Why do the elderly go to supermarkets on Saturday?

[CheeseLover2026]

I’ve just got back from doing the family shop. I work full time long hours, so it’s shopping on weekend or nobody eats.

Shop is heaving. Everyone is slightly tetchy, rightly. The meat aisle is practically a bin fight. Trolleys in the way. Kids messing about.

And yet, so many elderly people, many of whom have mobility issues and are probably slightly frightened by the way my kind swoop in and swoop out to get an item while they are stood there pondering over this or that.

Yes, they have a right to do what they like. But WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND would choose a frenetic Saturday when they have more civilised options?

I'm ancient, retired and the closest to the weekend I'm willing to do the weekly shop is a Thursday. It drove me mad when I was still working f/t, and to this day I don't understand why you'd go when it's so busy, and you have the luxury of choosing quiet times.

And don't start me on the shoppers who abandon their trolley in the middle of the aisle while they read the label on a packet of ham. That's not just the old folk!

I'm 80 and never have never willingly done my shopping in the supermarket since Tesco started its delivery service in our rural bit of Wales about 15 years ago. The combination of my laptop and the friendly delivery drivers works every time. 😉

I work in a butchers, our elderly regulars are in every other day or every day, as its easier to carry, gets them out and chatting to people etc, society feels more and more closed off, I can't hate anyone for using it as a social experience. Supermarkets are open crazy long hours and have online options, if you want a quiet shop experience go late at night/early morning or get it click and collect or delivered.

I'm 66 and I work Monday to Friday and have a regular commitment on Sundays. I probably do move a bit slower than I used to because I'm bloody knackered. Sorry to inconvenience you OP.

Why does that annoy you so much?

Because they want to and they can.

I avoid food shopping on a Saturday as it’s awful. I had to go today as I’n going away tomorrow for a few days with a friend so needed food for DH & DC. Shop was packed, long queues at checkout etc & a lot of the shoppers were elderly. Why would you go at the busiest time if you don’t have to? As a shift worker I can usually go midweek when it’s much more civilised. My DPs, in their late 70s, always go on a Thursday & it would have to be something big to get them to change their routine.

The rest of society dosent stop for the young and mobile.

How dare you have a life! You should be rotting in a care home watching daytime telly, not fully participating in society. The cheek of it.

In the supermarket on Tuesday (hope that’s ok op) some CHILDREN started barging me! Why aren’t they in school! And their parents, why aren’t they at work!! When can I stare at packets of mackerel strips for 5 mins and not get barged??

I did wonder about that. I usually shop at Lidl and I can confirm none of these elderly had their daughters or sons with them assisting with driving or shopping

How do you know? When I used to take mil I used to do my own shopping while she did hers. How would anyone know I'd driven her there? We met back at the car.

My older neighbour was in Sainsburys today buying his whiskey ready for the rugby today 😂

Absolutely this. I take my dad (who is in his late 80s) at the weekend because I work during the week and he can no longer drive.
When we get inside I go off and do my own shopping, and he does his.

Once he's out at the car, I lift his shopping into the boot and take his trolley back. Unless you saw us in the car park you wouldn't know he was with anyone.

There's enough loss of dignity when you're old without having to suffer your children going around with you as if you've lost your marbles and surveying what you're buying. If I leave him to it he can purchase incontinence pads - or condoms - for all I care and it remains none of my business.

OP, you likely would have no idea if those annoying elderly people have been brought by someone.

Don't get me started about the local schools who bring in classes of small children. Why? Most kids know what shopping is. Get them back in the classroom doing reading, writing and sums

Why do whole families go? Many years ago we occasionally took our 3 tiny DC, soon cottoned on to one adult doing it solo!

If you get a shopping delivery then you’re partly responsible for supermarket chaos… I’m sick of the hundreds of in-store shopper staff filling up their huge blue carts just because someone is too lazy to do their own shopping.

How elderly is elderly? A lot of people in their 70s work full time too

Or look after their grandkids and do school runs while parents work.

I tend to avoid it for that reason, and I'm in my thirties! I do a monthly big shop and get small top-up shops of fresh fruit and things in between.

If any of them are like my grandmother, they get a family member (a FT worker whose only days off are weekends) to drive them to the shop... and then quickly ditch them to wander off to shop at their own pace, then meet up after the tills! For some, it's routine, it's a social call (a lot of people stand around chatting at ours, and it's quite nice to hear people catching up!), it's a good day/time to get discounts, they like the discounts, more shops in our nearest town are reliable for being open on Saturdays so they can kill two birds with one stone, etc... around here, it's after 11.00am on Sundays when supermarkets are rammed, usually after church services have ended!

Not necessarily. Not all deliveries are from store, some operate a warehouse model.

Ocado, for example.

Ocado don’t have supermarkets.

What a ridiculous post. Have you considered that some older people are on tight budgets and buy smaller amounts more frequently?

Some may rely on family members to take them shopping, and weekends might be the only time those family members are available. Others may still be working, providing childcare or have commitments of their own during the week.

Some may also depend on community transport or mobility schemes that only offer transport at certain times, including weekends. For them, Saturday might not be a choice at all.

So may just simply choose to shop on a Saturday because they want to 🤷🏼‍♀️ They have just as much right to be there as you do.

OP, I can see your point.
I am at home full-time and would rather stick needles in my eyes than shop at the weekends.
My preference is 9.30 on a monday or tuesday.
I sometimes also go to my local aldi at 9pm on a thursday night and spin about.
I love it quiet.

Dont be ridiculous! One person doing 3 lots of shopping in one go is causing less "chaos" than 3 (or more) in the store doing them individually. One of the reasons I started online shopping was because as a single parent I would have had to take at least three of the kids with me. Would you have preferred that?

Nothing to do with laziness at all!

Alot of elderly people don't drive. They need to carry there shopping home meaning they carnt do big shops, they carry what they can manage. Hence going shopping every other day, often ever day. Guess what OP, they have every right to.