I bet for many of you on here, when you hear the name ‘Lidl’ think cheap food, bad quality, for poor people, and until recently I would have fully agreed with you. My 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 sound of baked beans costing as little as 4 pence sounded far from intriguing.

However my opinion changed dramatically last year when I found a very respectable Management job at…yes you guesses it- Lidl’s. I now have first hand experience and more of an understanding of what Lidl’s is, what they sell and what sort of customer they attract.

History of lidl
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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 to expand into almost every European country.

The first store in England was opened in 1994 and now ten years later there are over 300 stores in the UK.

Lidl’s Philosophy is, and always has been to keep things simple. This means that there are no hidden charges, everything is of a high quality and you get what you pay for.

Shop
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All Lidl’s stores are to the same lay out and so this makes it very easy for customers to find what they want and feel at ease if shopping in a new store.

All shops are a bright yellow with dashes of blue, this makes the shop look welcoming and very appealing; these bright arrays of colours also make the shops easy to find off road sides and Dual carriage ways.

Outside the shops there is always a large car park with disabled spaces. As far as I know, all car parks owned by Lidl are free, although obviously if you choose to leave your car there while visiting other stores, you do so at your own risk and Lidl will hold no responsibility.

Also outside the stores, there is a trolley park. Most of these trolleys have children’s seats. You will need to pay £1 to use the trolleys and when you have finished your shopping you get your pound back. In the store I work at we have recently been given disabled trolleys, which only hold a small amount of shopping and are not so deep as the standard trolley.

It is worth noticing that Lidl do not supply baskets. These were constantly being stolen and so this is the outcome. There are often boxes scattered around the store, which you are more then welcome to use in replacement of a basket.

Fruit and Vegetables
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Our Fruit and Veg is delivered daily- except for Sundays. This means that we can offer the best quality to our customers and have a constant supply to suit your needs.

I often hear customers comment on how great the quality of our fruit and veg is, and I agree. We try and pick out any bad items and throw away most of what is not sold so fresh items can be offered.

The thing that I think stands out about Lidl’s fruit and veg selection is the price. We constantly have half price offers on selected items and always try to bring in and try different exotic fruit for customers to try.

Meat and poultry
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Our chilled meat and poultry is delivered daily between 12 and 6 PM. We offer a range of chicken, turkey, beef and pork. We often have offers on the meat and poultry and occasionally bring in new products depending on the season, I.E- BBQ chicken pieces for the summer.

I sometimes hear people are wary of trying our meat and poultry, and with no good reason. I have always found that our produce is just as nice as you would find in other supermarkets and for half the price. I sometimes get the feeling that just because the produce is cheap, people think there is something wrong with it!

One thing that I personally love about the shop is its selection of salami. It may sound strange but you can buy the big blocks of salami- something I have never seen at any other supermarket.

Chilled food
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At the back of all Lidl stores it a huge chiller. These contain essentials like Milk (note lidl only sell whole and semi-skimmed) and other luxuries like meats, yoghurt and cheese.

The cheeses on offer are generally very nice, although I do find the mature cheeses stronger then usual, but that’s just my personal opinion. I also find that they stock a wide range of meats, such as turkey breast, wafer thin ham, salami, smoked ham and forest ham just to name a few.

In the chillers, you may also find a small, but growing selection of convenience foods, like microwavable pizzas, burgers and hotdogs. Although I was cautious of these items at first, they are extremely tasty and incredibly cheap.

Frozen Food
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Frozen food, like our chilled food, is delivered daily at lunchtime and is put on sale immediately.

Lidl offer a vast range of frozen goods including ice cream, meats, seafood and convenience food.

The ice cream on sale varies from traditional vanilla tubs to the luxury chocolate flavour, (its good believe me!) choc-ices and ice pops. These are very reasonable, with the large 1L tubs costing as little as 59p. I have also found their frozen cakes to be just as delicious, but a little pricey at just over £3.

All the meats such as leg of lamb and beef burgers I have found to be very tasty, and often with bigger portions then usual large brand names have to offer.

