Supermarkets and bikes

[simonali]

Not a fan of the way they make/sell stuff that looks like something famous, yet doesn't quite taste as good. This sort of thing.

My missus went in the Aldi once and we ended up throwing half the stuff away because we simply didn't like it. She hasn't been back there since, but does buy a few bits in Lidl, which she says is better quality than its near anagram.

 

[screenman]

Taste is surely a personal thing, and price wise you cannot compare as Lidl is way cheaper. I am off to both Lidl and Aldi today and for sure I will enjoy the taste of the foodstuff we buy. They have brought quiet retail area's up around here and created jobs.

 

[AndyRM]

Personally I think the Aldi/Lidl own brand stuff is just as good, and their packaging is vastly superior to the big supermarkets who go for the blandest option. Meat selection is excellent, and often varied too, though the fruit and vegetables don't seem to last very long, probably treated with less chemicals.

 

[Jody]

Taste is surely a personal thing, and price wise you cannot compare as Lidl is way cheaper. I am off to both Lidl and Aldi today and for sure I will enjoy the taste of the foodstuff we buy. They have brought quiet retail area's up around here and created jobs.

Spot on. Our local Aldi has breathed life back into the local sopping centre and its shops. We have saved a fortune since we started shopping their, most of the products are on par with the big brands if not better and are leaps ahead when you factor in the price differential but there are the odd item that I don't like.

Agree with Andy that the fruit and veg doesn't seem to last.

 

[mjr]

My local Sainsburys puts the bike stands a long way from, and out of sight of, the nearest trolley park. This means leaving your bike unattended with a week's shopping hanging from it when you go to get the quid back for the trolley.

I have a trolly hitch on the top of my panniers so I can tow the trolley back to its park at one shop. Another shop doesn't charge a deposit (middle of nowhere, long push if you nick a trolley) so everyone stacks them by a wall by the bike park for the workers to collect.

 

[mjr]

Personally I think the Aldi/Lidl own brand stuff is just as good, and their packaging is vastly superior to the big supermarkets who go for the blandest option. Meat selection is excellent, and often varied too, though the fruit and vegetables don't seem to last very long, probably treated with less chemicals.

Or packed with more chemicals. Chlorine rinse and high-CO2 gas mix in the salad bags IIRC.

 

[Gravity Aided]

We have 2 Aldis', but Lidl has just come to the States, on the east Coast, where they probably wouldn't get near the reception they would with stingy Midwesterners. That is what Aldi did. They started in the Midwestern USA, and moved out from there. They have foods from Germany I would have to pay four times as much for at the fancier store nearby, as well as good deals on food and merchandise. My bike stand, camping hammock, and tool set for bicycles all came from there. I think they add to the community, compared to Wal Mart.

 

[GuyBoden]

Three bikes inside the Aldi supermarket in Stockton Heath last night, the staff seem to have no problem with cyclists parking their bikes inside the store........

 

[simonali]

Maybe they belonged to staff?

 

[screenman]

Maybe they belonged to staff?

I doubt it, staff park their bikes out back in the store.

 

[Jenkins]

The new Evans Cycles in Martlesham has a rack of Sheffield stands, but they're down the side of the shop, not out front in full view. Also only one of them is visible from the checkout as the others are obscured by panelling on the window display and that can't be seen by the staff as they have their back to the window. Don't know if it's covered by CCTV, but it seems a poor layout for a brand new cycling shop.

When I went there, I was the only one using the stands - but there were three bikes chained to other items of street furniture out front where they could be easily seen.

 

[slowmotion]

I've never attempted to wheel the bike round any supermarkets etc but I've asked to leave it inside the store, near the entrance, under the watchful eyes of a security guy or other store staff on the rare occasions when I've forgotten my lock. I've always asked for it as a favour rather than a right, and been met with patchy success. One lady in the cosmetics section of a High Street branch of Boots even let me stash it against the back of a window display.

It just depends on how the staff feel at that particular moment. Sometimes they'll bend the rules, and sometimes they won't risk it.

 

[mjr]

Sometimes they'll bend the rules, and sometimes they won't risk it.

I don't believe many shops have rules against it, but the manager probably has discretion to decide each case.

 

[simongt]

how many Aldis do you have in your town?

Currently five, with two Lidls as well - !

 

[simonali]

Trowbridge has 4 Tesco stores that I know of and it's not a huge place.