Lidl vs Sainsburys and the other ripoff merchants

[jimslip]

Yes Lidl is a strange shop indeed, in the middle aisle you will find all sorts of nutty, "Foreign" stuff like half a dish, rack next to a set of spanners , 12 golf balls and a motor cycle intercom kit!

You can imagine in a German Lidl,"Ja meine Frau, today I vill purchase zee Brussels Sprouts mit a handy mini vacuum cleaner, for zee cleaning ov zee computer, und I have also spotted ein garden rock mit a clever little light inside, Gott inn Himmel, I love Lidl Those stupid Britishers do not understand I shopping culture!

[Floydoid]

jimslip wrote:

> These bastards wield enormous power in our towns. In Eastbourne there is a beautiful little village Called Meads,just outside. In the high street there is a butcher, grocer etc etc. The main street can just about fit one car. Guess what? Tesco managed to force through planning consent to build a Tesco Metro right in the middle.

That is absolute fucking sacrilege! I got taken Meads on several occasions as a child to visit my great-aunt. I still remember it as one of the prettiest places I've ever been to. For some time now it has been my long term ambition to retire to Eastbourne... but with those bastards getting everywhere, grrr.

I wouldn't soil my shoes by setting foot in a Tesco's store.

[beutelwolf]

jimslip wrote:

> You can imagine in a German Lidl,"Ja meine Frau, today I vill
> purchase zee Brussels Sprouts mit a handy mini vacuum cleaner,
> for zee cleaning ov zee computer, und I have also spotted ein
> garden rock mit a clever little light inside, Gott inn Himmel,
> I love Lidl Those stupid Britishers do not understand I
> shopping culture!

Indeed they do not, though there is also the issue of Lidl/Aldi not sufficiently adapting to the different environment of the UK.

The way this works in Germany is that the discounters put an advertisement flyer together with their cheap out-of-the-usual-range goods. This then gets distributed with a local paper. People often look through these leaflets, because genuine bargains are in there to be had (and perhaps you were always looking for a garden gnome that repels cats from pooing in your garden), and when they find something of interest they go to the shop, buy that and do their regular shop for that day/week there.

Problem in the UK is that there are too few local papers through which the majority of the population would be reachable, never mind that people are not accustomed to paying any notice to these leaflets. Also, people in the UK tend to stick to one supermarket, out of loyalty or convenience, etc. One reason is that as far as the big supermarkets go there is surprisingly little choice between them in their range; when I first came to the UK 20 years ago I found it fairly pointless to choose between the three big stores close to me, they had basically the same selections for roughly the same prices. In Germany this is very different: supermarkets tend to be much smaller, and have rather different ranges, and as a result people are used to shop around anyway, and so these special out-of-the-range offers play an important role there to pull in the punters.

[Nob3y]

I always keep an eye on their websites for the latest special offers.
Aldi have theirs every thursday and sunday.
lidl can be mondays.

[justincyder]

Jim my handy hint is most deinitely not buy your fresh meat from the big names!! granted I know it depends on where you live and some are luckier than others but I use a butcher/fishmonger/greengrocer and even local chemist for most if not all my shopping.

The good are far better quality in terms of meat/veg and toothepaste is toothepaste in any form

AND its all either the same price or often even cheaper than the big 3. Apart from maybe the fish but I don't care I'd rather the fishmonger has my cash anyway.

[jimslip]

The worst job I ever had was working in Safeway many years ago in the meat counter. I used to have to get a bucket of blood, (Which stinks so bad it makes you want to throw up) and then poor it all over the meat that was being stored, to make it look "fresh". My first experience of crooked supermarkets !puke!

[justincyder]

o god thats vile