Abandoning ASDA

Edwardia

My mother hasn't been well so we hadn't done our fortnightly shopping marathon lately.

I had noticed previously that a new section of clothes had arrived and the book section is now no longer than a small sofa, compared to the two aisles it used to be. The DVD section had been reduced to two aisles as well.

Yesterday, looking at the vegetables, I noticed that they still took up the same amount of space ie four aisles, but the nature of the veg had changed. Not just fewer loose veg and more prepacked, but more prepared stuff eg carrots and swede, stir fry packs, carrots and peas etc.

Went into the meat and poultry section and whereas previously there was a good choice, there has been an explosion of ready meals and fresh meat has shrunk beyond belief.

The fresh fish counter didn't have any of the fish offers I'd picked out from the website so I went away with just two whole rainbow trout for £4

Decided to go to Morrisons. What a difference. Picked up Cornish lemon sole, dabs, Scottish salmon fillets, ray wings and a whole red gurnard.

Seriously considering Lidl + Morrisons now instead of ASDA.

Anyone else have ASDA moans or Morrisons praise ? Have you noticed fresh prepare & cook yourself produce being squeezed out by ready meals in your local supermarkets ?

tessie_bear

i gave up on asda about 6 months ago.....in our store the fresh meat section had shrunk and was very expensive imo...the ready meal fridge had grown....i felt i was wading through pre packed convenience stuff and struggling to find basic building blocks of meals such as flour fresh meat nice coffee......i dont mean they hadnt got the things i wanted it was just taking me ages to wade through the rubbish to get to them
i also disliked the 'bakery' in the door way and dont get me started on the chavs i met in there ( not everyone)....all this said i still run in for the odd special offer such as the 2 for a quid syrup but i do it at a run

wannabehermit

The supermarkets are now tending to cater for the needs of their customer base, rather than everyone who may possibly shop in the store, so if the asda you shop in sells a lot of ready meals but not so much fresh meat, they will cater to that customer base. There's no point in having 2 aisles of meat and 1 of ready meals if they sell twice as many ready meals, it's all about profit. Rubbish for you, or maybe not, as Morrisons fresh food is far better quality than Asda, and while many of their prices are not as competitive, there are a lot that are exctly the same price as Asda or Tesco. Lidl meat is good too, I quite often buy that if I just want basic chicken or pork or whatever.

Asda clientele (certainly at the 2 near me) tend to be the types who probably wouldn't have a clue how to read or how to cook a meal from scratch, so losing the books and gaining ready prepared food is probably going to serve them well! I try to avoid Asda as much as I can, tyring to fight your way through the buggy brigade blocking the aisles and effing and blinding at their children running riot around the place is not fun! Plus the food there tends to be quite crap quality.

bornintoit

wannabehermit wrote: »

I try to avoid Asda as much as I can, tyring to fight your way through the buggy brigade blocking the aisles and effing and blinding at their children running riot around the place is not fun!

I do not understand why people go food shopping with children. Surely they can get someone to look after them for an hour e.g. the dad stays at home with the children while mum does the food shopping in peace. My friend is a single mum and her mother looks after her two children while she does the food shopping. I would never take my young child food shopping with me, he hates shopping at the best of times so it's easier for me and easier for everyone else.

lizziebell*80

Sometimes you don't have a choice. We have no family nearby so end up taking our daughter (2) food shopping most of the time. She doesn't get to run riot though. They are fine as long as they are kept amused.

mazza111

I had no one to look after my kids when I did the shopping either. Their father worked nightshift, so wasn't an option to leave them with him either.

My gripe atm, is the amount of prats who think it's wonderful to cut across my daughter with their trolleys to save them waiting for her to get past on her crutches, pretty sure it's only a matter of time before she rams one of the crutches down someone's throat. No matter what supermarket you go into or what time.

gailey_2

Glad im not only one who find asda very stressful.

Our nearest is quite large and busy but bit out of way side of town dont visit often.

Think some of my freinds think im s snob when I slate the place.

in last 6years we been there once a year maybe and its always a disaster.

when eldest was tiny baby she used to scream in their was fine in sainsburys just hated the place.

