M&S foodhall on Xmas Eve

yorkiegal

Has anyone ever picked up some good bargains just before the store closes? I know the staff get some brilliant deals of food that's near it's sell by date but does much get marked down in store that afternoon?

I know it's going to be crazy in there on Xmas eve and some stores are even open from midnight but a friend of mine got a Turkey Crown for just £3 last year so I'm thinking of popping down there and barging my way past the pensioners to grab a few bits and pieces.

frugal_shopper_2

It depends on how good their stock control is. They will be intending to have enough fresh food for people to buy with as little as possible left over at the end of the day. If they get it right there will be very little left to reduce but if they get it wrong then there will be loads reduced.

Personally I wouldn't risk it unless dressed appropriately for last minute christmas shopping. http://www.denbigharmysurplus.co.uk/army-stores/Ex-Police-Body-Armour.html

DCFC79

frugal_shopper wrote: »

It depends on how good their stock control is. They will be intending to have enough fresh food for people to buy with as little as possible left over at the end of the day. If they get it right there will be very little left to reduce but if they get it wrong then there will be loads reduced.

Personally I wouldn't risk it unless dressed appropriately for last minute christmas shopping. http://www.denbigharmysurplus.co.uk/army-stores/Ex-Police-Body-Armour.html

Lol, what about a basket with a secure cover thats cuffed to the wrist.

poet123

There maybe some pre orders that have not been collected.;)

I have just had an email from them stating that if food is not collected at the booked timeslot, it will be held for 2 hours only and then the order cancelled with loss of deposit. Ordered from them for years and never had this before....not too customer friendly imo.

whitesatin

yorkiegal wrote: »

Has anyone ever picked up some good bargains just before the store closes? I know the staff get some brilliant deals of food that's near it's sell by date but does much get marked down in store that afternoon?

I know it's going to be crazy in there on Xmas eve and some stores are even open from midnight but a friend of mine got a Turkey Crown for just £3 last year so I'm thinking of popping down there and barging my way past the pensioners to grab a few bits and pieces.

Lol. You would't get the chance to push past this pensioner. It's amazing the skills we develop through years of practise. Little old lady, not!

jenniewb

Well I'd say be fit and healthy to do this, there are many people who seem to think they rule the bargain section in M&S (more so then any other shop I think) and wont think twice to ramming their basket or trolley into you, taking things out of your basket or claiming they are very frail, with no money or have been waiting for hours. Fact is, people shop for the reduced food because they are also broke, holding up a verbal pickard card isn't required. It's the agressive ones who shop like this far more frequently then anyone else, if they're getting the bargains every night then they should learn to share a bit more!

(rant over!)

yorks808

I'm not so sure there will be much going on xmas eve at closing time in m&s...I went in the other day to my local 'simply food' branch of m&s, they had reduced some products dated 24th Dec, albeit a little. I reckon they may be reducing things well in advance, but only by a little bit (i.e. a bog standard 1st reduction, lets say from £3.99 to £3), in an attempt to get rid of them at a 'higher reduced price'. Having said this, I will be making a trip down to my local m&s on xmas eve to see whats to be had!

yorkiegal

I've just been checking the local xmas opening times near me and I think I might be better off going to waitrose and morrissons as both close for 2 full days at 5 and 6pm respectively and are next door to each other so I can visit both.

QuincyBella

aheetun wrote: »

I'm not so sure there will be much going on xmas eve at closing time in m&s...I went in the other day to my local 'simply food' branch of m&s, they had reduced some products dated 24th Dec, albeit a little. I reckon they may be reducing things well in advance, but only by a little bit (i.e. a bog standard 1st reduction, lets say from £3.99 to £3), in an attempt to get rid of them at a 'higher reduced price'. Having said this, I will be making a trip down to my local m&s on xmas eve to see whats to be had!

I think you could well be right. However, I do think M&S bargain hunters are a bit more savvy and most often won't take the bait. Unless it's one of the bigger joints of meat the first reductions aren't worth it. I also find that often the first reductions only put the price of the item in line with what it would be if you bought it as part of a deal anyway (e.g we used to reduce the soups down to £1.25 when the offer was 2 for £2.50 anyway).

I'm going to our M&S at 7am tomorrow because I want to pick some stuff up and have a clear run at it. I'll have a look at the meat etc but I reckon they may not even start actual reductions until 10ish. Look out for the shelves marked with the little yellow stickers - they are the items which will be reduced later in the day.

yorks808

QuincyBella wrote: »

I think you could well be right. However, I do think M&S bargain hunters are a bit more savvy and most often won't take the bait. Unless it's one of the bigger joints of meat the first reductions aren't worth it. I also find that often the first reductions only put the price of the item in line with what it would be if you bought it as part of a deal anyway (e.g we used to reduce the soups down to £1.25 when the offer was 2 for £2.50 anyway).

I'm going to our M&S at 7am tomorrow because I want to pick some stuff up and have a clear run at it. I'll have a look at the meat etc but I reckon they may not even start actual reductions until 10ish. Look out for the shelves marked with the little yellow stickers - they are the items which will be reduced later in the day.

My local m&s is open from 00.01(midnight) til 6pm tomorrow. Went for a couple of things there this afternoon, not a single reduction!, this was 45mins before closing!
I reckon most people do take the bait, I've seen products reduce from like £2.69 to £2 when they're 3 for £6. You could buy the item fresh as opposed to on reduced.
Had a quick look at some random dates, very few products were dated 25/26th. I'll still be taking a trip there tomorrow, hopefully about lunchtime. Their instore bakery cakes are the best!, they don't always reduce em though.
I take it u work/have worked at m&s then? Thanks for heads up about small yellow stickers!

QuincyBella

aheetun wrote: »

My local m&s is open from 00.01(midnight) til 6pm tomorrow. Went for a couple of things there this afternoon, not a single reduction!, this was 45mins before closing!
I reckon most people do take the bait, I've seen products reduce from like £2.69 to £2 when they're 3 for £6. You could buy the item fresh as opposed to on reduced.
Had a quick look at some random dates, very few products were dated 25/26th. I'll still be taking a trip there tomorrow, hopefully about lunchtime. Their instore bakery cakes are the best!, they don't always reduce em though.
I take it u work/have worked at m&s then? Thanks for heads up about small yellow stickers!

Yeah, worked in a Simply Food last year. I think what bargains you get all depends on how well the store is doing in the local takings rankings - ours never did especially well so we sold stuff off to a ridiculous extent (all the £15 puddings went for 50p one day) just to raise a bit of extra revenue. Loads still went in the bin every day, and is composted as our management insisted the food could not go to homeless charities for insurance reasons (I also work for a homeless charity so was not especially impressed by this!).

Stock management is also the killer for managers - ours couldn't seem to get the stock ordering right and we always seemed to end up with a massive surplus of one thing and run out completely of others (last year we had run out of gravy by the start of the Christmas week - people weren't happy). I would guess that newer stores, where they are still trying to figure out the complexities of the local market probably have more to reduce.