I'm not sure what this map says about Blighty, other than there are more Waitrose stores in the South than the North. Maybe the Scots and the Welsh simply prefer Tesco; I doubt if it has anything to do with affordability.
Just for the information of non-Brits, Waitrose and Tesco are popular supermarkets.
This map (above) shows the distribution of Walmart stores across the USA. As opposed to Waitrose's North South divide, Walmart has a West East divide.
I have no first-hand knowledge, but I believe that Walmart is at the cheaper end of the market, so one can presume that the right half of the US is where the 'bargain hunters' live.
Such maps are informative, but probably say less about society than we are led to believe. The world now has TWO major stores that are believed to be cheaper than most others. Lidl and Aldi are both German owned, and attract people from all walks of life; the rich and the poor.
As you can see by the distribution of Aldi stores across the USA, they follow the same pattern as Walmart stores; occupying the right hand side more than the left.
I'll stick with Leclerc!
No Wal-Mart, Waitrose, Tesco or Aldi here but we do have a Lidl store. My husband shops there for the bacon and for their Chilli, crinkle potato crisps.
ReplyDeleteGreetings Maria x
We have a Lidl nearby. When they first opened I went just to see what all the fuss was about. I have never returned.
DeleteWe have Lidls but our local one closed down over a year ago. I was very surprised considering this is an area, close by on the mainland, with small villages and poor farmers. But maybe that is the reason. The villagers live on what they grow and don't like foreign 'muck'.
ReplyDeleteI miss the foreign stuff. Dark chocolate, cappuccino, cheap chips, and strong loo paper. We shop in the big city store whenever we can but even though it's cheap it really is a luxury shop. We too could live without the foreign 'muck'
I'll stick with Leclerc. It's a good quality store (France's Waitrose), and supplies ALMOST everything I require.
DeleteThe Co-op dominates our area, many towns keep out such supermarkets as Asda and Tesco but we do have Lidl with its abundance of new foreign foods to delight;) And then there is always Sainsbury (like to see that map)expensive but wide range of stuff and of course Morrisons coming up the rails....
ReplyDeleteWhen in the UK I frequent just 3 supermarkets; Waitrose, Sainsbury's, and Tesco. All 3 are very good.
DeleteI've just remembered; M & S food dep't is very good too.
DeleteUp North we don't need Waitrose. We have Booths.
ReplyDeleteBooths? Never 'erd ov it.
DeleteThere is a lovely Booths in Ripon that i sometimes pop into I though it is quite pricey. Quite upmarket. I always buy their delicious teacakes which are a treat toasted and thick with butter.
DeleteThere would be no point in having a Waitrose in my North Derbyshire town. The quality shops have all disappeared and we are left with "pound" and charity shops in the main. This reflects taste rather than income I think. The locals could cook a decent meal from scratch on good ingredients from Waitrose for less than they spend on crappy takeaways and ready meals but the latter is what they obviously prefer. There are over twenty takeaway businesses in what is a small satellite town, plus the cheap caffs and pubs offering two meals for £10.
ReplyDeleteWe are surrounded by Waitrose branches all slightly too far away to make them a weekly shopping trip, more an occasional pilgrimage!
Your town needs a really good market, all down the main street (not tucked away). If there's anything that brings back the shops, it's a thumping good market.
DeleteThe waitrose map is missing it's shop in Saxmundham in Suffolk!
ReplyDeleteI just knew there was something missing; Saxmundham, of course!
DeleteYou can't beat Marks and Spencer's food hall, much better than Waitrose.
ReplyDeleteWalmart are in the UK: they own Asda and have done since 1999. Asda is very good around here and stocks the largest selection of goods for our Eastern European community. Sainsbury's only caters for their vodka needs and has the largest vodka department I have ever seen in a supermarket, it is almost as large as the wine department.
Most supermarkets will cater to their customer's wants/needs and at least have specialist 'departments' for Bio or religeous requirements, these will vary across the country or even countries as per Lidl/Aldi. Whatever they sell will make it very difficult for the village shop and it's no wonder that shops in town centers are boarded up.
DeleteI didn't know that Walmart now owned Asda; we were shareholders when it was still Associated Dairies. There's a lot of counterfeit Vodka about in Blighty; maybe that's where it's all sold!
DeleteYour map is wrong, there's a tiny one on Anglesey
ReplyDeleteYou can't rely on map-makers these days
DeleteWasn't that one set up for our future King and his wife while they lived nearby?
DeleteBy Appointment to Kate-n-Wills?
DeleteSainsbury is my favourite supermarket in the UK, Waitrose is too expensive. Leclerc in France. I like to be familiar with my local store so I know where everything is.
ReplyDeleteSainsbury's is the first large grocery store that I remember visiting. It was in East Grinstead, and was a very different store to today's ones. I used to buy wonderful slices of Pork Pie there.
DeleteWe have them all around us in the East Midlands - whichever one sends me money-off vouchers is where I choose to shop. Waitrose has "won" my custom for the last 3 weeks. I'm not an Asda fan though.
ReplyDeleteWaitrose was always my preferred shopping in Brighton, not only because of the quality of their stuff, but also because there is a fabulous huge Asian foods store opposite!
DeleteMy approach to shopping appears to be different to yours and that of some of your readers. In my opinion each outlet, from the most expensive to the cheapest, has their own strengths and weaknesses. It's also a myth that some shops are "more expensive" per se. They aren't. You just have to be savvy (and talk to the staff - a mine of useful information for the tricks of the trade and its pricing). Yes, I know, Cro, ain't I sounding awfully smug and clever. Nevertheless, it's the truth: I shop in the old marketeering style ("going to market" frequently, and from "stall to stall" as it were).
