Reviewing Sainsbury's does seem a little silly when this is the only big one in Cardiff but I feel…read moreI need to draw special attention to its card section. I'm usually disappointed by the cards in supermarkets, although it's usually the place I am when I remember that I need to get one and it's too late to go anywhere else. This is the situation I found myself in today, and readied myself to buy a boring card that's the same as you see everywhere else and will probably be the same as another card on the mantelpiece of my friend whose birthday it was. In my previous visits to Sainsbury's (and I do go there a few times a week) I had noticed the card section at the front of the store and assumed that it was pretty small, but I was surprised to find that there was rather a large selection to choose from. And they weren't all just your standard Hallmark cards either; they had lines that I'd never seen anywhere else and were really lovely. As well as the birthday card I needed, I found loads of blank cards with gorgeous pictures that I bought just because I liked them, and I ended up spending around £8 in total, which I think is rather a lot to spend on cards. This was not because they were expensive either, with most standard size cards costing around £1.50. So next time you need to buy someone a card, do not underestimate Sainsbury's! (Oh, and on a slightly different subject, this Sainsbury's petrol station is also the only place I know of where you can pump your tyres up for free. Thank-you, Sainsbury's)

My favourite supermarket in Cardiff as at the moment I sadly can't quite afford to go to Waitrose…read moreon a regular basis. This Sainsburys supermarket is big, but is by no means as intimidating as Tesco Extra can be (if you go with friends you can very easily loose them in Tesco's). They have a great selection of food at all prices available, and I particularly like Indian and Chinese ready meal selection. They also have a fresh fish and meat, delicatessen, and bakery counters, all manned by really lovely staff. Finally I'd also recommend checking out their DVD selection as prices are rather cheap, I managed to buy New Moon the week it came for only £7.99 (so I can now swoon at Robert Pattison to my hearts content).

Not the best of supermarkets, in fact I drive halfway across Cardiff to shop in Sainsburys instead…read more The selection of food here is ok, but they really don't have much in the way of quality products or specialist foodstuffs. Additionally they're not particularly great when it comes to stocking organic and fair-trade food products (not verygood in this day and age). I have noticed that I have plenty of offers on in store, especially when it comes to branded goods such as Pringles, Coca Cola, Penguins etc... making them much better value than in other supermarkets. As you've probably noticed from my list however, they really only generally have offers on junk food (no wonder we're all getting obese). I do come here though, quite regularly when I'm after DVDs, video games and electronic goods, which in my experience are often cheaper than even Amazon.com. So that's something too really bear in mind.

When I need a big local supermarket this is where I come. I must admit that I don't tend to buy…read moremuch food in here as my local Coop has better bread, biscuits and own-brand goodies. But for the bulky thing ASDA is just the job. Yesterday we bought toilet rolls, cat food, washing and cleaning stuff and a stock of shampoo that should last until 2012. The clothing department seems to have lost the plot in the last few years. There used to be nice things and now we wonder who exactly wears this stuff. The home department is very cheap and good for replacing broken dishes and worn-out pans. Don't ever buy the 'Smart-Price' pans, they last about 11 seconds before losing all their coating and going rusty.

The food at tesco is okay... could be better. The sushi's very bland but the coconuts there are…read moredelicious. The service is mid too with the workers being very moody, (fair enough, they're at work) and the cashiers sometimes being too fast and aggresive. The ambiance is pretty good to be fair with decent music playing and the whole thing kinda feels like a chill vibe.

It's super and it's a store. What's handy about this Tesco is actually, although the shop is huge,…read morethe food bit is comparatively small. So you can trolley round in a fairly efficiently short time. But what I like about it is the in-store optician. You can get a pair of prescription glasses for £10!!! Ok, you have to choose style from the seventies, but for a tenner who cares? There's also all the gubbins you'd expect, pharmacy, electronics, home goods, home bads, clothes.... But this Tesco is where all the student's go as the accomdation is very near here. So can be busy at beginnings of terms. It's also often pretty hectic at the weekend with queues coming in and out of the car park.

