Asda, from a blokes point of view! (Asda)

Member Name: unnameable

Product:	Asda
Date:	14/01/04 (1024 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Range, Opening times, Distance between door, and alcohol aisle!

Disadvantages: popularity, early morning drag outs!

The weekly shopping. Most of us truly hates the thought of trudging around a crowded supermarket, dragging children behind you, and the obligatory trolley rage. So did I, until I moved up here to Paisley and found Asda! I'm not saying that I enjoy it, oh no. More of a lessened dislike, if you get what I mean.

Location:

Our local Asda is slam bang right in the middle of a retail park (The Phoenix) so is easily accessible by both public and private transport.

Parking could be better, but the council (gits) won't allow them to add a second entrance. So us punters have to suffer traffic jams just to get into the place!

Opening times:

Well, I know this must only be a Scottish thing due to different licensing laws, but our local store is open 24 hours 7 days a week. Yes, you've read correctly, it NEVER SHUTS!

Extremely handy if you run out of something essential in the small hours of the morning and just have to replenish the cupboards!

Range:

Well, most Asda stores I have been in tend to basically stock anything and everything.

They all have a Music & Video section which is VERY reasonable. In fact I always buy my CD's from them these days. Chart albums are only £9.97 most of the time!

Most also have a George clothing section. I must admit, a lot of my clothes are bought here. Purely because I tend to wear out my jeans so quick, honest! They also do a good range of girly frillies (wahey!)

Electrical goods are also creeping into my local store. Everything from TV's, DVD players, to PC's can now be purchased for very low prices. Currently they have a good spec multimedia PC for £597, and a flat widescreen TV for under £200!

Gift ideas is another that has crept in. A month or so before christmas they started to stock what you would call gift sets. The kind of thing you could buy at Boots for your brother (Lynx with a shower radio etc), but
for a good £1 less.

Bikes as well now! The whole area in front of the Music & Video section now reeks of new rubber! I like the smell though, but Iets not go there ;)

Their Beers, Wines & Spirits section is outstanding. Many traditional bottled beers can be found hiding on the shelves, and the same can be said for the wines. A favourite of mine has recently appeared (JP Chenet Cabernet Syrah, for anyone who's interested...none of you? awww). For almost all of the main spirit types, Asda have their own brand version. Most of them cannot be distinguished from the branded versions at all!

Oh, one last thing, they sell food!!!! A massive range of fresh fish & cooked meat can be found at the deli counter for really good prices. Also there is a wide range of cheeses, and even a salad bar!

The hot food counter is a godsend. Many a sunday I have shot round in my old banger to pick up a hot bird (chicken obviously) for a very cheap £3.

The bakery is the first place I go when I walk into the place. Not to buy bread at all. I just like to hang around and breathe in the gorgeous smell of baking bread! I'd just like to make a mention of their doughnuts. My oh my they are good! Many long hard nights have been supported by the jammy wonders!

They have an unrivalled range of fresh and frozen food, from Indian meals, to good old fashioned roast spuds. I shan't go into too much detail about the food because I'd be here forever! (and I'm sure you all know what kinds of food supermarkets sell!). I will say this though... Asda have been voted the best value supermarket in the UK for 7 years running I think it is. EVERYTHING in the shop is cheaper than their rivals. I can say no more!

Also, there is the very reasonable cafe towards the front of the store, from which you can buy a full fry up, or just a nice cuppa. A nice range of meals are always available, as well a good choice of kids meals.

Ou
r local store has just opened a photo processing counter,as well as its own opticians, which both (as I'm sure you've guessed by now), are very reasonably priced! I haven't used either yet, so I can't really comment on the actual service, but looking in from the checkouts the price and range of services at both seem very good considering they are basically concession stands in a much larger shop!



Customer Service:

You may think that to keep prices low Asda may have cut down on customer service, but you would be so very wrong. The staff are constantly trained in customer relations, and truly could not be more helpful if they tried! I don't know whether a lot of this is due to the Americanised attitudes of the company since being bought out by Wal-Mart. But I'm in no way complaining!

A really good thing about Asda's staffing regime is that there is always plenty of staff ready and willing to help with packing bags, and even helping people out to their cars! One thing that happens very often at our store is you get local youth clubs (Cadets, sports teams etc) and sometimes even the Rotary Club having a charity bag pack! Very handy for us lazy sods!

Always plenty of staff around, and the queues never get out of hand. I was so used to standing in queues halfway across the shop when doing the shopping at christmas, that I was genuinely surprised to find I waited less than 10 minutes to pay for my trolley load of junk food and lager on christmas eve!

Now a brief mention of their outstanding returns policy..... If you aren't happy with any Adsa branded food or grocery product, you can return it (with a receipt) and get a refund AND a replacement for it (their 200% guarantee). Excluded from this guarantee are items such as electrical, entertainment, sports goods, and clothing. Other brand names come under the normal refund OR replace guarantee.

Summary (and blokes opinion):


A great place to shop, with a nice simple layout aimed towards reducing the dreaded trolley rage. The distance between entrance and beer section is highly comendable, as is the distance between said beer section and the 10 items or less checkout!

I've only ever experienced something being out of stock once. It may have been partly my fault, as I was looking for strawberries in the middle of winter!

Knowing you are on your way to Asda is not as dread inducing or disheartening as may be with other supermarkets. Maybe it's the bakery smell, or maybe even the rubber smell (smirk) I don't really know. But instead of being miserable about going on our weekly shop, Asda truly makes me feel completely indifferent instead!

A whole trolley can be filled and paid for within an hour, which can only be a compliment to the planner of the layout of these places!

One more thing....no-one, I repeat, NO-ONE, can come close to a SmartPrice pork pie!

One complaint..... Sarah makes me go shopping before I go to work...and I start work at 8am :(


Thanks for reading

Marc

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