Has Waitrose gone 'downmarket'?

Waitrose is the only supermarket I've ever been to that hasn't had groups of yobs outside the front door harassing anyone who enters and leaves.
 
Used the small one in Cardiff a lot recently that I think is now closed (QUeen street?). For a small shop was surprised they had a security guard most days, mostly in evenings, so yobs hanging around unlikely.
Personally prefer M&S than Waitrose, partly as I find the materials used are more likely to be recyclable at M&S than Waitrose!
Made me laugh when someone in thread said their Lidl veg and herbs last ages.....probably due to all the chemicals used to preserve them :).
 
I'd imagine Waitrose would fight tooth and nail to retain their Royal Warrant so the mere presumption of the unwashed majority turning up at their doors is anathema to them.
 
DarrenM343 said:
Made me laugh when someone in thread said their Lidl veg and herbs last ages.....probably due to all the chemicals used to preserve them :).
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There's virtually zero stock of veg and herbs at the end of the day in my nearest Lidl so you know they're completely fresh the following day. Had few mouldy fruit and veg in Waitrose over the years. The opposite is true with Lidl as they seem to put out stock that's yet to ripen.
 
Can't really say if Waitrose has gone downmarket. I've not been able to get in one - turned away at the door by the armed guard. I did manage to get a sneaky look at an unloading lorry and I'm pretty sure I saw gold plated Coca Cola cans.
 
Malevolence said:
Not a chance. Doing it yourself means you actually get to choose the items yourself rather than relying on some minimum wage store monkey following orders and giving you items with the closest sell/use by dates and the most banged up and bruised fruit and veg.
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That doesn't actually happen though. If they give customers crap quality or short-life food, the customers complain which reflects badly on the dept and the store, whereas the individual departments have waste budgets specifically for disposing of products that don't meet quality standards.
 
Top_gun said:
There's virtually zero stock of veg and herbs at the end of the day in my nearest Lidl so you know they're completely fresh the following day. Had few mouldy fruit and veg in Waitrose over the years. The opposite is true with Lidl as they seem to put out stock that's yet to ripen.
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What use is that then? If I buy food I generally want to eat it not stick it in my greenhouse!
 
Before going to Switzerland I used to shop in Waitrose all the time... it was a bit more pricey than Tesco/Asda but the food quality was usually better.

3.5 years later and I'm back and go to Waitrose... find the food quality has come down to the level of Tesco etc (or Tesco has improved) but the cost is still higher for no benefit.

Marks and Spencer food is pretty good though... so go there now.

Lidl/Aldi is always good for low priced good quality grocery and bakery... other stuff doesn't excite me much.
 
FortuitousFluke said:
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*
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Nothing smug about getting produce from your local farm shop. I've been doing it for years purely because it tastes better and at least I can see with my own eyes that the animals I eat have been given room to roam around in before ending up on my plate.

They do really cheap, tasty veg as well.
 
Dup said:
It's a supermarket, they're all mostly the same. They buy big volume mass produced products for their many stores to sell at a competitive price. An "upmarket" Supermarket makes little sense, it's just an expensive supermarket with less choice. Booths is more "upmarket" IMO, but again, same problem, it's a supermarket.

Buying from your local butchers and shops for fresher local produce is what I'd call upmarket if you wanna feel like you're eating quality come tea time.
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IME a decent supermarket like Waitrose wipes the floor with most of the meat and veg you can get from most butchers and grocers. If not it's usually similar. Your local butcher is probably going to get their meat from the same abattoir as the supermarket unless they're going for a specific rare breed or unique style.

Obviously for most foods a supermarket is a supermarket, that said Waitrose was/is one of the best for meat, especially steak and Aldi/Lidl is great for European stuff.
 
Amp34 said:
IME a decent supermarket like Waitrose wipes the floor with most of the meat and veg you can get from most butchers and grocers. If not it's usually similar. Your local butcher is probably going to get their meat from the same abattoir as the supermarket unless they're going for a specific rare breed or unique style.

Obviously for most foods a supermarket is a supermarket, that said Waitrose was/is one of the best for meat, especially steak and Aldi/Lidl is great for European stuff.
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I assume you mean their real meats, the processed stuff is the same kind of crap as anywhere but more expensive.

I have a big Waitrose right by my train station so pop in after work to pick up bits and pieces. Got to admit, I like it, always fairly quiet and yeah, I guess 'upmarket' compared to others. But I only buy a specific few things there, I don't do big shops or buy branded stuff because you can get the same cheaper elsewhere most the time.
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Regarding online ordering, I avoid ordering my food online - unless it is all tinned/frozen stuff because you do indeed get fresh food to close to their end date which I have experienced with both Sainsbury's and Tescos
 
Went to Waitrose this morning and was surprised to find they had quite a few things at half price. Although they also had a lot of things with short expiry dates (0-1 days left).
 
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