Has Waitrose gone 'downmarket'?

inferno

inferno

inferno

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In the local Waitrose the other day it was rammed, lots of things half price, things stacked everywhere , many more shelves put up, looked more like a Tesco than s Waitrose. Still a nice shop but I noticed a real difference.


Has anyone noticed this, were they too premium before?
 
inferno said:
In the local Waitrose the other day it was rammed, lots of things half price, things stacked everywhere , many more shelves put up, looked more like a Tesco than s Waitrose. Still a nice shop but I noticed a real difference.


Has anyone noticed this, were they too premium before?
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Well my local Little Waitrose has closed down and will be replaced with a Co-Op :(
 
pioneer2000 said:
Have you never been in one? It’s never full of fat tattooed slobs wearing pyjamas / tracksuits, so in comparison to any of the other supermarkets it’s fantastic.
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That's changed quite recently where I live. In a bizarre twist, all the upmarket types go to Lidl down the road instead.
Don't blame them - Lidl's food is amazingly good. Despite everyone knowing them, it still seems to be a hidden gem when it comes to grocery shopping. Don't knock them. It's the pretentious shops selling you a brand you gotta watch out for - just like everything else.
 
Ours has just opened a sushi bar, so no, seems unlikely. Or is is more a case of creating the retail environment appropriate to the local demographic.
 
Went to the local one the other day, needed to use their car parking facilities to go to the post office, and it was like Assault on Precinct 13. Worse than Sainsbury's on a Saturday or Sunday morning. Just hordes of old people slowly navigating their way around.

I've only been there once for a 'big' shop and that was late in the evening so the deli counters were not stacked but it was quite nice the other day and the couple of things I did buy were reasonable price.
 
I use Waitrose a lot but mostly because thats the store closest to both my home and work. But it certainly is a lot nicer than some other stores.
 
The_Abyss said:
Ours has just opened a sushi bar, so no, seems unlikely. Or is is more a case of creating the retail environment appropriate to the local demographic.
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The Sainsburys near me has had a sushi bar for a year or so now, saw that sushi bar is due to be opening in the medium sized waitrose near me too. Seems to be a trend. Could definitely be a local demographic thing though. There's some quite affluent London boroughs near by.
 
Freakbro said:
If Waitrose isn't upmarket....WTH is? :p
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If you're not buying all of your meat from a local organic pesticide free farm shop then you're doing it wrong. Honestly, until little Tristan is old enough to go vegan he'll only be eating locally sourced cruelty free meats. *smug*

I've always seen Waitrose as being a bit posh, the one in my old hometown (reasonably chavvy place) was just full of the elderly. Excellent sandwiches as well.
 
The sandwiches are good, the nice ones are expensive though. The pretzel one is lush, but on its own it costs more than a meal deal at other supermarkets! Gotta save that for when I'm feeling flush :p
 
I don't use them often, but I went to one to get some thing yesterday and loads of stuff was 25% off or more. Made it cheaper than my usual shop :p

I have all of the big supermarkets nearby so there is a lot of choice.
 
KNiVES said:
That's changed quite recently where I live. In a bizarre twist, all the upmarket types go to Lidl down the road instead.
Don't blame them - Lidl's food is amazingly good. Despite everyone knowing them, it still seems to be a hidden gem when it comes to grocery shopping. Don't knock them. It's the pretentious shops selling you a brand you gotta watch out for - just like everything else.
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I don't know where your posh Lidl is, but all of the meat and produce at our local ones are gash. Milk and eggs and stuff is fine.
 
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