"Did you say Lidl -I wouldn’t be seen dead in the place!" I've found that's a typical reaction whenever the "L" word is mentioned in the company of the non-cognoscenti. I counter that this Company (and a couple of their Continent inspired cousins) is a retail phenomena that even the most ... Read review
Advantages: They're the best kept secret in town! Disadvantages: Can't use my beloved credit card.
"Did you say Lidl -I wouldn’t be seen dead in the place!" I've found that's a typical reaction whenever the "L" word is mentioned in the company of the non-cognoscenti. I counter that this Company (and a couple of their Continent inspired cousins) is a retail phenomena that even the most cynical can't afford to ignore for much longer. Then I go on some. To confess, I'm an "outed" Lidl fanatic!
We're ... ...the armful.
Lidl is "shopping on the seriously cheap". Not a few coppers here and there -we're talking about, gop-smacking, drop-dead bargains in foodstuffs, clothing, tools and household items, every day and every time. That's what you can expect once one makes the crossover from the old ways of razzmatazz, image -and yes, downright snobbery! Just don't forget, this is real-time, "no-frills" retailing with the ... more
"Did you say Lidl -I wouldn’t be seen dead in the place!" I've found that's a typical reaction whenever the "L" word is mentioned in the company of the non-cognoscenti. I counter that this Company (and a couple of their Continent inspired cousins) is a retail phenomena that even the most cynical can't afford to ignore for much longer. Then I go on some. To confess, I'm an "outed" Lidl fanatic!
We're talking shopping here. Basic shopping. That's something that The Bride, in her wisdom, entrusts to me, her retired and consequently humbled servant. By basic, read washing powder, bleach, bin-liners, toilet rolls, tomato soup, saucepans, mineral water, UHT milk… Still with me? Yes, call me sad if you must and I know it's hardly the stuff of dreams but, given that all of us use this life-supporting trivia, by the shedfull, I do wonder why most folk persist with, glammed-up but often inferior products at twice the price?
Here in Wales I'm a regular at my local Lidl. Whilst never one to follow the herd, the clincher for me was peeking through the bread racks one day and spying a chortling gaggle of local old-money Tafia quietly stashing away vast quantities of smoked salmon, 12 year old single malt and dishwasher tablets by the armful.
Lidl is "shopping on the seriously cheap". Not a few coppers here and there -we're talking about, gop-smacking, drop-dead bargains in foodstuffs, clothing, tools and household items, every day and every time. That's what you can expect once one makes the crossover from the old ways of razzmatazz, image -and yes, downright snobbery! Just don't forget, this is real-time, "no-frills" retailing with the knobs taken off so the least that's expected is that you pay for your carrier bags.
To the sceptics who prattle about "product quality", I ask anyone, to tell me where else can I buy a washing-up liquid, that costs 59p per half-litre, three drops of which will lather the pants of a two-second squirt of the best that the brand-doctors offer in grander stores? Also, I remind them, that whilst I'm hardly a foodie-sophisticate, The Bride does know a good bratwurst when she gets her hands on one.
Critics will muse that this is the store where the staff have crafted indifference to customers to a fine art. Indeed, the novice Lidl shopper might be forgiven for thinking that having a charisma by-pass operation is a prerequisite to getting a job there. But make no mistake, the handful of staff employed in each store are at the cutting edge of New-Retail. A quick take inside any Lidl will tell you that the Company doesn't carry passengers. After the same couple of guys have stacked shelves, parked trolleys and worked the checkout -all within half an hour, I can allow that their attentiveness to the needs of oiks like me might wane a little. It's only when you emerge from the experience with two burgeoning trolleys, and still change out of 40 quid, that you fully appreciate the advantages of a lean & mean management attitude.
Despite the fact that we have a nearly-new and adorable grandson I hold the view that children have no place whatsoever in shops. In this regard Lidl reigns unchallenged. It is, without doubt, the store that any child would least like to be seen in. School bunkers and mall maidens are readily charmed by almost anywhere other location and, with little to appeal to the more junior set, our shopping at Lidl is usually free of the tantrums and sticky fingermarks of those better catered for in emporia with loftier pretensions.
That said, in Lidl you do find well-researched items that grown-ups deem suitable for children -a weekly changing compendium of sensible products usually surrounded by clusters of utility-minded grandparents with an eye for presents to be set aside for birthdays yet to come. But, lets be honest, what is there about a jar of Latvian pumpernickel or a 110 piece drill-bit set for less than a fiver that will ever enthuse 4-16 year-olds?
