Has anyone been to Aldi or Lidl lately?

[yarncakes]

I don't know why I went aldi in the afternoon instead of first thing when it opens as I am a key worker because it was absolutely heaving. The first aisle was fine but as I went through the next one it was absolutely packed out. There was no space between anyone it was impossible to social distance. I never felt so worried in all my life, considering I work in a care home (we are tested weekly) so I have to be careful not to catch coronavirus. I'm worried about spreading it as well as having it. Has anyone else been to places where it was heaving and came out fine? It has only been 3 days and I'm scared I am going to start showing covid symptoms :( ps health anxiety is honestly no joke.

I was shopping at 10/10.30am today and asda, lidl and tesco were all fairly quiet. No queue at any of them except for at the till in lidl (only one cashier!)

I went on Sunday, it was back to normal! No person on the doir, no one being mindful

Aldi have traffic lights above the door, the doors auto lock if the store has reached max capacity. No need for someone on the door.

We went to Lidl the other day, v busy and no one was keeping an eye on how many were in the shop. Also prices have gone up massively. Wouldn’t go again.

I always go to Lidl, it's been fine every time.

My local aldi doesn't have traffic lights

Ours are always dead. I was surprised though to see the unwrapped bakery goods back out in Lidl. Now I am fairly relaxed about the threat of the virus but in no way am I ready yet to eat a pastry that someone could have pawed at/sneezed on!

Our local Aldi haven't got anyone manning the door and haven't for a few weeks. So you just walk in. Lidl still have someone counting people in. My friend went to local huge Tesco superstore and asked why she hadn't had to queue and they said they let in 400 people at a time now so will only stop people entering if it feels too full.

Pretty normal here - plexi-glass but no one way system (never had that tbh), no queues, no one on the door. I’m not even sure if they have hand gel etc now tbh ... I always use my own. It’s easy to find quiet times, I don’t go in if it looks busy. I went tonight, about 1 In 5 customers in masks, none of the staff, not enough people to need to worry about social distancing!

I go to Aldi a lot. Staff are lovely and helpful. I go at tea time as its quiet then.

I was in a M&S food hall last week and it was horrendous. Absolutely packed and no social distancing whatsoever. Lidl was fine, no queue and reasonable distancing. Big Tesco was bliss. Loads of space and very calm & quiet. All in an East Midlands market town.

I went to Lidl a couple of weeks ago and it was awful, there was a problem with card payments at the till and the queues for checkouts were building up right round the store with other people reaching over the queuing people. Eventually security shut the shop to more customers. I have not been back there since as it was so bad.

Aldi still has a queue here to let you in, although I usually go early on a Sunday when it opens for NHS staff and there are never more than half a dozen or so in. I have walked out of Iceland previously. It was rammed and there was absolutely no social distancing going on. And this was when we were in the thick of it. And to be honest it's not gotten much better. Our local Tesco is also horrible now, so I've avoided that for weeks since they removed the person on the door and opened all the tills.

Aldis fine. Tesco.. Removed the arrows. People everywhere. Like there was nothing to worry about at all.. People leaning over others to grab something. People chatting in groups of 3 or 4 no distancing.
The staff wernt even distancing

Our Aldi is fine.

Lidl on the other hand... I shan't be going back there for a loooong time. It wasn't so much the staff or the actual number of customers in the store as the way the other customers didn't seem to care less and were pushing past, practically leaning over you to get something, the lot. The demographic in that part of town maybe, I don't know.

Since this social distancing all started, I have only felt the need to say something a few times, and all of those times have been in Lidl.

That’s a shame @AgeLikeWine. I decided to treat us to an M and S lunch last week and the organisation was amazing. The safest feeling shopping experience I have had.

Supermarkets are pretty much back to normal where I am, no queues and Aldi have removed the one way system. I go shopping twice a week. I don't wear a mask. I've not caught coronavirus.

Our local Aldi:

No one monitoring numbers on the way in
A token empty bottle of sanitizer hidden away by the door
No social distancing by staff
Customers ignoring social distancing much of the time
V v few masks.

Our local Waitrose:
A man at the entrance counting you in and indicating a cleaned and sanitizer trolley. Tells you where to leave it on the way out so it can be done for the next customer
All staff seemed to be SD
Most customer wearing a mask
Most customers social distancing
Clear markings on the floor,
Regular friendly reminders on the tannoy to SD
Much better plastic screens at the tills.

I was shocked at the difference. Absolutely shocked.

Our Aldi has never had a one way system. I live that it feels almost normal. I also haven't been struck down by the germs of doom. And given our area numbers are very low, nor have most people.

These threads are ridiculous.

The Lidl nearest to me is small, very narrow aisles and crowded with stuff. It's hard enough to get round even when you're not trying to stay away from other people.

Aldi on the other hand is brand new, massive and enough space to have a party in the frozen aisle.

Neither have any markings on the floor. But you can't come on and say "what's it like in Aldi" as each and every store will be different. Also my experience in Aldi at 10am on a Wednesday will be different from someone who goes at 3pm on a Saturday.

Went to Lidl and have to say it was a much more pleasant experience than going to Sainsbury’s. Security guard getting you to sanitise your hands on the door, not that busy inside and so much quicker than Sainsbury’s. Maybe try and go at a less busy time if you can?

I've been going to Lidl at about 2.30pm - no queues and good social distancing.

No. Had got into a pattern of doing my main shop at Aldi and topping up at Sainsbury's (next door) with things I can't buy at Aldi.

Since CV/lockdown, I've been doing click & collect with Sainsbury, or have been lucky enough in recent weeks to get delivery from them. Because I'm trying to avoid actually going shopping. The times I've driven past the Aldi I would use (or the nearest Lidl) the queues outside have put me off anyway.

Now if I need to top up or have forgotten anything, we have a Sainsbury Local, 3 Tesco Expresses and 2 Co-ops nearby that we use, that are much quieter.

All good in terms of avoiding other people/and the virus (hopefully!) but it's costing us a lot more - I think Sainsbury's prices are higher right now too - and a lot of their cheaper/basic brands are often not available if you order online.

I go to Aldi or Lidl normally, yesterday it was dead to be honest (lunchtime) it's pot luck on how busy it is

My Aldi has the traffic light system, too. It's great. I queued for about 20 mins last time I went, but then once inside there was plenty of space. Straight through the check out, and the assistant scanned my stuff quite slowly too, was all "there's no rush."