘ordinary’ cheese is so expensive, can’t afford to take risks!

It's v expensive but in a world of supermarkets ripping us off, fake meat, horse meat scandals etc at least they have a reputation to uphold on meat

I'm an M and S devotee. I like Waitrose but the car park is like armageddon. To the bloke in the Ferrari who reversed into my modest medium sized car and drove off, I wish you nothing less than constantly mouldy veg.

The choice is that or Tesco near me and the Waitrose has a much, much bigger selection.
But I would never get a big delivery shop from there.
Their bread is crap. They don't have any proper fresh pastries and no savoury ones at all. They sell Gail's bread but always run out by lunchtime.

I buy cleaning stuff, bog rolls, tins, frozen foods and soft drinks etc from Tesco or Sainsbury's for delivery.