Published on 12, July, 2020
When I started shopping in Tesco as a child all of those decades ago (long before the turn of this century), it was stacked high with 'the cheapest' produce on grubby pallets instead of clinical white shelving, this kept the cost down for the beginnings of the large scale 'discount retailer'. Anyone who used Tesco in those days was commented on to be "poor". Often insultingly from youngsters but matter of fact by so called grown ups. I always refer to it in those long passed days as 'The Poor Shop'.
In the 1990s whilst investing in more outlets Tesco started to become cleaner and more streamlined. Of course their ever increasing buying power enabled higher margins to turn it into the investor behemoth that it is today.
So it was with confusion that a person said to me in the 2000s
"I bet you shop in Tesco don't you?" I answered that I do and they said that it was
"The Posh shop".
However much I tried to explain that Tesco was always the poor shop, they would have it only that this pristine store in their locality was the posh shop and therefore the whole organisation was 'the posh shop'
In the 2020s Tesco is no longer the poor shop, they have lost their competitive edge as German supermarkets make their presence felt with 'adequate produce' manufactured to just within the confines of food safety regulations where, incidentally, I do most of my shopping along with other equally good value retailers, happy that the difference between now and then (decades ago) is colossal in favour of quality and hygiene.
Millions of families have been raised on this produce, my own included, and it has served a large part of our nation (UK). Today though, and for years, I've seen scalping practices employed at Tesco to push prices as far as possible through the ceiling of inflation for the sole purpose of generating profit for those gamblers who risk their own and others finances on the stock market. They are responsible for keeping your food expensive. Tesco have lost billions to the newcomers though and the trend continues shown by the amount of new German originating stores opening and due to be built.
The point though is this, Tesco is now testing out the 'no till' shop where you can walk in, pick up your goods and walk straight out again. In that store you will find only the very best of the best produce designed to be twice the price whilst the majority of the rest of the produce (bendy, slightly soiled and misshapen and all) can be filtered out to the masses in not so urban areas which will maintain the discounted food for us masses.
This to me is reminiscent of the glaring disparity between societies in Demolition Man (Stallone, Bullock, Hawthorne, Leary). Sure it is fiction. It is also the continuation of a creeping privilege servicing and promoting those with more surplus income where they can trade without concern for price whilst the majority continue the battle of balance between income and outgoings, oblivious to what 'surplus income' is.
However much social engineering goes on over the years by grandiose shop keepers the masses (including me) continue to wash their veg, grow their own where they can and search out value over convenience. At least we are now being accommodated for in the larger stores with low stimulus hour. Before the current pandemic though the best time for me to shop was in the 24 hours opening store at night, it was wonderful.
LINK to news story - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58951984
Shoes, I prefer to buy shoes in supermarkets rather than specialist shoe shops. Much cheaper. The best pair of shoes I bought were in Sainsburys, reduced from £25 to £15, very comfortable and I wore them every day until they fell apart from use.
They are as you suspect the same thing. People appear blind to process and only envisage and consider 'finished product'.
