Waitrose

This site, right at the centre of Formby village, has been occupied by supermarkets for a long time — first Safeway, then Morrisons and finally Waitrose. The shift from one of the cheapest chains to one of the most expensive was somewhat of a shock to locals (particularly those who couldn’t drive to the local Tesco behemoth on the edge of town) how would they be able to afford the prices at the boutique of supermarkets? It was as though the water board had replaced their tap water with Chanel No.5 and was expecting them to foot the bill.
Having done a couple of shops here though I can confirm that it is nowhere near as expensive as people seem to think, particularly if you are prepared to shop from the ‘essentials’ range (the John Lewis food version of ‘smart price’, ‘basics’ or ‘value’) which offers a broad range of products from pork sausages to toilet paper at a fraction of the cost of named or premium own-​brand products and, unlike the larger supermarket no-​frills ranges the quality is certainly comparable to the more expensive stuff, even if it might not look as pretty.
There is a decent fresh produce section here (although I would suggest you head to nearby independent greengrocers, Cassidy’s, which stocks a wider and finer range) but the bakery is disappointing, with bread arriving in store part-​baked rather than baked from fresh each day and cakes which look a lot nicer than they actually taste.
Also in this branches favour is the reliability of the layout — in contrast to when the store was owned by Morrisons when shelves seemed to shuffle on an almost weekly basis.