Smart Price (Asda)

Member Name: Peter2670

Product:	Asda
Date:	29/03/01 (1089 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: See opinion

Disadvantages: See opinion

I suppose that one of the disadvantages of being semi-retired is being called upon to assist with the weekly shopping which has to be done whether you like it or not.

Sometimes my heart sinks when my wife asks me to give her a hand but being the dutiful husband and father, occasionally and reluctantly agree to carry out this tedious task.

At this point I think I should run for cover and cower in a small corner of the living room as some of our female readers shake their heads and shout out that well-known phrase ‘MEN’

At the same time, however, and at the risk of raising a few eyebrows within my own gender, I have to say that ‘sometimes’ and I stress, ‘sometimes’ it can be quite a pleasant experience. Particularly very early on Wednesday and Thursday mornings, when it is relatively quiet and there are not many people about.

If you can manage to get around the store within the first hour of opening and complete the shopping – Great! - but after that, is usually when the ‘Tribes of Israel’ so to speak start to arrive at the store

Over the years, we have always visited our local branch of Asda, mainly due to convenience, as everything you need on a week to week basis is there without having to visit individual stores.

Even now, with a little bit more time on our hands the trend as continued and we don’t see any reason why it should change.

The store, as I am sure you know, has every kind of produce, provisions and confectionery available with many of the leading brand names available for the consumer.

To list and price them all would be a mammoth undertaking and I suspect that the cost of everyday household requisites on the whole would be pretty much the same within a few pence either way at any other of the well known stores.

What I would like to do, however, is pass on to readers the price of some of their very own brand of pr
oduct which may result in significant savings for the customer.

These items relate to the formally named products of ‘Farm Foods’ which has now been replaced by ‘Asda Smart Price’ and are easily identified with white labels containing red coloured writing thereon:

These are only some of the prices and comparisons that I noticed:

Product/Smart Price: Product/Leading Brand:

2 Litre Bottle low calorie Coke £0.15p 2 Litre bottle Diet Coke £1.18p.
Pack of 6 - 330ml cans of Cola £0.79p Pack of 6-330.ml.Diet coke £1 .95p
425gm tin of Rice Pudding £0.16p 425 gm tin Rice Pudding £0.54p
300gm tin of mushy peas £0.11p 300gm mushy peas £0.35p
1Litre carton fresh orange juice £0.37p 1 Litre carton fresh orange juice £0.89p
1 Litre bottle of orange squash £0.19p 1 Litre bottle of orange squash £0.84p
1 Litre bottle still mineral water £0.19p. 1 Litre bottle still mineral water £1.19p
Packet of 12 assorted crisps £0.79p Packet of 12 assorted crisps £2.18p
100 gm milk chocolate bar £0.28p 100 gm milk chocolate bar £.0.61p
76 gm carton Noodle snack £0.42p. Similar pot noodle carton £0.88p
200 gm tin of salmon £1.29 100 gm tin of salmon £1.79
400 gm tin of baked beans £0.09p 400 gm tin of baked beans £0.33p.
Total …………………& #8230;…….£4.83p Total ……………
;……………..£12.73p

There is a total saving of £7.90p

This appears to be a considerable saving in a shopping basket containing exactly twelve items. These comparisons however, have been taken to the extreme and there are other products in between the prices shown, but maybe the old saying ‘ Look after the pennies and the pounds will take of themselves’ comes into it’s own here.

Anyway, I had to make a slight detour at this point around to the bread counter and could have stayed a little longer just taking in that wonderful aroma of freshly baked bread. We bought some and later hurried home just to get some real butter on a thick fresh slice.

The egg stall immediately next door is like that of a thatched cottage with a black coloured weather cock on the roof surrounded by ornamental chickens and below a large round yellow coloured button fixed to the wooden frame work.

Curiosity will always get the better of you and once having pressed it will ultimately set off a hideous sound of hens ‘ clucking’ which seems to continue for an eternity until it stops and is pressed again and again.