Then year before last we made mistake of taking kids over on halloween.

my youngest was tiny I pushed the buggy whilst hubby pushed trolly.

must admit i try do without kids but hubby drives plus if he goes alone he spend too much and buys crap.

Anyway was mega busy people pushing trollies into baby buggy and not saying sorry.

Couldent find anything ailses were busy.
got to checkouts and was queuetastic.
got stuck behind 2chavs discussing how the china shoes and mini bottle of lambrini would be best xmas present ever!:rotfl:
got to till no help packing and cashier whined he was desperate for the toiliet and his supervisor wouldent let him!

since then tried to keep open mind went last halloween thinking they might have good range of kids outfits but bad..
middle daughters birthday party was trying to do food on cheap sent hubby alone he came back spent £100 on hardly anything and havent been back since.farmfoods is better for bulk stuff whiuch is kind of what sent him in for thourght they be good on lots of carton drinks or crisps for party.,

They extended the carpark built weird 2level on metal stilts so not a multi story looks very weird.

our next nearest one is massive asda walmart been to twice.

The only exception to my asda rule is standalone asda store on nearby retail park called asda living.
but its no foods remind me of how woolies used to be has fairly nice cafe and every member of staff in there so freindly.
its good for kids birthday pressuies and toys so many multibuys.
few weeks ago last min .com was buying present an hour before eldest freinds party , brought wrapping paper at same time and they offered to wrap it for me:)

they really good for clothing basiics
dvds
household items
baby products
sometimes have huge boxes soap powder near the door.

only like morries for fish, grocery and frozen.
their fruit and veg dont last long and my nearesr meat range poor and expensive.

lyra

Hmm, haven't been to an Asda shop for ages as one nearset is too far to go on the bus & back. My parents did an online shop before Xmas and it was really good, lovely quality but not cheap at all. I think some of their smartprice stuff is nice but even if it was nearer I don't think I'd go there over Tesco, Aldi or even Co-op.

dasophster

I'm originally from up north and the difference between Asda there and here is shocking, there they sell a massive selection of everything and even town centre Asdas have a really good selection of products and ranges, their stores are always neat, tidy and staff friendly and helpful. Even the Asda branches that are in rough areas with bars on the window are the same. Down here even the huge retail park branches of Asda are really carp and are much smaller than the equivalent Asda up north, shelves always half empty with products strewn all over the place, poor stock rotation so there is actually mouldy bread in the bread aisles, the frozen food section everything is just chucked into one freezer with no dividers and so on and so forth. When expecting my youngest child I went to the supposedly biggest and best ASDA in London; I was nearly in tears as we couldn't get 3/4 of the items on my list and the place was just in a horrendous mess.

Lip_Stick

dasophster wrote: »

I'm originally from up north and the difference between Asda there and here is shocking, there they sell a massive selection of everything and even town centre Asdas have a really good selection of products and ranges, their stores are always neat, tidy and staff friendly and helpful. Even the Asda branches that are in rough areas with bars on the window are the same. Down here even the huge retail park branches of Asda are really carp and are much smaller than the equivalent Asda up north, shelves always half empty with products strewn all over the place, poor stock rotation so there is actually mouldy bread in the bread aisles, the frozen food section everything is just chucked into one freezer with no dividers and so on and so forth. When expecting my youngest child I went to the supposedly biggest and best ASDA in London; I was nearly in tears as we couldn't get 3/4 of the items on my list and the place was just in a horrendous mess.

All the Asdas in my city oop north are pretty good, no different to the other major supermarkets, except for the staff, Asda's are much nicer. They're clean, efficient and always stocked as you say. I don't see many chavs in them, I think they're all in Iceland, Farmfoods and such like.

silli_gilli

I always go to ASDA even though Morrisons is within walking distance. My ASDA is great, has loads of fresh produce, easy to find everything and never any ques and if there is they'll open another isle just for you.

Can't complain with asda.. I think Morrisons looks dingy..