Food Snobbery?

[maggiebee]

Following on from a recent post about Waitrose vs Aldi and Lidl I read the following report on Yahoo News this morning. Sorry I don't have a link but it is attributed to The Telegraph. Maybe someone can help out with link?

"Waitrose & Partners will close four of their stores with Lidl taking on three of the leases, as homeowners fear the change will damage house prices.

Kal Kandola, 49, was dismayed to hear that the Wollaton Waitrose in Nottinghamshire would be replaced with a Lidl.

She said: “We are regulars at Waitrose and not very happy about this at all.

“I have houses in Wollaton that I rent out. The issue of house prices is a concern as Wollaton is an affluent area.

Mrs Kandola said that while she appreciated Lidl’s business model there were already plenty of their stores in the area and that the decision meant customers “ability to choose the quality of produce that we want to buy is being taken away from us.”

Instead, customers were being “forced” down the “cheap and cheerful route”.

A report published last year by Lloyds Bank found that homes near a Waitrose store enjoy the biggest premium, selling for £43,571 (12%) more than the average house prices in the area.

Sorry, but if this is not food snobbery then I don't know what is. I do accept that people should be able to choose of course.

[spathiphyllum]

too much NaCl

;-)

[aelmpvw]

//people who shop at waitrose will get their butlers to do the household DIY//
no self-respectful butler would consider doing such menial chores

[zebo]

Teacake, don't worry Waitroe sell chips.

[Bazile]

Crikey shopping at Lidl and Aldi .
Such toffs on here

I shop at at Baljit Singh's supermarket

Such is the ignominy of us poor folks

[Smowball]

I honestly didn’t know Waitrose delivered.

[teacake44]

The on going success of Aldi and Lidl speaks for itself, the downturn of Waitrose, speaks for itself. Without Aldi, and Lidl you wouldn't see other supermarkets dropping their prices, you would see increases, that's why Sainsburys and Asda wanted to merge, and rightly so, stopped in their tracks.

[retrocop]

//I honestly didn’t know Waitrose delivered.//

I could be wrong but I assumed Ocado deliveries were a branch of Waitrose.

[MargoTester]

https://waitrose.pressarea.com/pressrelease/details/78/NEWS_13/10784
Some information here Retro

[teacake44]

zebo, please, please, WAITROSE sell potatoe sticks, not chips. :)

[zebo]

I just assumed that your shoulders could manage some more chips!

[naomi24]

Teacake, Waitrose sell frozen chips. Only common people buy them though. ;o)

[teacake44]

No chips on shoulders zebo, only common sense, I just can't get my head round why, (for example) one would pay £1.25 for tomatoes, when most other places are charging from 65p to 75p, and the list is endless. Just looking at their home delivery, its seems they are desperate for sales. Spend £100, and get £30 off, plus free delivery. if they can discount by nearly a third, that's a good indicator of their very high profit margin.

[teacake44]

Naomi, I'm off to get some.:)

[ludwig]

// I just can't get my head round why, (for example) one would pay £1.25 for tomatoes, when most other places are charging from 65p to 75p //

Because they're well off enough to not have to worry too much about the cost, and happy to pay the extra for what they perceive to be better quality, choice, and service.

Criticising people for it looks a bit like jealousy.

[teacake44]

Ludwig, Perceived quality, Perceived wealth, is what this thread is about. I'm more than comfortable thank you.

[gingejbee]

I'm not sure why this has become an anti-Waitrose post.
"The downturn of Waitrose speaks for itself"...if you care to check, you'll find that (in the last year) ALL the major supermarkets have lost market share to the German discounters.

[teacake44]

Well gingejbee its not your thread that's started an anti Waitrose really, its just the vast majority find that Waitrose are ridiculously expensive, and it appears that (most) folk who shop there don't have to care how much they spend, or just don't value their money. The folk that criticise Aldi and Lidl, should really be thanking them, because they have in effect made the other major supermarkets reduce their prices, other than that' we all would have been paying a lot more. If Waitrose choose to carry on as they are, then more of their stores will close.

[zebo]

You could ask why don't people buy from Primark rather than Harvey Nicks, why they choose drive a Jaguar when they could drive a much cheaper car, it's all about personal choice.
I use Aldi, Lidl and Waitrose, and other supermarkets, there are some things we can only get at Waitrose, I buy some cold meat and cheese from Aldi, if I want a wider selection then I go to one of the larger supermarkets.
I really don't see the need for inverted snobbery, it's apparently acceptable to sneer at the 'toffs' who use Waitrose, it would considered unkind to sneer at those who use Aldi etc.