What's your favorite grocery store to shop at?

With the UK having a variety of grocery shops it's sometimes a challenge finding everything in one place. So which one/s are your favorite and why? Do they have good customer service? Is it convenient to find the items you're looking for? I love Waitrose, Sainsbury's and Marks & Spencer But in a pinch I'll go Tesco for bulk items 

I hate going to Tesco and Asda. If I needed to do a shop and they were my closest/most convenient options, I would rather inconvenience myself. We very rarely go there. DH prefers to go to wherever is easiest, so sometimes I get dragged there against my will.

We mainly shop at Sainsburys and Morrisons. There is a Morrisons across the road from us, so we go there a lot for fresh veg, but we don't particularly care for their breads and chicken. We generally do half at Sainsburys and half at Morrisons. I haven't been to Waitrose yet, but I do like M&S. 

I love Marks & Spencer's for their quality and selection  of specialty type items. Their customer service is excellent. However, the store itself is extremely cramped and I always can't wait to get out of it.  I do choose carefully though, as it is expensive.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I love going to Home Bargains for dry goods. Super cheap, wide aisles, huge packs of toilet paper and a big selection of personal items as well.  I know it's not a grocery store, but ours has tons of boxed/canned/dry grocery items at excellent prices.

We take advantage of the independent marketers in our town for meat, fish and produce. Great quality and price.

Well, we do our shopping at Morrisons...and to save a pound or two also at Aldi. We go to both places every week. I'm not a big fan of Morrisons, well, ours anyways, as I cannot tell you how often I end up throwing some of our food out BEFORE its use by date. Hubby and mum love Morrisons though, so that's where we go.

I live within a 15-minute drive of 4 Sainsbury's, so that's where I shop more often than not.  
Their customer service doesn't concern me, as i almost always use the self-serve checkout machines, and so never end up speaking to the staff.

I also live near a Morrisons, but rarely shop there, as i hate all their bakery stuff.  I dont know what's in their flour (??), but everything in their bakery tastes weird to me.

Awaiting the collected gasp of shock.

I like ASDA.  Their prices are good, their selection is good, and both DH and I find that their products (meats, produce, etc.) are of great quality (could be our store though as I've heard other people feel differently).  My husband HATES the store though as he feels that it's poorly lit and always crowded.

I just went to Home Bargains for the first time on Sunday.  We were AMAZED by the selection and the prices and will definitely be back.

I'm always after markdowns, so it's mostly late(ish) evening shopping at Morrisons, Co-op and Tesco for us. I also shop the markdowns at our corner shop and the fruit and veg markdowns at the market here. Sainsbury's is ok on their markdowns, but they don't mark things down until way too late for me to go since it's a mile and a half away and I'd have to walk it. Aldi and Morrisons are the only places I'll pay full price for something. The customer service is fairly good at all of our local stores.

The only quibbles I have against Aldi are that they never mark down fruits or vegetables, and they never have anything in stock on Saturdays, just rows of empty bins!

I cook and freeze a lot of things, plus do preserving and canning, thus why I'm always after the mark downs. I also have time to make rounds of certain stores on certain days, which I know some people don't have the luxury of doing.

Is it me or is Tesco a nightmare to shop at? DF and I have been going there a lot lately since it's the closest and everytime (no matter what time of the day we go) it's super busy. Parking is a nightmare, carts are always taken or people will nearly run you over just to get to a packet of crisps. YIKES! I agree the M&S is a tight squeeze but their food is really good

Is it me or is Tesco a nightmare to shop at? DF and I have been going there a lot lately since it's the closest and everytime (no matter what time of the day we go) it's super busy. Parking is a nightmare, carts are always taken or people will nearly run you over just to get to a packet of crisps. YIKES! I agree the M&S is a tight squeeze but their food is really good

Parking issues obviously vary from shop to shop. Where I live, M&S is the nightmare. Unless you go first thing in the morning or just before closing, forget about finding a parking space.

