Waitrose is an odd concept to me.
I come from Ireland, where there's no Waitrose equivalent, so it's really strange to me that there's a supermarket which is seen as 'fancier' than the others. M&S is a whole other beast to be honest...
I visited Waitrose and was super excited. I'm not sure why, I guess I was expecting a butler or something equally fancy. There was no butler, but in his place there was almost everything else I could think of.
I had a wander round and noticed that the whole place is really nicely laid out. The aisles are a decent width and no section is particularly overwhelming (which sometimes I find in Sainsburys or Tesco) you know, when you go looking for say, tomato sauce, but there's so many different tomato sauces! What do I do?! Do I buy all of them? None of them? What if I get the wrong one? Maybe I should get three different ones, just in case...
This is why I don't go out much.
There was a really nice meat counter and a decent fruit and vegetable selection too. I enjoyed the 'By Heston' items and their mad ingredients. I found the prices a bit much. Many things were 10-20% dearer than what I'd normally pay and often included one extra word in the title, like 'Madagascan' or 'Sumptuous'.
My favourite part was when I paid, I was given a token to put in a big box. I could choose between two big boxes and the tokens would be counted at the end of the month to decide what local charity Waitrose would donate money to. I felt charitable and in control, all while just doing my shopping! Now that's a good scheme.
Overall, it's nice but it's 'too' nice for me. I don't like the idea that I need fancy butter, with diamonds or some such in it, and I have no intention of paying through the nose for the privilege. I'll probably pop in now and again for a looksie but I won't be doing my weekly shop here. read more