Shopped: the shocking power of British supermarkets

[the.fee.fairy]

I have to admit that here i have a love affair with T£sco...

We have the CHinese supermarkets, Lotte Mart (a Korean chain i think) and a walmart.

T£scos is the only one that stocks fresh milk (not UHT), butter and cheese...so i do love it for that! Also, all of their value goods have bilingual labelling, which is handy for me.

And...I emailed their customer services and they're looking into people being able to order worldwide and being able to pick up in the local store, which would be amazingly helpful for me. I need new clothes...desperately...and it would be so helpful if i could order from their UK site and pick up in my Chinese store! When i got an email back from customer services, they said that it would be put forward as a suggestion because they appreciate that there are many foreigners in other countries who could do with either a taste of home, or buying things like clothes that fit.

It's strange. In the UK i hate them with a passion, i hate the fact that they take over and kill high streets and local businesses. I suppose that it's because here it's seen as a 'luxury Western brand' so they can't take over.

[Maykal]

Fortunately T***o hasn't made it to Romania (yet). The market here is dominated by Carrefour, Cora, and Mega Image, plus a few other chains like XXL, PennyMarkt, Profi, and I believe a Lidl has opened recently. The prices in the supermarkets aren't a lot different to those in the west, depending on the product and how popular it is here. Luckily there are still quite a few farmer's/peasant market here, which are much cheaper and full of local produce. Everyone has a relative in the countryside from whom you can acquire decent produce (real smoked meat, raw honey, fresh veg, eggs without barcodes, etc.)

[oldfella]

Same here, and in our local market we have a section that is the local OAP s, where they can sell their pot plants, Veg seedlings, Nuts, Honey, Mushrooms etc. In France the retired local farmers are allowed to keep 3/4 of a hectare and sell their produce tax free.


PS, Surprising what comes from 3/4 of a hectare.

[Maykal]

Ha ha! I didn't realise this site automatically asterixed out the name of the supermarket that shall not be named. Does it work with L***n Town FC too?

Here it should all technically be taxed, but nobody really cares or expects an impoverished peasant selling a few kilograms of tomatoes or some surplus spuds at the side of the road to register in order to do so and it's not enforced in any way. The local bobby is just as likely to buy a few things from them on his way home from work as the next person.

In recent years more middle-class farmer's markets have started to spring up around town, pretty much mirroring the trend in the UK for locally produced, bio, organic, traditional, rustically-labelled 'made just like granny used to make it' style products - mostly overpriced with too much spent on the marketing and back legend. The genuine country markets are much better, but harder to find and possible a bit more daunting for a non-native.

[wigan pixie]

I've had the pleasure (?) of working for both t£sco and asda and that alone has made me avoid them both at all costs.

[the.fee.fairy]

Good thing...Today i went for my fortnightly shove through the supermarket and their free range eggs are actually cheaper than the boxed battery eggs!

The bagged (probably battery) ones were cheaper, but I never buy them because i worry about breaking some...

10 grain fed/corn fed eggs = Y10, 12 free range eggs = Y10.6!

[Saralexis]

Ive thought about this because so far most of my ish endevours hurt my custom with local shops rather than the stuff I get from the big supermarkets-
Bread (previously from baker)
Veg and fruit (from local green grocer - not that I'm producing much yet!)
We have no grocer who I can use for soap/flour etc... And much as I intend to chip away at that it does seem a shame.
Maybe I should start elsewhere but dammit I want to get the garden started and I prefer my bread!