We've made mistakes. Last month we bought, for a few pence, a sack of potatoes, of a size that held promise to feed our village for a year only to find that half way through, the contents failed to live up to their use-by date. And once The Bride returned a food basin because the dog couldn't live with the colour.
We often travel through Spain, a country that's long been part of Greater Lidl-land. There, we have found that, in the finest tradition of one-size-fits-all Europeanism, Lidl stores are fully compliant. An identical ethos with similar stock lines to home and -most helpful- same store layout; except that (as we found out to our cost and the detriment of a cucumber sticking out of a trolley pushed by an Teutonic lady of tender sensibilities) unlike in UK, after passing the fruit & veg counter, you're supposed to proceed anti-clockwise.
Once, on a very hot day at the start of a holiday, we called at the Lidl near Fuengirola to stock-up the casita for the week. On entry, we encountered a familiar profusion of the usual bargains –plus a few local specialities. Our purchased comestibles included a couple of tins of, what The Bride assured me was an Andalucian casserole. Sadly, a linguistically superior neighbour (who we were trying to impress with a good dinner at the time) pronounced, after reading the label, it to be, sustenance for premium-grade dogs.
By now, those still with me may have concluded that I am easily pleased. We have had the odd cause for complaint but these have always been resolved to our satisfaction. Be the item faulty, wrong-sized, taste-challenged or simply rejected as a result of what The Bride insists is "downright, whinging cussedness" on my part. Whenever we've returned a product, Lidl's have proved as good as their word. No questions asked, just sign a slip at the till and the cash is immediately refunded.
Here, I have to confess TB, once bought a jar of instant coffee, so insipid that she insisted we keep it for when our Spanish neighbour calls again.
So what's the trade-off? By the standards of Tesco, Sainsbury -or even the downtrodden, but chirpy, rump-smacking masses at ASDA, the Lidl Experience might well be from another planet. Don’t expect to be greeted by an over-jolly, beaming flunky as you enter or dollybirds to ambush you with free samples at every aisle-end. In vain will you seek out customer toilets or mother & baby cubicles and your credit cards will be given a definite thumbs- down. And don’t hold your breath as you wait at the checkout.
You might just have to content yourself that the last time you stood in-line so patiently was when Freddy Laker flew the two of you to the States for less than 100 quid.
But boy do we enjoy our newfound, "alternative" shopping! Let aside utility consumables, our food shelves groan with the most delicious pre-packed charcuterie, superb pasties and prawns, fabulous cheeses, vast tubs of yoghurt bursting with honest flavour and olive oil, so good, that to append it simply as, "extra-virgin" does the folk who made it a grave injustice; all quaffed down with splendid wines from countries that I used to think existed only to sponsor flags of convenience.
But I hear there's a new, "Aldi" store opening near us soon. I wonder…?
Advantages: Cheap Disadvantages: pay for bag's, untidy stores
...opinion of the German supermarket lidl has never been very high and as an influential teenager I would have never been caught dead in my local branch. My first experience of Lidl was in 1995 when a new store opened in Frome, Somerset. My parents were never poor but we loved a bargain and Lidl’s looked like the place we would get this. I wasn’t very impressed initially as I could see no big names like walkers or Cadbury’s and the ... ...Lidl, formally known as Lidl & Schwarz Grocery Wholesale was founded in Germany in the 1930’s. Ever since then Lidl’s has not stopped growing. Lidl has divided into hypermarkets known as ‘Kaufland’ and discount food stores known as ‘Lidl’
Germany had its first taste of Lidl’s in 1973 when the first stores opened. Ever since then Lidl’s has become a major household name in Germany and has continued ...
spoilt_little_br 26.05.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Lidl (Shop)
Advantages: Cheap and cheerful, easy parking Disadvantages: Mainly own branded goods
LIDL SUPERMARKET.
Lidl, a 'low price' supermarket has two branches in my area, a town centre shop and an out of town superstore. The company began in the UK back in the mid 1990's and now has several hundred stores across the country. The Lidl concept is a 'stack 'em high, sell 'em low' one. The shops tend to be rather warehouse-like with goods stacked high either side of the aisles. The Lidl logo is a little wacky, a yellow banner with the name ... ...is Cheaper'
Most of the Lidl own brand goods seem to originate in Europe, the quality is consistently good. I find their fruit and vegetables exceptionally good value for money and their cheeses likewise. Prices tend to be fairly reasonable across the board, with own brand digestive biscuits at 22p for a huge pack, 100g own brand coffee at 99p and a truly delicious cheese and chive quiche for £1.09, who's complaining? The own brand tinned and packeted ...
brittle1906 16.01.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Lidl (Shop)
Advantages: Great prices, most food is good Disadvantages: limited range, shabby store
...good as branded stuff! When Lidl opened a store on Stockport Road in Longsight Manchester I felt I had to see if Lidl was as good as Aldi!
