Aldi and Lidl...will they fall short ?

[gbb]

One thing occurs to me with the adverts on the telly that portrays a quality comparable to mainstream products and supermarkets...will their stores live up to the hype they are getting. I don't think so.
Peterborough has two Aldis and one Lidl. Both Aldi are very similar in layout although one is undergoing expansion. Lidl is similarly sized, but all of them have relatively small car parks, smallish stores, only a limited amount of tills and a limited range of products.
For me personally, I couldnt ever see myself doing anything other than a shop for specifics (their super 7 fruit and veg are almost impossible to beat) or the occasional item I need...if I happen to be passing, and even then, theyre so busy its a waste of time because you can't get near the tills. I wonder if the bubble thats growing will quickly burst when people realise what limited choice there is, difficulty parking, etc etc. While people are driven there by monetary neccessity, I think Aldi and Lidl will fall short on what they can offer...not just on the shelves.
Opinions ?

 

[Drago]

Aldi and Lidl? I do believe my Butler may shop there for his gruel.

 

[HLaB]

Quite easy to park at the Aldi in Bretton, Peterborough, the Bretton Centre Car Park and its cheap, I do most of my shopping there.

 

[TonyEnjoyD]

Fortunately there is a market for them and they are getting the big sheds worried as they are definitely hitting their market percentages.

The specials each week are very popular, and for me, their fresh fruit and veg beats the others - hands down.
Ok, they will not last as long as the others, however, their quality and taste far outweigh the sheds tasteless crud.

 

[nickyboy]

The way that the UK public does its grocery shopping has fractured under financial pressure since the recession started in 2008. The "weekly shop" is dead. Shoppers are visiting several supermarkets and Aldi/Lidl have benefitted from this. So there is no major incentive for them to offer every product you could possibly want, customers are increasingly happy to call into a supermarket for a few bits and bobs. Massive stock range leads to wastage and that has to be paid for by the products that are sold. That's not their model.

They are a major part of the British retailing scene and I can only see their presence increasing.

 

[TissoT]

Good thing I find with these Places are that if you just want a few Items ... you do nt have to walk 2 miles around the store to get what you want.

 

[Yellow Fang]

I have a friend who swears by them. I was astonished when I went around his local Aldi. A lot of the stuff is about half the price what I pay at Sainsburys, and I didn't think Sainsburys was expensive. Bottles of beer were about £1 each. Similar beer costs over £2 in Tesco and about £2-80 in the Marks&Spencers attached to the BP garage across the road. I don't know how they can do it. I wonder if they are going to be in trouble in a couple of years. I did buy some cycling clothes from a local branch of Aldi a few years ago, which I regretted because the quality was poor. The quality of their cycling stuff looks like it has improved since then.

 

[Hacienda71]

I suspect most people would be hard pressed to spot the difference between the basics and those at other supermarkets. I know I wouldn't be able to pick where flour, eggs, pasta, rice etc comes from apart from the packaging. Meat on the other hand is harder to get on a budget. Swmbo works at M&S and the meat from there is always spot on, the Lidl and Aldi offerings have been a bit more hit and miss.

 

[Beebo]

The one thing that annoys me are the tills, not enough of them, and the packing area is too small.
I've walked out before. That is a deal breaker for me when some has a massive trolley infront of me.

 

[400bhp]

Strip it right back and it's a place that sells food and drink.

People (quite rightly) are less "sticky" when it comes to shops and shopping in plc's.

 

[Drago]

Parking is fine at Aldi. Take Mrs.Drago and her disabled badge, park right out the door. The number of Muppets that seem to think a blue badge somehow doesn't apply if you're in a pickup truck is quite bizarre.

 

[Saluki]

Our Aldi is a couple of hundred yards away and we do our weekly shop there. True, there isn't the choice of 14 different brands of soup, or bread but there is a good range and I don't feel that we are missing out not going to Tesco.
I can get all my basics, the little luxuries that we like too. We can also get bits and bobs that are not found in Tesco all the time like super-duper turkish delight at a sensible price (Hubster loves it). The quality is fine, the prices are awesome. We've probably saved fifty quid on our food bill for the month that we've been here.
Not falling short in our eyes.

 

[Mrs M]

I have been in Aldi, only once, to try to buy wooden planters I saw advertised in local press, great price.
Store is easily accessible being in a retail park but I couldn't find what I wanted and the store was pretty chaotic, with aisles blocked, etc. Seemed like a wasted trip so I picked up a few items, among them some scones, which were the best we have tasted from any supermarket.
I have heard their meat is very good, also fruit & veg so may give it another go, pick a quieter time or another store.

 

[summerdays]

I walk there as it's my closest supermarket, and it does a bigger range than co OP the next nearest. I friend has recently begun to get the occasional stuff there as she has found a few lines that she likes.

You say lack of choice, but generally the big supermarkets have too much choice with 20 varieties of rice etc. my local store keeps changing it's layout to be able to offer more with new fruit and veg displays recently. And they changed the tills to fit in about 50% more. They recently started taking credit cards which is good so I get Tesco points when I shop there.

There are a few things it doesn't do that I would like it to, but it's quicker to walk around than Tesco's.

At the moment I think they are doing fine.

 

[guitarpete247]

We use all the supermarkets, including Waitrose when we get the chance. Aldi and Lidl feature fairly highly on our regular shops. This weekend we went to the co-op and got a few things but left milk, mushrooms and granola till we got to Aldi. We spent £20 in Co-op but picked up more than we expected in Aldi. £65 later we went home. Got some vanilla ice cream from Aldi and their mince pies. Fantastic as is Moser Roth chocolate. We often spend more than we expected and come out with lots of bargains. Quite a few bits for the freezer.