This is the way I get my clothes too haha
I will tell you about veggies in a supermarket,
I worked in one for over 6 years,
not one colleague that could tell a difference between this year potato or a previous year, and that is the easiest veggie to tell it,
so this year, they started selling this year potato about 3rd week of July, this year onions 1st week of August, this year carrot 2st week of August, and so on
anybody has an idea what is the difference between what is labelled as ''new potato'' and ''baby potato'' according to them? I haven't figured that out yet
it is being sold all year long
most likely
clothes are not my area of expertise
I bought 4 pair of workwear trousers and 20 thishirts, pale colours, no markings 7 years ago, they are still fine
50 pair of socks and underwear all black, per year, from ebay
that's all I know,
though shoes, even steeltoes are more and more rubbish, do not last a year anymore
almost forgot - my favourite hoodie from primark 11 years old, paid £10 LOL
eh, tesco was just a supermarket... theres nothing posh nor poor about a supermarket, its just a warehouse that sells a vast amount of groceries and things every single house needs all in one place so you dont need to go miles here and there to pick up the odd 1 thing or 2 here and there.i member as a kid it was considered poor to buy clothes from tesco or whatever... but yeah. that was just on clothes. anything else your expected to get groceries from there whether your rich or poor. just not clothes. because people are more snobby about clothes and seem to think that people will know that your plain black shirt has a lable they are supposed to know but probably dont, and somehow are also expected to know you acted dumb and paid £500 for that shirt that looks exactly the same as a £1 standard labeless shirt lol
posh is open market, where farmers bring in their goods and sell directly to a customer
and if you fancy to wash it you wash it
I used to eat most of veggies without washing as a kid,
those that are edible raw, like carrot, tomato, pepper, cucumber, beans, broccoili, all fruits,
carrot without peeling, just swipe soil away,
I couldn't take raw cauliflower, I still find it disgusting
then everyone that had a big farm started using fertilizers, so veggies in shops were no longer edible without washing,
every supermarket is a shop of the poor, I remember times when Tesco was
stacked high with 'the cheapest' produce on grubby pallets
it infested Poland just before 2000.
even so called organic and local produce shops are still shops of the poor,
poor and uninformed, lacking knowledge to do it themselves
Big Brother Shopping.
Yes, me too about Waitrose and M&S.
I would put them in this order:
Waitrose/ M&S
Sainsburys
Tesco/ Asda/ Co op
Lidl/Aldi
Many people group Aldi and Lidl together.
I find them to be very different, at least in my city.
Aldi is always overcrowded, the staff are stressed out, tills opening and closing according to demand, most food is in stock and there is a general atmosphere of urgency.
Lidl in contrast is relaxed, less people, staff couldn't care less is queue at checkout is a mile long, stock missing, I recently found a whole box of coffee surrounded by washing up liquid. Their stores have a fresh bakery and customer toilets.
I'm on a tracking diet, or trying to be. Didn't take my phone out when shopping today so that everything i do is at least delayed for use
i hate the thought of no till shopping because of data and privacy. where, when and how often you grocery shop is a lot of data. though I guess the use of online shopping already gives a lot away in terms of how people shop.
but i hate apps that make record of my location, and this type of app is not only gonna record patterns of behaviour, but then also pinpoint them to geographical locations. literally a tracking device I know banks can see where you've spent money and kind of "track you" like that, but at least they don't sell their data (I think) and it's highly encrypted... I could go on forever about this so I'll stop. anyways. I'm probably not gonna be using any no-till services as you've probably inferred lool. anyway
I loved shopping at tesco at night too! but mine only opened until 12am. I moved and now the latest one closes at 10 *sigh*
I think I place sainsbury's, tesco and asda on the same tier. asda maybe slightly lower because i think it's a little cheaper. but i still love asda haha.
Yeah Waitrose, M&S are posh here. Sainsburys also seems to sit above tescos I’ve never thought of it as posh. Netto was the “poor” shop when I was growing up
I've always grown up thinking Waitrose and M&S are the posh shops. Funny how how everyone grows up being taught different.
Lots of people used to look down on ALDI and LIDL, but I think more and more people shop there now because they realise a lot of the time they don't have to be paying high prices for food that is most likely made in the same places!
I find people's little microaggressions towards where people shop, where they get their clothes from, etc very funny.
The very cross attitudes I can't reconcile. It could be the power of limited group thinking.
I shop everywhere, unlike some of my family.
Tesco has been controversial for a couple of my cousins.
One of my cousins is an outright snob. Her opinion of Tesco is that it is a S H I T hole for dossers and she wouldn't be seen dead shopping in it.
Another of my cousins held almost the opposite opinion. Many years ago she was in a panic because her local Kwiksave was closing down. I suggested she shop in a nearby Tesco, half a mile up the road. She looked shocked, Tesco was out of her league.