ASDA

Our Safeway was bought out by Morrisons, which seemed to be a good thing but then Morrisons couldn't decide what they wanted to do with the stores they got here and the stocklist went barmy for awhile. You could tell the store was on hold, treading water, in terms of the changes that should have come with the buy-out. So today the news is confirmed, Morrisons has sold its stores here to Asda and they should be fully changed over for September.

So, is that a good thing? What is Asda like? How does it compare to the other grocers? Good stocklist (for ethnic and American type foods, which Safeway was very good at)? Good service? Or crap?

Our Safeway was bought out by Morrisons,and then became a Somerfield. All in the space of a year. I wish it were an Asda. The Asda near us in Greenwich is great.Asda is very competitive price wise. They are owned by Wal-Mart.

jc

Wow really? I have never been to an Asda but my friend buys everything there, including clothes for herself and her son.  We have 2 Safeways/Morrisons near us and I think they're great, especially their bakery & cheese counter - about a million times better than the old Safeway.

I personally don't like either overmuch. Morrisons selection is always poor IMO and I hate that they shrink wrap so many of their fruit and veg.

We shop at Asda when we're really tight on money. I hate supporting a WalMart company for lots of reasons that have nothing to do with their selection which has improved regarding ethnic foods. 3 years ago when I first shopped there, I thought they were horrible. For example, they just recently started carrying pinto beans! Their organic selection is appalling as far as I am concerned.

But I do shop there, especially when money is tight because they are probably the cheapest supermarket in the UK.

We mostly shop at ASDA b/c money is tight.  And they have Bisquick for 98p/box! 

But we do get some things at Sainsbury's b/c it's the only place that carries certain brands or items.

On the whole, however, ASDA suits our needs and especially our budget. 

It's a good place if you're the type of person who cooks everything from scratch.  They deffo don't have the nice ready meals a la Marks & Spencer's, but we never eat ready meals anyhow.

We shop at ASDA because there's a huge one about 5 minutes from our house.  The prices are great and I do like that you can get non-food items there.  For organic/health foody stuff, I do go to a little shop on our high street, though.  I agree w/ expat -- it's especially good if you put meals together yourself rather than relying on ready meals.  The produce and meat selections are always nice. 

We shop at Asda when we're really tight on money. I hate supporting a WalMart company for lots of reasons that have nothing to do with their selection which has improved regarding ethnic foods. 3 years ago when I first shopped there, I thought they were horrible. For example, they just recently started carrying pinto beans! Their organic selection is appalling as far as I am concerned.

Ditto for me. I can't support WalMart or anything to do with it. I'd rather pay more and feel better about myself. Honestly, though, it's not a tough decision to make as I've never been impressed with Asda. I go to Tesco or Somerfield, which are our only other two supermarkets. When I'm in Cornwall visiting the BF, I shop at Sainsbury and that makes me really happy!

However, from my experience, any of these supermarkets (Asda, Safeway, Morrison's, Tesco, Somerfield, etc.) is going to vary in quality and selection depending on where it is. They all cater to the demographics of their consumer base. I live out in the country surrounded by meat 'n' potato eating farm families, so none of our supermarkets has a very good selection of ethnic foods or pricey gourmet stuff. But if I drive an hour to a Tesco in another town, I find a completely different seelction.

Even though we are on a seriously tight budget, we refuse to buy our meat at Asda. To me, WalMart, and by extension Asda, is the epitome in encouraging price wars and furthering horrible intensive farming practices. I'll cope with that with veggies and cereal when I'm on a budget but not with animals.

If I had my way, I'd shop at Waitrose but sadly they aren't local and wouldn't suit our budget these days. 

Thanks for all the input, guys. I am not too keen about the Wal Mart connection either because of their awful labor practices (won't step inside one in the states because of it). I'm not left with a load of alternatives in the area I want to/can use, either, though. Well, I've a couple months anyway before it opens to see what happens. Maybe we will end up splitting our shopping even more than usual -- some stuff from the town, some stuff from the corner shops/bakeries/butchers, and this and that from the bigger stores.

However, from my experience, any of these supermarkets (Asda, Safeway, Morrison's, Tesco, Somerfield, etc.) is going to vary in quality and selection depending on where it is. They all cater to the demographics of their consumer base. I live out in the country surrounded by meat 'n' potato eating farm families, so none of our supermarkets has a very good selection of ethnic foods or pricey gourmet stuff. But if I drive an hour to a Tesco in another town, I find a completely different seelction.

Yes, I think your're quite right. Our Morrisons in the centre of the city has a very large range of basic ethnic foods because there are so many foreign students. The (smallish) ASDA in the suburbs has a very large range of crap ready made meals and fizzy drinks but is very poor for basics (although at least their veg aren't shrink wrapped). In all shopping price surveys Morrisons actually comes out cheaper than Asda. However, if you compare named brands (as opposed to own brands), Sainsburys is actually no more expensive for many lines.

I like to shop at the ASDA in Edinburgh over by the Corn Exchange.  I think they have a lot more American and ethnic foods because the store is closer to the students.  My sister and niece prefer the store on the east side of town because it's near the Big W.

ASDA has great prices on canned goods and staples.  When we do a "Big Shop,"  we come home with cases of macaroni cheese, chopped tomatoes, big bags of flours, big trays of meats, etc.  Their fresh fruits and veggies are a deal, too.  We divvy it all up and add up our costs.  We figure we are saving a ton of money shopping like this.  Yeah, gotta get a Costco card.

We mostly shop at ASDA b/c money is tight. And they have Bisquick for 98p/box!

But we do get some things at Sainsbury's b/c it's the only place that carries certain brands or items.

On the whole, however, ASDA suits our needs and especially our budget.

It's a good place if you're the type of person who cooks everything from scratch. They deffo don't have the nice ready meals a la Marks & Spencer's, but we never eat ready meals anyhow.

They have great ready-meals!! They have the Good for you selection which is great b/c it's so much easier to look for that to think healthy rather than low fat this, low cal that. Just simple. Plus, I've had the non-healthy ready meals and been quite happy with them. Asda is where I'll be shopping

I found M&S better, but pricier.  However, don't do ready meals these days as most aren't big enough to feed a family and budget constraints mean we cook all our meals from scratch.

M&S is  the best! Not very practical for the weekly shop though. 

I don't like ASDA too much. The one by me is full of townies.  The Safeway I used to go to is now a Morrison's, and I like it alot better than Safeway. I go to Sainsbury's.