When I first joined ciao, the first time around, my very first review was on Tesco, the store, simply because it was what I knew best, I have just reread it and it is amazing how my own view of the store has changed in the last 5 years, going from Tesco - the convenient place to shop, to Tesco - the root of all that is evil!

I think particularly over the last couple of years as a nation we have become far more aware of the bully boy tactics used by the big corporate enterprises, and the food that we eat and our own local economy suffers considerably as a consequence. Tesco, it is estimated takes £1 of every £3 spent in the retail industry in the UK and the monopolies commission have woken up one morning thinking 'Hang on a minute, how did that happen'.

Now for all my grumbling and complaining, I still do the majority of my shopping in Tesco simply because the Devil is the root of all evil, and his biggest threat is temptation and decadence, so why would I travel 8 miles out of my way, when the devil tempts me into a nicely laid out, convenient store that is 2 minutes from my front door? Lets face it these days, unless you live in way out in the sticks, its 2 minutes from everyone's front door.

Outside the Store

It looks welcoming, there is a huge sign outside telling you its' opening hours - and as ours is 24 hours, that is pretty convenient. The petrol station, is the cheapest around, you don't even have to go in, just pop your card in the pump and its done. Ample parking for all, plenty of disabled spots and parent and toddler spots. They have recently put a number of cashpoint machines outside and one of my main gripes in my last review was the lack of small trolleys (without the child seat) they are now the main option, with the additional option of baskets, wheelchair friendly trolleys and the old style child seat trolleys but now they do ones that you can clip a car seat into as well.

Entering the Store

Everything in the store is laid out to ensure maximum profit, you go through the big welcoming doors to be greeted by a beautiful array of flowers, do you need flowers - no! of course you don't, but you know how fantastic they will look on your mantelpiece. Then all the special offers that you really can't do with out, that exercise mat - and look its only £9.99, so that won't break the bank. Then there are all the greeting cards, magazines, newspapers all on very easy view followed a little deeper into the store by the CDs and DVDs.

Tesco have now started doing a range of electrical goods as well so moving on from the books you can buy juicers, mp3 players, tv's dvd players, and of course they do clothes, I've just bought my girls sports swim suits for £3 each. How did we manage without them?

And what about the Food?

Well the first quarter of the store you can be forgiven for forgetting that you actually came in because there was no milk in the fridge for your cup of tea that day and the cat is starving because you've run out of cat food. So eventually you come to the food areas.

Fruit and Veg

The normal starting point here is the fruit and veg, Here I encounter one of my main issues with Tesco, Food is supposed to be different throughout the year, If you go into any supermarket elsewhere in Europe you will be told in no uncertain terms that no you can't have runner beans in February because they are out of season until at least July (please correct me if I'm wrong here, but this has certainly been my experience during my visits to France and Italy) but we're English, we should be able to eat the same things all year round and sure enough, there is a neatly packages pack of Runner Beans that has come all the way from Zambia for my convenience and they only cost £1.99 for 450g, and if I really don't have the time they'll slice them for me at £1.45 for 200g. Now I do accept that February is a pretty poor time for vegetables, and the only UK product they had yesterday were some parsnips that had certainly seen better days, so I am quite happy to accept that we may need to get some early spring cabbages or similar in from abroad, but even if you go in, in the height of the productive season the percentage of local produce is still dismally low, and in order to get it here, it might have been picked half a mile down the road but it still travels around half the country to be packaged and transported before it gets to you, losing flavour as it goes.

Bread

Moving on, Tesco then have the bread counters - now I do admit, I really like tesco's bread, and it is reasonably priced. You also get the option of trying out speciality breads, like tomato and olive which I love. They will slice the fresh bread for you, which means it goes further because I'm really bad at doing it myself. They will also give you fresh yeast for free which whatever the manufacturers say you can put in Bread machines as long as you put it directly into the water and use a preheat setting to allow it to work.

Meat and Fish

The fish counter is one area Tesco do really well, the number of Fish mongers has reduced in towns, almost to extinction unless you actually live in a fishing village, so Tesco is one of the few places you can get fresh fish, served on ice.

The meat however, is another opportunity for me to get back up on my soap box. When I wrote my original Tesco review, I didn't buy organic, because I couldn't afford to. Now I realise that the only way we are going to get the cost of organic food down is by supporting it wholeheartedly, there is evidence medically that kids are developing earlier, puberty is getting earlier, and I have read some reports that suggest that this is down to all the hormones that are put into our meat - if you take the average battery chicken, it has no room to run around, therefore never develops muscle, so no tasty meat and the only way to get it to the required weight in the time available for maximum profitability is to use hormones in its diet. Tescos can then sell these at 2 for £5, wow a complete bargain! So no wonder noone can afford to buy organic, but these days 2 medium sized chickens could do the average household for 3 or 4 meals, so people will buy them. Tescos choice of Organic food is dismally small, probably because it matches their demand for it.

Everything Else

For the rest of the store, you are looking at your standard frozen produce, cereals, dairy items pet food, everything you would expect from a supermarket and more, this section is the reason I still shop at Tesco. It is good value for money, they offer plenty of BOGOF options, and in all honesty why should you pay more for your food.

Tesco's own Range

As with any corporate body, they are well aware of the profitability of branding and have a large range of their own brand items, ranging from Tesco Value - tacky blue and white stripe branded items which are invariably very cheap, great for people on a low budget, but you can see where the quality is sacrificed. With the exception of the bananas, they seem to bag up all the loose ones that will no longer sell as a bunch. Tesco normal range things - these include a lot of ready meals but also there own brand on things like washing up liquid, biscuits, cereals. Its very much personal choice as to whether you prefer these, but they do work out cheaper than the standard brands. Then there is the piece de la resistance, the finest range - the top quality cuts of meat, ready meals made with real ingredients, and they do charge a seriously premium price for these, and to be honest, I find the majority of them too rich.

Getting out again

I have yet to find any fault with the staff in Tesco at all, they are all well trained, polite and generally well versed in their product knowledge, so if you've picked up something that was on a BOGOF, they will say and you can go and get the other one. They will pack your bags for you and the layout of the checkouts has improved considerably giving plenty of room for pushchairs, wheelchairs and making sure you don't block the aisles to those still shopping. My local Tesco has also introduced a self checkout option, where you can swipe your shopping through yourself and pay by cash and credit card, and if that sounds risky, I can assure you they have some over eager electronic security systems in place and a member of staff per 4 tills, although it is still quicker to go through a regular till.

So do I like Tesco?

No I loathe it, I hate the atmosphere, I despair of the produce, I haven't been able to get the meat version of Kitekat for months. An average weekly shop will cost me between £70 and £100 (for a family of 4) yet I can halve that by going to my local farm market, and enjoy the food far more, but why don't I, because it takes too long, it's a 20 minute drive each way, and getting out afterwards is a pain. So more often than not, I shop week in, week out at Tesco, hating every minute of it but secure in the knowledge that its easy and on the whole good value for money, and I can get everything I need. I have also managed to pay for this years holiday with my Tesco clubcard vouchers their loyalty scheme.

So I will now descend from my soapbox and thank you very much for reading.

Edit 3/2/06

I have been a regularly contributor of opinion sites for a few years now, and have often wondered if my contributions are of any real use. This morning I went into Tesco for my weekend shop and I originally posted this review on Tuesday, and today for the first time in months, I was able to get meat kitekat pouches. Coincidence - you decide!