Morrisons

Reading Morrisons is a decent enough supermarket, but it is predominantly food focused — no extensive Tesco Extra style clothing, electronics and homeware sections — indeed no clothing at all, and electronics and homeware are each confined to one aisle. The chief virtue of Morrisons is its fresh food offering, cheesily called Market Road, that runs along two walls of the store, with a fish monger, bakery, butcher, cold meat and cheese counter, salad bar and an extensive fruit and veg section — you don’t get all that in a Tesco. The Reading store is pretty large and will fulfil most of your food shopping needs perfectly satisfactorily, although you maybe need to queue for a frustratingly long period at the check-​outs.
There is also a reasonably priced dry cleaners in store (£7−8 for a two-​piece suit), a tobacconist, a petrol station and a pretty good café. In fact, the café itself is worthy of brief comment. It offers a good selection of hot and cold food and drink, with a decent menu available, from all-​day breakfasts to lamb shank. The quality is surprising good for a supermarket café, although the wait for ordered meals can be pretty crazy at busy times. Though I was warned it could be as long as 40 minutes until I received my food on one occasion, I gambled that this was an exaggeration, only to find that if anything, it was an understatement! The café itself has recently had a much needed lick of paint applied and it no longer feels like stepping back into the 1980s when you walk in (at least late 1990s now!) One other word of note; despite it being of reasonable quality, several of the café’s staff give off the unmistakable impression that they would rather be anywhere else in the world than there serving you — one in particular, a cashier, seems to eye you with disdain if tapping in the selection of items on your tray looks set to involve the slightest engagement of brain power — and they do have a tendency at quieter times to all disappear, leaving you somewhat in the dark as to how to order food or enquire as to the status of your food order.
As for the supermarket itself, allow me to forewarn the unsuspecting shopper of a pitfall that a friend and I have both encountered separately, resulting in a disheartening put down by an overly militant check-​out clerk. If you decide to use the self-​service check-​outs, you will, before scanning your first item, be asked a question. ‘Own bags?’ the machine will enquire (somewhat directly I’ve often thought). Now this seemingly innocuous query belies the sinister implications should you make the wrong choice. If it is, say, lunchtime and perhaps you have only selected a couple of items to buy — maybe a sandwich and a bag of crisps — you may feel that in the interests of the environment, a plastic carrier bag is surplus to your requirements. But here you are being asked about the provenance of the bag you are intending to use. There is no ‘I don’t need a bag, thanks’ option, so what do you do?!? Logic would seem to dictate that since you do not require one of Morrison’s generously supplied bags, you should indicate that you have made your own arrangements in this regard. Wrong! If you say you have your own bag and in fact do not, a sneering head mistress-​like woman who has almost certainly been peering at your selection over your shoulder will abruptly intervene, inform you of your complete ineptitude, and apply her magnetic key to the machine to override your erroneous selection. For, it seems, even if you do not want a bag, the correct response to ‘Own bag?’ is ‘No’. Lesson learned!
I don’t wish to be too damning on the staff and should quickly state that the majority of check-​out assistants have been polite and some even display a personality, which is rare in supermarkets today. The shelf stackers wandering about also try their best to be helpful if you can find and corner one, and the fresh food counter staff (butcher, fish monger, etc) always seem good, willing to help and pretty knowledgeable.
One other quick tip — if you should find yourself in Morrisons, queueing with just a handful of items, you can wander through the check-​outs and instead pay at the tobacconist. This can save a good amount of time on occasions.