Competition? - NOT amateur radio

One of my friends said that shopping at Waitrose was an experience. It is certainly not the lowest cost! 

An Aldi (budget supermarket) has recently opened nearby, but, so far, has not really affected sales. 

In fact Waitrose has invested in a new café and redesign hoping to capitalise on the shopping "experience." The photo shows the car park earlier. 

My wife insists on going there. I'd go to Aldi and get the same for less. Darn the experience!

Waitrose - NOT amateur radio

For some reason, my wife likes shopping at Waitrose, which is a food chain and part of John Lewis and Partners. I have several issues with Waitrose. Firstly I find this chain expensive. Secondly, I think they need to do more work to use recyclable or compostable packaging. Some packets can be recycled and some cannot. As a major UK food retailer, I think they should tell their suppliers or the business will go elsewhere. They have the power and they should use it!

Today when we went shopping there it was very quiet. The low cost free range eggs were, conveniently, out of stock.  Instead if you wanted free range eggs you had to pay far more. I expect the free coffee and paper will soon, quietly, go.

If you ask me I think they are in deep trouble. It would not surprise me if lots of stores were forced to close or John Lewis as a whole goes under. I may be wrong but in Newmarket, where we go, there is competition coming soon from a low cost supplier and that will really hit them.

The next few years will be make or break. At the moment, they depend on customer loyalty, but this is wearing thin. Old ladies die and young people want better value, so they shop around or buy online.

Burwell museum and windmill - NOT amateur radio

Please be aware that Waitrose (Newmarket) is making our local Burwell Museum one of its community projects for May. If you shop at Waitrose (Newmarket) you may want to support your local museum by putting your green tokens in the museum "pot".

Mother's Day - NOT amateur radio

It seems that our local Waitrose is gearing up for Mother's Day on Sunday. I guess (being a cynic) they see a quick profit.

Waitrose 1 is a CON - NOT amateur radio

They all try it to increase sales and market share. Call me a cynic but the latest marketing ploy from Waitrose is a new line called "Waitrose 1". We have received information through the post. This latest campaign will have cost them millions.  As far as I can tell it is just another way to try to persuade us to buy (yet more) over-priced food items. Even with their 25% off in early June these goods are still expensive. Con.

Aldi - NOT amateur radio

For a long time, fellow blogger Steve G1KQH and my relatives have been urging me to shop at Aldi's. Sadly, our nearest Aldi's is in Ely, which is a fair bit further by car than our nearest Waitrose or Tesco. I have noticed that prices for a weekly shop seem to have gone up by around 20% at Waitrose when groceries and food generally have had negative inflation. As we were going to Ely anyway this afternoon, we called in at Aldi's to do a basic shop. For branded items you do indeed pay far less than at Waitrose. Either Aldi has very low margins or Waitrose is creaming off the profits. Either way, we'll go to Aldi's again when in Ely.  I like Waitrose as a shop, but do not like being ripped off.