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 don't see many at all. Weird thread.

Also, people are entitled to go shopping whenever they want to!

Maybe the village they live in only has buses on a Saturday.

Maybe they work in the week! Not everyone gets to retire at 65.

Who knows?

Who cares?!

Both my parents are around & are old. My gran lived well into her 90s. None of them shop/shopped on weekends once retired.

Maybe because their spouse and friends have passed on, they are desperately lonely and crave human company to such an extent that even being "swooped" around by intolerant people who wish they weren't there fills that void a little.

What makes you think they have all week? Maybe they do childcare during the week.

If they’re elderly, maybe Saturday is the day a family member who works full time can take them. Or, maybe they’ve always done the shop on Saturday and it’s just a habit.

Agree!

HNRTFT but my immediate thoughts are…why do people bring their kids / partner to the supermarket on a Saturday ! Surely one stays at home and the other does the shopping!
What do you class as elderly? Some people can probably only get a lift at the weekend if they are not drivers.

Maybe they're childminding their grandchildren through the week - you know, so the parents can work.

NO idea why I so often see two parents with several kids in the supermarket, clogging up the aisles when one parent could go easily on their own but there you are.

they should stay home and not inconvenience everyone else, right? Absolute gits.

Because it is a free country and they can shop whenever and wherever they like.

What a bizarre, ageist thread.

A few weeks ago, I was quite unwell and ended up having to go food shopping on a Saturday, as it was the first day I felt well enough to leave the house. I needed food, fresh air and to stretch my legs. So I took my wrinkled face and less than attractive body to the supermarket. Please fogive me OP for not confining myself to my house and getting in the way of younger people who of course have far more right to be in the shop than me. I should have waited unti Monday so as not to be a nuisance. I won't transgress again

Just have it delivered OP. I think it is barmy going to the shops. Yes there is a delivery fee but I buy an annual pass. Petrol to drive to the supermarket costs money too. Ocado are reliable to turn up at the right time.

Friday morning is very popular among older people in our big Sainsbury's. Some of them have son/ daughter with them (mostly daughters I should say 🤔 ) but a lot on their own. It does make sense as weekend deals become available on Friday and stock is better.
I can’t comment on weekend situation as I never go there over weekend - Friday’s rush is more than enough for me.
I do go to Aldi sometimes and it has noticeably less elderly people over weekend.

By the tone of your comment I am glad that you shop online !

But WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND would choose a frenetic Saturday when they have more civilised options?
Indeed, this is why online shopping exists, and you can have it delivered to your home early morning or late evening, thus saving you having to share the supermarket with the elderly or anyone else for that matter.

Why why why do you not shop online.

I wondered if they were looking at you and thinking “why are they actually here in my way when they can shop online and I can’t”

Perhaps, but you're making assumptions about so who the people are who are calling it out. I'm neither elderly nor Gen Z but I recognise ageism when I see it.

And this thread is horribly ageist. Your whataboutery doesn't change that. Two wrongs don't make a right.

They're probably wondering the same thing as you only, why do people shop at weekends rather than on their way home from work.

I can remember people used to shop every day as early as they could to get 'The Best' whatever the best might be. Bit of that as well maybe.

I personally quite enjoy a supermarket visit on a Saturday, ramming each other with trolleys, pawing the bakery goods with your bare hands rather than the tongs provided. Extra points for dropping a bread roll on the floor and putting it back on display. And of course, a bit of shouting and banter as people try to jump the queue at the tills. All part of lifes rich tapestry

Why not get your shopping delivered? Though I know Lidl doesn’t deliver if that’s your main shop.
I don’t understand why people bring their whole families like it’s a day out - both parents too.

Absolutely 💯

Oooh oooh oooh! I know the answer to this.

For the last 13 years, since my dad retired, my parents have been “weekday members” of their local gym. This gave them access Monday to Friday from 8:45am - 5:30pm.

They had a nice routine. They would go to classes / swimming in the morning, have a cup of coffee with friends and then stop off at the supermarket on their way home for fresh french bread and soup to have for lunch.

A few months ago the gym decided to scrap the weekday membership and charge them full price. My parents are not happy. They are currently going to the gym every weekend day to get their money’s worth. Which means that they also have to go to the supermarket at the weekends.

The good news is that my mum is a force of nature. Every weekend at (overfull!) Pilates she has a lovely chat with whoever she is standing next to about how hard it is these days to get into classes at the weekend. And how this is caused by the loss of the Weekday Membership. My mum then helpfully suggests that her new friend should complain to reception about this. Possibly using the special complaint form which they only give you if you ask specifically for it.

You're getting a lot of heat but it's a valid question.

I used to think the same about the older people who would be tutting and huffing as soon as we'd get on the bus home from school. You have all day - if you're that bothered by young people, don't get on a bus at 3.45!

There was another thread this week about how it's bad to hide in your house and lose your social skills as you get older...

I prefer to go in the weeks and mostly I can; but if I have to bob in on a Saturday, it's good practice in basic unarmed combat and making a 'presence' of yourself - because you can lose that ability - and some people will bash into you and knock you over if they perceive weakness... Twats.

With the partner thing, a poster once accused me of having a bad marriage because we don’t go to the supermarket together, and that they, by contrast, loved each other. (Bet they’re now divorced…)

Round here I would say Thursday is (older) pensioner day. That’s when all the minibuses come in from the “Thursday Murder Club” fancy homes, and also it was traditionally market day here (although market gone).

The pil when beginning with dementia would go out at all odd times when it was really crowded, eg Christmas Eve for nothing in particular, or once in a snowstorm because they had a 50p voucher off something.

I always aim for 2pm on a Tuesday: quietest time of the week!