Best supermarket you have been to in the pandemic

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Thought I would give some praise to the supermarkets that are all working so hard to make sure we can all eat!

Best by far in my area has been Tesco! Still have queueing systems in place only allowing certain amounts in the shop, one way system and also the only supermarket iv seen constantly disinfecting the trolleys!

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 all round for tesco

Tesco here too ...sainsburys was a free for all inside. Lidl had a wrong system but only occasionally.

@Frustratedandworried Yes Sainsbury's is awful here to the head guy was sending emails all the time at the beginning of the spread but the store is bad they had a Queueing system outside but once inside it was awful people everywhere 😷

Waitrose is lovely as you would expect. Limited numbers in, everyone observing social distancing, not long queues, staff still pleasant, sanitise your trolleys for you.

Morrisons is dreadful. Too many people inside, no one observing social distancing, customer service non existent, massive queues up the aisles

Sainsburys hands down. So calm inside. Tescos had an internal queuing system for the meat aisle which blocked up the store and queues for the till which also made the aisles one way only because you had to do a u turn. At sainsburys it is so quiet and I can use my phone app to scan the shopping and pack it straight away into my bags. I can get almost everything I want. More expensive than my normal aldi shop but more to tempt me!

My village shop has been fab too - I could get flour from there when the supermarkets were depleted.

Our Tescos is chaotic. The one way system barely functions and they’ve blocked off certain aisles - it’s all very confusing and people are walking around having to constantly turn their trolleys and change direction to avoid obstacles

I find Sainsburys relatively quiet but the bleakest and most depressing of the supermarkets. Bare shelves and constant post-apocalyptic tannoy announcements - "Please buy only what you need" "Please shop quickly and get out" "Thank you for helping us feed the nation". Supposed to be reassuring; isn't.

Aldi is the best here, staff on the door, not too many people inside, if couples tried shopping together one was sent back to the car, spacious wide aisles
Tesco is the worst, too many people inside, no one following the one way system including staff, just horrible in there
Lidl as well, no one on the door so just too many people inside in narrow aisles with no one way, won’t be going there again
Haven’t tried ASDA or Sainsburys

Been to Waitrose mainly and it’s been great. Queue well organised, sanitised trolley passed to you at the entrance. Good distancing inside.

Morrison’s-good queuing but free for all once inside.

I’ve been to Morrison’s, Aldi, Iceland and Tesco.
Morrison’s is terrible inside, no signage, no stickers or distancing guides so it’s a free for all. They do one in one out but in big groups so 8 of you are entering at the same time.
Aldi was quite good, aisles one way but the queues go up some of them in front of products.
Tesco was fairly good inside with the arrows but people weren’t paying attention to them.
Iceland was the best but it’s a small store so they only let around 5/6 people in at a time.

Our local Lidl have been amazing - staff have screens, masks and gloves. There’s a queuing system but no feeling of having to rush. Everything in usually in stock - even flour. It’s a relatively peaceful experience shopping there.

2 Tesco local here and both have been terrible. I went to another supermarket and got talking in line to a woman who worked at one of them she even said how bad her Tesco was that’s why she wouldn’t shop there!
Aldi was a free for all was more people inside then normally!
Iceland here and Sainsbury’s have been good

Where I am, Sainsbury's and Asda seem to be very stringent on only letting a set number of people in, cleaning checkouts like mad, well thought through procedures for collecting orders and so on. The downside is you may have to queue for an hour to get in and they seem to have had more stock issues at the start of all this.

Lidl and Aldi have been amazing for still having everything in stock (except pasta) when everywhere else was out of stuff. But they seem to have given up on counting how many are inside, so it's packed with people who will stand an inch away from you whilst coughing. Very stressful!

I mainly go to Aldi which has been very well organised, although I still feel that there are sometimes too many people around as I shop. Also the fruit & veg can be hit & miss. Tescos was very good, calm & well stocked, but I don’t often go as it’s a bit more expensive. Lidl took a while to do anything safety wise, although they now have floor markings & the tills have screens. I found it a bit scary though as they don’t limit the amount of customers they let in at once.I haven’t been to Asda since lockdown but DH says it’s very confusing. He will go there though for things like printer ink & to “ top up”, also to get gluten free foods for DD. Really wish they had GF products at Aldi. I am also finding our local Spar very good. I nominated the staff for an award a few years ago because they are always so friendly & helpful.