ReplyDeleteU
Don't we all do that?
DeleteI prefer Sainsbury over Tesco but I believe people will go to whichever is more convenient. Sainsbury was scarce in Cornwall 25 years ago so we had to go to Tesco. Perhaps Waitrose just hasn't bothered to open stores up north.
ReplyDeleteNo idea. Seems odd that they should all be concentrated down south.
DeleteNo surprise in the English map but I am astonished at the US map. I think map distribution in Australia would be more even.
ReplyDeleteThe US map is very right half concentrated. Maybe that's where all the 'rednecks' live.
DeleteThe map pretty accurately shows where the population lives! West of Iowa and it is a long way between stops....
DeleteI know very little of US population distribution, so thanks for the info'. It makes sense.
DeleteWe've got at least two Waitroses in Glasgow and another on the way near here...Lidl is good here, fresh local fruit and veg and many Scottish products...and there's always the Co-op...
ReplyDeleteAn interesting point is finding which supermarkets don't bankroll any political parties. So far, Waitrose/John Lewis, Co-op, Lidl and Aldi don't. The other big ones seem to give money to the three biggest political parties.
I see the map is dated 2012, maybe the Glasgow ones have been opened since.
DeleteThe green W to the South of Bristol is my corner-shop. I would use Lidl more often, but it involves a car drive. Did you know, Lidl split from Aldi because Aldi refused to sell tobacco?
ReplyDeletewasn't that Aldi North and South splitting? Family disagreements!
DeleteI can't say I've seen tobacco products in Lidl
I know it's painful to let facts stand in the way of fiction. However, it doesn't alter the fact that, as Lidl and Aldi are different concerns, they never "split" over anything.
DeleteAldi was founded by two brothers. Eventually they split their operation (in Germany) into Aldi North and Aldi South. The two brothers, seemingly at logger heads, made their differences further clear by Brother Aldi North selling cigarettes, whilst Brother Aldi South did not. Nothing to do with Lidl, or, as the Germans pronounce it, Leeedl.
U
One brother wanted to sell cigarettes, one didn't.
DeleteSplit ends?
DeleteI think the Walmart map is heavily weighted towards the east coast because of the sparse population of the western states.
ReplyDeleteI knew there'd be a logical explanation. Thanks Jennifer.
DeleteI was going to write the same thing as Jennifer. Population is not evenly dispersed in the US; there are big Western states that are practically empty, except for guns, in which states every person owns about a thousand AR15s each. Here on Long Island there are a few Walmarts, but I would rather pay extra and drink sheep snot than step one foot across their thresholds.
ReplyDeleteSheep snot it is then!
DeleteSplif ends? Maybe that was in Holland.
ReplyDeleteMy spelling was wrong.
DeleteOut here in the sticks we stick with what we have got on the whole.
ReplyDeleteSupermarkets are a 'modern' phenomenon anyway!
DeleteCannot stand Walmart, if at all possible I avoid going there like the plague. Always rings up the wrong price and then they say, I can't change that here you must go to customer service, stand in line for more than half an hour, because people are buying money orders to send money to foreign countries.
ReplyDeleteMy knowledge of Walmart is limited to photographs of some of their more bizarre clients. Quite remarkable.
DeleteCan not stand WalMart, they treat their people so bad and very sexist to boot.
ReplyDeleteMost of all Daughter had to buy something that the class could only find at Walmart so we went. As I walked in I started to cough, sneeze and red eyes. The clothes where were you first walked in and what they sprayed on the clothes for bugs I assume (clothes made for cheap in 3rd world countries) I was allergic to. That as years ago, never went again.
cheers, parsnip
That sounds dreadful. My usual problem with shops is the heat; I have to get in and out in as short a time as possible.
DeleteHa ha here is the website people of Walmart its been around for years. I think people actually try to be featured on it. http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/
ReplyDeleteI dislike Asda, down here they dont have the food we eat and it is more expensive than Tescos, which I find odd. And I have seen people shopping in their dressing gown and pj's that is enough for me not to go in unless I have to.
I quite like Casino. Is that the version of Tescos over there? I came out of the jungle in Thailand, walked past a street food vender selling BBQ rat on a stick, looking for water and there in the middle of no where was a Tescos! they didnt take clubcards though... lol
Yup, they're some of the photos I've seen. Some of those people must have been PAID. Casino is one of the shops that I never visit; just not good enough!
DeleteHere in Canada we have WalMarts near all the major and smaller cities. Costco is huge. But I refuse to shop anywhere that charges me a "membership" fee to enter the premises.
ReplyDeleteSupermarkets are regional. I like SaveOn Foods (found in the western provinces). Prices are a bit higher but a far nicer experience.
I'd love for Aldi or Lidl to open here but it's unlikely.
I really don't understand the British divide on supermarkets. Luxury v. budget.
I just read the flyers and look at what I want and then cherry pick at the various shops.
I must admit I really only set foot in WalMart to buy dog supplies. It's cheaper there by far.
I get a pile of flyers on Mondays. I go through them, but still rarely visit anywhere other than my preferred shop.
DeleteMany moons ago there was a reality show on TV featuring Paris Hilton. Walmart was mentioned and she asked innocently if it is a store where you buy stuff for walls. Oh, the poor/rich girl!
ReplyDeleteSadly there are rather a lot of Paris Hiltons around these days.
Delete