A friend of mine has worked in HQ-management for two of the major supermarkets and she told me something interesting about fruit & veg. Apparently, all produce that goes to supermarkets (whether from the UK or from overseas) is graded, with Grade A being the best.

M&S gets Grade A. Waitrose gets Grade B. Tesco and Sainsbury's get Grade C. Morrison's and the Coop get Grade D. And poor little Asda gets the bottom of the barrel.

So you do get what you pay for.

Me? I prefer going to farm shops and buying local.

Parking issues obviously vary from shop to shop. Where I live, M&S is the nightmare. Unless you go first thing in the morning or just before closing, forget about finding a parking space.

A friend of mine has worked in HQ-management for two of the major supermarkets and she told me something interesting about fruit & veg. Apparently, all produce that goes to supermarkets (whether from the UK or from overseas) is graded, with Grade A being the best.

M&S gets Grade A. Waitrose gets Grade B. Tesco and Sainsbury's get Grade C. Morrison's and the Coop get Grade D. And poor little Asda gets the bottom of the barrel.

So you do get what you pay for.

Me? I prefer going to farm shops and buying local.

I love shopping locally for meats and fresh fruits and veg. I just don't think in DF's current flat in SE London that there's any nearby. Hence why we're looking to move out of this flat once I move over

I also live near a Morrisons, but rarely shop there, as i hate all their bakery stuff.  I dont know what's in their flour (??), but everything in their bakery tastes weird to me.

Thank you. I'm glad it's not just me. I don't like their bakery stuff either. Saying that, I bought a couple of rolls from there last night and they were shockingly good.   Now that I've said that, I'm sure I will never be able to find them again.

LittleMissSarcasm - I agree. Tesco is a nightmare to shop at. The parking lot is always jam packed. It's always full of people who are either ridiculously impatient and run you over with their shopping carriage or with people who walk wicked slowly and spread out so that it's impossible to pass them. I also feel that way about Asda. It's unfortunate because I think they have a better selection of dry stuff in comparison to Sainsburys and Morrisons.

Chary, I agree with you about farmshops and buying locally. I'd prefer to do that myself and once we're more financially secure, we fully intend to shop at our local farmshop more. They also have the most amazing Bailey's Cheesecake. That alone is reason enough for me to forsake the supermarkets.

Morrison's for me. It's the closest, we find them the best for fruit and veg, they have a great fresh fish counter and I prefer their fresh baked breads, oh and they have the best bottled beer selection! 
We like Aldi and Lidl for some basic items.
But can't beat our local market for meat, fish, fruit and veg.

DW likes Tesco occasionally but it's a pain to get to, other side of town and it's hell if you go at the wrong time!

Weekly organic veg box delivered from Riverford. Meat from the butcher on our street - sourced from the Yorkshire Dales. Most of the rest from Morrisons - also on the street where we live. Occasionally shop for other odds & ends (what can't be found at those already) in Sainsburys, Waitrose, or M&S - in that order usually.

I'd like to shop more at Home Bargains, but it's in city centre & I'm not - so there's a limit to how much I can schlep home on the bus (we don't drive to city centre). I tend to forget about it, but I should check it out more for sure! Oh & I like Wilkinsons too for some stuff.

Btw, my in-laws (OAPs) love Asda & Lidl - both for price & quality.

Honestly, I'm not that picky.  But chary, I didn't know about the graded produce thing, sorry to hear that Morrisons is a grade D. 

I shop at the same Morrisons as Mrs.Robinson.  It's less than half a block from my work and I walk to and from work, so it's perfect.  I like to get in and out and convenience is the most important thing to me for the most part.

Well lets see..
No large shopping area in my immediate area. I'd have to drive 10 to 15 minutes to get to any large shop.
I shop at ASDA purely for cost and its closest to work and home.

If I could afford to I'd shop at sainsburys which is actually a bit closer to home .. by a few mile than ASDA but just too expensive for me to justify.

So there ya go. lol