Needless to say, this is always an attraction to many of the children who accompany their parents on shopping expeditions, and of course for infantile creatures like myself, and my wife glares at me when I do this.

There is also a good selection of background music continually being played and which caters for the cross section of the age group of the customers.

Songs like, ‘Killing Me Softly’ by Roberta Flack, ‘ Uptown girl’ by West Life, ‘ When A Man Loves A Woman’ by Percy Sledge and the latest No.1. UK single from Hearsay –‘Pure And Simple’ were just a few.

Of course you will always hear that annoying little Asda price tune and I wasn’t really enjoying my v
isit all that much and certainly not to the extent of running down the aisles and slapping my posterior with the flat of my hand.

Within the store is a large assorted selection of ‘George design’ ladies, mens and children’s wear.

I saw ladies casual tops from size 10 priced at £6.00 and casual trousers at size 18 priced at £16.00. There was also a selection of lingerie but I didn’t dwell to long in that area for obvious reasons.

There was a large selection of different types of clothing for the smallest of children and an equally large selection of trousers, shirts, shoes, trainers and anoraks for men at reasonable prices. The anorak in particular seemed good quality and was priced at £29.99.

There were books, magazines, electrical equipment, cards for all occasions, videocassettes, music cassettes and anything really that you could possibly want to buy.

When ever it is time to leave the store, I always look for the cashier who may be smiling the most, and who gives the impression, at least, that the job he or she is doing is enjoyable, whether they are enjoying or not. It also reduces the risk of your selection of free-range eggs becoming instantly scrambled.

Cigarettes, razor blades and newspapers can be purchased separately at a counter on the other side of the check out booth once you have paid for your goods.

There is also a counter that offers for sale perfume and fragrances for both sexes including Ghost, Paris, Moshino, Samsura Guerlan, Escape and Eternity for the ladies and Kouros, Dune, Obsession, Paco Rabanne and Allure for the men.

A chemist section provides over the counter sale of most leading brands of pharmaceuticals.

Asda also provide comprehensive healthcare cover for your pet cats and dogs from £6.79 per month. (Free phone 0800.646688 or visit www.asdaforpets.com)

With Easter just around the corner the arrival of easter eggs is now
in fullswing and hundreds of gift wrapped items now line the tops of the dairy produce fridges and frozen food counters.

The toliet facilities in our particular branch are alawys clean and tidy and are visted every hour by staff.

The café/restaurant supplies;

Full English breakfasts at £2.25p
Sunday roast beef or chicken at £2.99.
Fish & Chips with 2 slices of bread and a cup of tea at £3.59.

Asda fuel prices at the pumps currently stand at:

Unleaded petrol £0.72.5p per litre
Four star petrol £0.74.9p per litre
Diesel fuels £0.75.9p per litre.

There is also the added incentive when refuelling at Asda to redeem your Asda Fuel Card when it reaches 400 points for either one £5.00. food voucher or one £8.00 ‘George’ clothing voucher.

Asda Stores are open from:

Monday to Wednesday 08.30.hrs – 20.00.hrs.
Thursday and Friday 08.30.hrs – 21.00.hrs.
Saturday: 08.30.hrs – 20.00.hrs.
Sunday: 10.00.hrs –16.00.hrs.
Some branches are open: 24 hours a day

Clearly the choice of shopping venues is a personal matter and our choice as revolved around Sainsbury’s, Mark & Spencer and Morrisions but more often than not for sheer convenience at Asda Stores.

We all have our different preferences in this regard and may not even consider purchasing some of the cheaper products that I have referred to.

However, I hope that this information will prove useful to someone.



Many thanks,
Peter2670.


Update: I apologise to readers and to Dooyoo about the comparison table as it did not turn out the way it was written.

However, having printed the version you can actually make sense of it where the prices on the left are that of 'Smart Price and the figures on the right are those of a similar lea
ding brand. Suffice to say that the difference between the cost of the 12 items was £7.90.

I do beg your pardon, also, because I forgot to mention that you can shop online @
www.asda.co.uk

Thanks
Peter2670

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