Oh, monsieur Lidl, you are really spoiling us!

Aw, man, I started a thread about this back on the real ILX—the Lidl Shop of Horrors. I was obsessed for a brief period when I first discoverd the one in Streatham. But after a few weeks of it never having anything I ever wanted, I decided that it was awful.

Better off at a poundstore. There’s enough of them about

For deli/snacky treats pretty great. Good cheap booze too.

Yeah, the booze is just about the only thing I go to Lidl these days.

~But utter bastards for getting me hooked on waffer-theen tomato and basil cheese slices and then discontinuing them.

Classic so long as you have the patience to figure out what’s the good stuff and don’t expect to do all of your weekly shop there

Frozen salmon & lobster pretty great too. Tinned fish generally yummy.

No music in local Lidl means that all you can hear is the shuffling of slippers on linoleum. Very disturbing.

My mum and I were talking about the relationship between supermarkets and class back in the old days (when she still lived in the UK). She says that Waitrose didn’t used to be the poshest, Sainsburys was.

She was very confused by Iceland, but about two minutes after going into it, she surmised that it was “not for her”.

(I thought she went into the Lidl by mistake, but she hasn’t visited it yet. I’m sure it would horrify her.)

Lidl = Upper Class

Aldi = Middle Class

Netto = Underclass

Waitrose didn’t used to be the poshest, Sainsburys was.

This was true.

Netto used to have “These tins with the expiry date past: There’s nothing wrong with them!” type notices.

And that she would travel ALL THE WAY to Wood Green to go to a Marks and Sparks.

Tins don’t have expiry dates, they have Best Before. It’s only a suggestion. There is nothing wrong with them, unless you’re a bit nesh.

I seriously live next door to one, and i’ve only ever been twice. a vacuum cleaner that broke within a month and a pork joint, yet to be eaten.

I don’t go to any supermarkets anymore but I liked those Vitamin C tablets you can only seem to get in Lidl. They make orange juice fizz up and the combo gives you enough Vit C for the rest of the month (provided the date is the 28th...and unless it’s all a scam).

you can get them in tesco and sainsbury too... enough for a month? i do one a day.

i never saw the same brand/type in other supermarkets—only inferior sorts, and yeah they’re one a day.

Lidl is absolutely classic. Mortadella, Jars of preserved red peppers, waffles, cloudly apple juice, good pizza, wonderful potato salad, decent balsamic vinegar for less than £1, parmesan at literally half the price it is in tesco. it’s like an adventure going there because the stock is always slightly different.

The £8.99 bottle of Speyside single malt is pretty OK. I mean, considering that’s the normal price bracket for Teacher’s and shit. I’m quite excited about the lobster too, it’s a whole one for a fiver

They’re union busting cockfarmers. Do not buy from them.

Oh no wait... that’s Aldi I’m thinking of.

Lidl aren’t exactly noted for being nice to employees either.

e.g.

German hard discounter Lidl reacted brutally when workers in Calw participated in a strike to speed up collective bargaining negotiations in commerce. The company reacted promptly and decided to close the store, although both turnover and customer numbers were growing. It is not hard to see the similarity with Wal-Mart’s decision to put 200 workers on the street in De Jonquière, Canada, closing a profitable store when they wanted to organise in UFCW. (9 August 2005)

what’s the thing tesco have done which is bad? the buying up shitloads of land thing?

they’re too dominant? too ruthless to the manufacturers (‘we’re not stocking your product unless we can charge this much, take this much and give you only THIS much’ etc.—obv. everyone else does this too but i suppose it’s why Tesco are so far ahead of their rivals)?

yeah they do that but there’s this other rly specific thing to do with land...

i’ve turned against the 24 hour supermarkets thing as well, because of the increased energy-consumption.

IIRC They were accused of buying a small plot of land in (I think) Renfrew which was adjacent to or part of land being targeted by another supermarket for a new build. They then refused to sell the land even though they had no real use for it other than to prevent someone else building a shop.

xpost re tesco

yeah it’s that kind of thing — but more widespread than renfew! somehow it got my (lawyer) dad angry, which is odd given the problem was raised by, like, friends of the earth.

They’ve got land tied up everywhere with nothing on it. I think the Scottish executive had made noises about relaxing planning laws and the major stores all bought up as much land as they could in anticipation of the change.

omg is it this stuff j00 guys are talking about upthread??

top tip: DON’T add water.

looks like a similar thing T but the effervescent vitamin supplement market is a real minefield.