Tesco has been the best in my area. All the staff have been great. Asda is a bloody nightmare queue outside then when you enter the shop social distancing is forgotten about by the staff.

We don't have a Sainsburys locally so can't comment on them.

Tescos only allowing a certain number in the store. Good queuing system outside. Have staff on each end of the aisles stopping people going the wrong way.

Morrisons, I would say let less people in at a time. They don't have a one way system but with less people and wide aisles it is easy to stay away from others. You do have to join just one queue to go to the checkouts which looks very long but actully moves quite quickly and staff then send you to checkouts as they become available.

Asda - queue outside, one in one out system. However,once inside they do have a supposedly one way system but in reality it is a complete free for all. People going in all directions and very narrow aisles. Won't begoing back there!

The little co op by me has been fab. We also have a small Sainsburys and the staff there have been totally overboard and frankly horrible .

Went in there a couple of weeks ago and the guy at the door had been full on shouting at an elderly woman because she had tried to pay cash she was literally in tears in the shop. The other staff were shouting at people and tbh it was insane.

It sounds dramatic but I was feeling quite upset and shaky when I came out - I don’t think I will ever shop at Sainsburys again. There being vigilant which is fine but being abusive to customers who are just confused is terrible.

Not supermarkets but been to Wilkinson’s which were very good and also Savers. Both organised inside and out.

Only two supermarkets accessible from here, Tesco and Sainsbury's.
I would vote for Sainsbury's hands down, although to be fair they have a bigger store and therefore it's easier to space everyone out. They are friendly, calm....they wash all the trolleys down, all their staff monitor the doors but are friendly to the queues, all staff are in masks, gloves, proper equipment.
In store there is enough space to distance properly - which helps - shelves are well stocked even at late evening, checkouts are well spaced with protective screens for checkout staff. Customers can choose which checkout to queue at but must follow the rules for distancing etc.

Tesco is very cramped. Can't take your own trolley, have to wait to be told and get given a trolley, following the one-way system is so strict you can't pass an aisle even if you don't want anything in that aisle. Shelves are often bare at any time of day, they also have fans blowing inside the store so that any virus germs will be blown around the store anyway! We all have to queue for the checkouts, can't move unless told to, it's like a military base, no-one is friendly and we are commanded - rather than asked - to move forward or attend a specific checkout.

However, I do realise supermarkets are operating under very difficult conditions and it must be hard for them....

Waitrose is lovely as you would expect

I can't hep but agree, though!.

I think it's very much a local thing depending on branch manager and the layout.
I have 2 Tesco nearby, on Facebook one gets loads of praise, the other warnings to avoid.
But the Waitrose across the road from "good" Tesco is apparently chaos.

Our local budgens has been amazing. Well stocked and very quiet. No queue. There are queues for the In store post office - 5 or so max, but everyone has to line up outside. (Hasn’t been rainy yet!)

Tesco without a doubt. They have a system which is running like clockwork, wonderful cheery staff and I feel safe when I'm there.

Of course it's store-dependent. Different staff and management will be managing in different ways.

Our Tesco are handling it well. They have separate access for entrance and exit, and staff at the door announcing the rules to everyone. A huge number of people are ignoring the one way system, and I'm seeing the staff get increasingly fed up with them.

Our Morrisons is handling the queues well. They've also given remote access to the self-scan checkouts for the supervising staff, so they can confirm purchases/reset the begging area etc without having to come up to the till, which I think is a great move. However, most of the shelf stacking staff are carrying on as normal - blocking aisles, getting very close etc.

I haven't been to any, the news reports and comments on local FB pages about huge crowds and panic buying before lockdown was more than enough to put me off setting food inside one! I don't like busy supermarkets at the best of time, for some reason I've always found myself an easy target for nutters looking to take their foul moods out on and there seem to be an awful lot of nutters around right now spitting on people and getting into fights.

We've started doing our shopping at a local farm shop and every couple of weeks go The Range to get some freezer food from Iceland, I've only been to the Range once and it was fine, not busy at all and people very well behaved.

I think it's difficult to compare the overall brand it seems to depend more on the individual management/ staff and the luck of the store layout etc.
But ancedotally Asda seems to get the worse feedback tesco and waitrose the best with sainsbury somewhere in the middle.