Lidl

I have a soft spot for Lidl. In Germany, I would never really step foot in one, but in the UK it seems to be different.
The first time I came here was after having been to the post office close by to collect a parcel, and I thought to myself, why not check it out. Boy, that was a good idea!
First I was a little shocked, mainly because it looks exactly like a Lidl would in Germany. Then, however, my eyes fell onto the baked goods/​bread section– EXACTLY like in Germany! (Ask any German about what they miss most and I can promise you real bread will be in their top 5)
The ciabatta bread is amazing. You get sparkling water in 1.5L bottles, not ridiculous volumes like at British supermarkets (trust me, as a German, this is very important) and you can buy Gouda (again, as a German when you’ve had your fill of cheddar, you’ll crave the subtle taste of Gouda). Generally, they stock things you can’t find at Tescos or Morrisons. They don’t do known high street brands, but their own-​brands are of a pretty good quality, and very reasonably priced at that.
Sometimes you can be unlucky because the staff (who are always friendly ad chatty) will be stocking shelves and there’ll be cages of goods around, and sometimes it can be a little ill-​stocked especially in the fruit and veg section, but that won’t deter me.

I only head here if i’m requiring somethig daft like sweet potato and can’t find it elsewhere. There never seems to be many staff here and often only one guy at the tills and a large line of sople don’t take long to form, things here are often cheaper like chocolate biscuits.

Had a quick look in here on my way to the big Tesco nearby last week.
I never know the difference between Lidl and Aldi. the same letters. the same length.
Anyhow, there were some amazing deals in here on brand names I recognised which I snapped up in an instant. Doubt I would take a gamble on alot of the food, but cheap soft drinks and booze I will not argue with.
There is alot of obscurity in terms of the layout, which is common amongst all Lidls seemingly but I won’t argue with their approach, they seem to roping in customers left right and centre thesedays.
Reminds me of some of the bland supermarkets I have encountered in Europe that dont bother with any big shiny tactics like Tesco.
Bring your own bag.

This is quite a good branch of Lidl. It is conveniently located in the St Rollox Retail park near the massive Tesco’s there. It has cheap food and drink and every week they do promotions on certain things they ship in– when it’s gone, it’s gone! Recent ones have been: welding gear, DIY gear, car stuff, dressing gowns and slippers and the like. Occasionally they do really good deals on computers and cameras and that type of thing. They usually advertise this through mail drops, so keep your eyes peeled as the stuff is very good value. The good thing about this store is that because of the location there is often a lot of the higher end more expensive food and drink to be had, so although it is expensive compared with their other stuff, it is still cheaper than the nearby Tesco’s or anywhere else (I’m talking about champagne, mussels, smoked salmon, fancy coffee, that type of thing). I would definitely recommend this store, the only thing is that there are nearly always queues as they only seem to employ a skeleton staff.