Asda Stores

I have often remarked that if a place called «Hell» exists, it would probably resemble this Asda’s on a Saturday night.
When I lived within a stone’s throw of the place I sadly resisted the urge to throw stones at it. Instead I would go — and this is no lie — shopping there after 1 a.m. JUST to avoid the ugly (in every sense of the word) crowds this Wal-​mart offshoot attracts during more regular shopping hours.
In many aisles, Asda’s do not even go to the pretense of taking stock out of the manufacturers boxes. Instead they plop the box on the shelf, stick a price tag on the front and let you fend for yourself. I began to lose count of the number of times I got a paper cut from the sharp cardboard edges of the box.
Parking is the very definition of ‘a bitch’ although, surprisingly, traffic flow in and out of the car park is usually good. Except when the store’s adjacent petrol station is knocking a few pence off the cost of a litre of unleaded. Then it turns into a frustrating miasmatic mess of angry mouthy people all getting hot under the collar. If you can, try and use one of the (often free) bus services that frequent the store, many of them coming from far-​flung locales such as Fair Oak or Bitterne. At least then you get the pleasure of swinging your carrier bags about as you get back on the bus where there is always the chance of hitting someone across the back of their legs. If it’s someone wearing Burberry I think you get some kind of reward from the government?
Personally, I can’t bear the crowds and the apparent ignorant nature of the customers that Asda’s (unfortunately) is a magnet for. It’s the kind of supermarket where they should bolt an automatic machine gun to the front of your trolley (cart) so as to make your journey around the crowded aisles more entertaining and pleasurable.
On the upside, they do tend to staff most of the checkouts most of the time and the place almost always has the keenest prices on the products and food you really need. No doubting though that you DO pay for those discounts in other regards. In short, it’s not a place for the faint hearted — know what you want, get in there, pick your stuff up and get the hell out as quickly as possible always trying your hardest not to punch someone square in the face.

Oh ASDA, for 5 and a half years you ate a good chunk of my monthly salary. Being walking distance from where I worked was really a good and bad thing.
So this ASDA is a pretty good size, is open 24 hours (except for Sunday where the hours are cut short as per normal). The clothing section is big and located upstairs, there is a pharmacy, currency exchange, petrol station, bakery, hot food counter, fish counter, photo counter and opticians.
There are self service tills and a cigarette/​lottery kiosk and if you need cash for a visit to the Cricketers straight after work there are three cash machines available situated outside the store next to the tire centre.
A lot of parking, though at Christmas and school holidays it is much harder to park. The number 1 bus which travels between Southampton and Winchester stops literally next to the car park. Should you be going out for the night in Southampton the nightstar bus (N1) stops here so if you live nearby you can always get munchies.
The home delivery service has a charge but there are time slots of two hours available. Also the rate is often discounted if there is already a van delivering to your area.
This is the biggest supermarket in Eastleigh, there is a varied clientele (read that as ANYTHING goes). I have docked it from being a 5 star for the following reasons:
— Sometimes there are long queues.
— It’s part of the Walmart chain.:)