I am not keen on seafood at all, and so have to be honest and say I have never tried any of the products in this section. However, I have been recommended products by customers, in particular the large King Prawns.

Convenience food is very new to Lidl and so I’m not convinced. Some of the microwave meals look nice but I always think all meals like this taste vial. Friends have tried some products, such as the kebabs and spring rolls and haven’t been too impressed but I am sure with time, Lidl will be able to improve this.

Tinned food and all other basics
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Now as I said before, the price of the tinned food was the first thing to put me off. It is VERY cheap and I used to associate quality with the price. But once again I was wrong.

Apart from your standard baked beans and spaghetti hoops, Lidl offers a huge range of tasty soups including tomato, lentil, chicken and Scottish broth to name just a few.

On this isle you can also find basics such as noodles (at only 15p!) pasta goods, cooking oils, tuna and other seafood, pot noodles and pasta sauces.

I personally think that this is the area where Lidl really needs to praised. Their quality of tinned food has improved dramatically and this seems to be the products that they are always trying to develop.

Other basics include dog and cat food and cleaning equipment like bleach, window cleaners and dusters.

Confectionary and crisps
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Now on to my best isle! There is no way you can enter a Lidl store without having a look at all their chocolate products. There are loads of things on offer and let me tell you they are all delicious (yes I have tried most of them on your behalf…it was my pleasure!)

You can buy anything from Quality streets, Mars bars, Twix etc or try delicious German and Belgium delicacies.

My best are the bars of milk chocolate (only 20p) and the chocolate chip cookies. They are a must if you have a sweet tooth just like me!

The crisps on offer are just as nice. There are big names like Walkers and Hola Hoops or Lidl’s own brands of family mix crisps. All very nice and all extremely reasonable.

Drink
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The soft drinks on offer are excellent and there is so many to choose from. There is your basic orange, apple and blackcurrant but even nicer are the fruit juices on offer. Ice tea, cranberry, pear are just a few of my favourites.

There is the basic tea and coffee on sale, but this is another area where Lidl is starting to improve. They have now brought in hot chocolate, decaffeinated tea and coffee, ice tea, earl grey and flavoured tea.

But for those of you that like something stronger their beer is FANTASTIC. I personally always buy the single cans of 59p Pills and it is better then some of the larger brands. Most cans are in packs of 4 and the same goes for the bottled beer.

Recently they have also started selling a 20 pack of Stella and Boddingtons.

I am not overly keen on the wine they sell, although it is very cheap and so I guess you truly get what you pay for. I must also recommend their sangria as it is delicious and comes in a huge bottle for only just over £4.

Non-food items
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Every Monday and Thursday, there is a new load of items added on sale. These can be anything from a thermo-flask, kids toys or a tent to the more luxury items of DVD players, Digital cameras and PC equipment.

There are leaflets in the store to let customers whet is going to be on sale and in some areas leaflets are distributed door to door.

Checkouts and staff
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Now comes the bad part! In all Lidl stores there are only 4 tills. Most of the time there is only one assistant on the till and therefore you may sometimes have to wait.

I have heard some people really moan about this on Ciao! But to be quite honest, I have been into Asda and Tesco’s and waited far longer. I think people just think that because there are fewer tills that all the staff are doing nothing.

At the checkouts you will have to pay for bags, 3p for small bags, 9p for large bags and 49p for freezer bags. There are packing benches at the end of the shops where you can bag up you goods.

As for the staff, well of course I am not going to slag off myself as I think I am very good at my job, but I can see why people would complain about some people.

Some members I have met really couldn’t care about the customers as long as their boss is happy and I think some customers can see this. Not that I think this is expectable but Lidl’s really don’t employ many staff and so each member of staff working really has a lot to do.

I personally wouldn’t recommend Lidl as an employer and if you talk to other ex members of staff I think you will soon find out, but as a shop it is fantastic and I would defiantly recommend it to everyone!

S-L-B