Lidl is a German owned store who first arrived in Britain in 1994 and now has over 330 branches in this country. Their philosophy is to sell their products in as near as possible a wholesale setting thus keeping overhead costs down to a minimum and giving us the customer cheap prices. This makes a lot of sense ... ...the reasons to go to Lidl is for the extra cheap fruit and vegetables. At full price they are priced very competitively but both times I have visited there has been a half price sale. Strawberries are 60 pence a punnet whilst you can get mangos for a very reasonable price. This is great, with prices like these people can not argue that fresh fruit and vegetables are too expensive. The quality of the fresh produce is not too bad although I did pick ...
duskmaiden 05.04.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Lidl (Shop)
Advantages: great prices and no frills Disadvantages: some unknown brands
...the alternatives offered by the Lidl store in Newlyn.
They are a good for the basics and the prices are low enough to be worth a punt on things that you would normally pay that bit extra for.
An example of this was the Corn Flakes. At less than 75p for a 500 gram box branded as 'Crownfield' I was impressed, both by the taste and the crunchy texture, in fact I think I prefer them to Kelloggs. Their washing liquid was less than a pound for a bottle ... ...and pasty stains from my wide range of T shirts.
There was also a very good Aloe Vera toilet roll for about £1.25 for 4 rolls.
Bargain of the week was the pack of cheese spread slices in the style of Laughing Cow, 24 portions for about £1.40.
Lidls are the epitome of no frills retailing, there are few staff in store and they do work very hard, their pay is substantially better than most supermarkets but they earn it.
I particularly like their ...
JeffFromPoole 16.11.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Lidl (Shop)
...saving money by venturing into Lidl and buying loads of their products waned. To be honest none of the tinned foods that I tried really stood up and said “I AM TASTY”, there was nothing wrong with the food they were offering. Its just the overall flavours did not impress me. The displays were poor and the wholesale approach did nothing for me. Add the fact that I had to buy the carrier bags and I vowed never to go there again.
I stuck to that up ... ...they charge you for theirs.
Lidl say about charging for carrier bags, they have no hidden charges, well I suppose that is a valid point, I doubt other supermarkets really give them away without them being incorporated into their profit margin somewhere. Even so it does bug me, especially if I forget to bring my own.
Second they only have trolleys, the ones with the usual £1 deposit, they do not have baskets, so if you only want a few items you ...
sit2020 30.06.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Lidl (Shop)
Price
Value for money
Layout & presentation
Selection & range
Quality
Waiting / queues
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A shop that has grown from strength to strength. The clothing range that is available is fantastic and although they may not be brands that are in the main shops they are good quality and hence cheap. I bought two shirts and ties in Matalan yesterday for £9.99 and they are excellent material, they will pass for a shirt and ties from Next etc.
The kids clothes are also very good although I find that they do not have such a range for children as they do for adults. They seem to be best for summer clothes for children.
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Advantages: Loads of stuff available, good prices
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In my local Asda we have a photo centre, cafe, George, electricals, homewear, toys, bakery, pizzaria, rottisary (chicken place lol), fresh meats counter and all the usual foody aisles plus we have a petrol station, cash machines and bus stop. It's the largest shopping store we have although we do have a Tesco, Lidl, Aldi, Co-Op, Farm Foods and Iceland.
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jadiep890 26.10.2009
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Advantages: cheap, good deals, helpful staff. Disadvantages: cold and boring place to shop
stores such as Tesco and Sainsburys. But this is obviously just to do with their lack of popularity, and also money (but if they were more popular, they'd have the money, right!?).
Something is lacking in the atmosphere of the co-op stores. On occasions that I have visited (of which there are many), it just seems like a very boring place to be. I'm not saying that any of the other bigger supermarkets are actually exciting, but this place is just very dull. A bit like Lidls or other shops like that. The quality of the shop decoration requires a drastic change really. It always seems very cold (not actual temperature, but the colours). Bigger stores are brighter and this definitely leads to a more interesting shop (which will draw customers in).
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