Waitrose

[loulou]

There's a Waitrose just opened in Newcastle so I thought I'd go have a look yesterday.  It is more expensive than M&S.

[oldspice]

My son works part-time for Waitrose. They are very good employers. The company is run as a private partnership. There are no shareholders as such. After a qualifiying period, employees become partners and all profits, after allowing for re-investment, are shared between the staff.  He gets a good bonus every year (about £1,500).  They products are expensive, but their own label fresh foods are very good quality.  I don't buy groceries there, but I do get bread and ready meals sometimes.

[bounty hunter]

A good shop though Lou.  We have one in Newark.  They are quite posh.

[paulham]

There are 2 (I think) in Edinburgh. I got lost trying to find them last year.

[loulou]

A good shop though Lou.  We have one in Newark.  They are quite posh.

Harvey Nichols is posh but I don't buy my groceries there neither.

[bounty hunter]

I'm a Sainsbury's man.  They have the prettiest cashiers.

[loulou]

I like how Morrisons employ all the retired people.They have better manners in our local Morrisons than in Sainsburys.

[oldspice]

That's the same here too Lou.

[smurfboy]

Waitrose replaced Somerfield in the suburb where I work last year. Both are expensive but I think Waitrose has the quality to back it up. I'm quite surprised they have opened in Newcastle; as far as I knew they were very much concentrated on the South, and to a lesser extent the Midlands.

[loulou]

We had one in Durham too but I'm not sure if it is still there.
I'm not impressed with Waitrose food, the coleslaw tastes soapy and the crab pate tasted so bad it went into the bin. Not a patch on m&s.

[kevvosa]

I havent been in yet but I'll be having a look tomorrow. Do they just sell own brand stuff like M&S used to?

[smurfboy]

No, they sell branded too, but their own brand food has a good reputation.

[paulham]

Not enough to stop profits dropping.

[loulou]

Can't wait to hear if you bought anything kev.

[smurfboy]

Not enough to stop profits dropping.

According to the Metro yesterday, all the foodies are switching to Lidl and Aldi to beat the dreaded  Credit Crunch. (I've looked in the cereal aisle of several supermarkets and can't find it anywhere...)