I'm the food editor - can I really be seduced by Aldi? - 0 views
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I’ve spent the past decade explaining that while I know a lot of people love shopping at Aldi and Lidl, it has never been a place for someone like me — ie middle class, affluent and, as you’re never shy of telling me below the line, a bit of a snob when it comes to food.
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Yes, there were savings to be made, I argued, but they were not as great as you might think, and they certainly didn’t compensate for the miserable experience of visiting a store, with its lack of choice and long queues.
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not any more. I take it all back. Aldi and Lidl have got me right where they want me: in their stores with my wallet in hand, most recently picking out a nice wood-fired sourdough pizza and a packet of porcini, chanterelle and truffle-stuffed ravioli. Middle class, moi? I’ve been well and truly snared.
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Aldi’s progression highlights the trend. Its first UK store in 1990 was in a working-class area of Birmingham. Now it has identified Oxford, Harrogate and Tunbridge Wells as its next targets, and claims to have attracted an extra 1.3 million shoppers over the past year, two thirds of whom are ABC1
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my resistance has been twofold. First, I’ve wrongly valued being given a choice. I’ve wanted to choose between five different types of plain yoghurt
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It’s a fallacy, of course. All that choice really provides is a greater opportunity for the marketeers to manipulate you. The supermarkets have been perfecting the art of upselling you for decades. You don’t stand a chance. The lack of choice on the discounters’ shelves is liberating and means you can get the shop done in a fraction of the time.