Excellent supermarket. Great range of goods, branded and own brand. Some specialist cooking…read moreingredients are lacking but their fresh produce more than makes up for it. Morrissons sell the best freshly prepared food around with baked sweet and savoury pies & pasties, rotissarie chickens, deli and their freshly baked farmhouse and specialty breads are the best around. Miles better than bland & tasteless Tesco.

From the owner: Take a trip to your local Morrisons for everything from your weekly food shop, to clothing,…read morehomeware, electricals and more. Head to Market Street to enjoy fresh, locally sourced produce. You can use our store locator to find a store near you or shop online and have your groceries delivered straight to your door. Our handy click and collect service means you can shop online as normal, choose a location and collection slot to suit you, and pick it up.

Excellent large branch of Tesco with just about everything you'd need! Huge grocery area with…read morecountless aisles of fresh, tinned and frozen food; a marvellous greetings card and stationery section; large range of clothes, shoes and accessories for all the family; homewares of many kinds - for every room of the house - and so much more. There's a small cafe, toilets (including a disabled one), and a huge car park, petrol station and car wash next to the store.

Conveniently located with ample parking, this Waitrose has a nice cafe area for working or a nice…read morebreakfast with friends. This store never seems to be too busy which is result of many employees on staff at all times and a good mixture of cashiers and self checkout.

Middle sized supermarket with a good range of products. Fair sized car park…read more Also has fuel and garage shop.

Great supermarket. It's got good prices and a wide range of stock. If you go an hour or so before…read moreclosing you can get some good price reductions on stuff like deli chicken and pasties.

Easy to pop into, with both self check and regular check out, with speed.read more

I'm probably a bit too keen with reviewing this store because when I was in there last week it…read morestill looked half like a building site! Recently a crop of supermarket mini stores have appeared on St Mary's Street. There was nothing and now there is Spar, Tesco and Sainsburys all no doubt trying to capture business from all the local workers. Well this branch seems a bit smaller than the one on Queens Street with less general items and more lunch/convenience stuff and one of their brilliant salad bars. I'm sure it'll do well, once it looks like a shop!

This is a good little Spar store. It sells food and coffee to go (lattes are £1.50), as well as…read morehaving a bakery. It's also an off-license and sells lottery tickets. Perhaps best of all it has a free ATM. As with so many of the Spar shops it has free off-road parking. What more could you want? I love Spar stores for a whole host of reasons, the main one being that Spar is a franchise like Londis and the Life Style convenience stores, and so they are owned as independent businesses, and are not to be confused with supermarket chains. The essential and important difference is that supermarkets make their profits for the organisation, whereas shops like Spar are profitable for the individual owners. A friend told me an interesting statistic the other day... apparently 80% of the money spent at supermarkets leaves the local economy whereas 80% of the money spent at independent stores remains within circulation locally, which is great if it's true! If high percentages of money leave a localised area, then impoverishment will eventually ensue. So, to retain 80% of the money you spend within the area in which you live means the opposite! I can often buy things cheaper here than I can at bigger supermarkets. I find it interesting that we have all bought into the fallacy that supermarkets sell things cheaper. It's just not true in many instances! There's no denying that the massive supermarket chains indulged in a price war to kill off their smaller competitors, but when they felt that they had done as much damage as possible, they allowed their prices to steadily rise, allowing them to make more profit per customer. Perhaps what they didn't reckon with is that shops like Spar and Londis were going to preserve a lot more independently owned convenience stores than they thought. Not only is this competition essential to keep the larger stores in line, but it also means that local convenience stores have access to larger bulk buying discounts, thus often making them more able to undercut the big boys! Because Spar shops are all franchises, they can, if they want, participate in national promotions, and offer discounted items for a limited period. Not every Spar shop is the same. Being independently owned means that the proprietor of each shop can buy in stock that is culturally relevant to the local area in which they trade. This has to be seen as a distinct advantage Spar has over its larger rivals, but the main benefit to the local communities which they serve is that when locals shop at Spar they are making an investment in the future!