Somer Bargains to be Found (Somerfields)

Member Name: kitschkitty

Product:	Somerfields
Date:	03/10/08 (131 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Plenty of bargains, good quality items.

Disadvantages: Small store so limited range of items, queues at tills.

Somerfield isn't my usual choice of supermarket but I've found myself visiting the Somerfield store near to where I work to grab a few essentials before jumping on the bus home. On my first visit, I was a tad disappointed as the store is small and a lot of the products were quite expensive. That said, I'm gradually being converted and have found myself becoming a bit of a Somerfield fan.

The store I visit is on Briercliffe Road in Burnley. I have to confess, I've not visited many Somerfield stores in my time but out of the few I have, there seem to be few differences. Somerfield took over rival chain Kwik Save in 1998, and many Somerfield stores haven taken over previous Kwik Save locations.

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The Good
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Despite it's compact size, the Somerfield store I've been visiting still has a good selection of food and non-food items. Obviously it doesn't include the vast array of clothes, homewares, electricals etc. that you can now find in the larger supermarkets, but if you're popping in for some household essentials, then you should find most things you need. Despite never having shopped in this particular supermarket before, on my first visit I was able to find everything I needed. The layout is simple and makes it easy to find what you're looking for.

Somerfield sells a range of own brand items as well as all the household names you'd expect to find in a supermarket. I've tried a few of their own brand products and have not been disappointed with the quality so far. As well as saving a few pennies, the food items have all tasted good. They also sell their own 'value' range and the items I've sampled so far taste great as well as being cheap.

And if you're watching the pennies, there are plenty of offers to be found at Somerfield! I've found Somerfield seem to have a lot of BOGOFs and savings available and they are often on products that I buy. It might seem a daft thing to say but I often find in other supermarkets that the special offers all seem to be on items I don't need or buy on a regular basis. In Somerfield, every section seems to have offer labels on the shelves and there are larger displays of selected offers at the end of each aisle.

I've also decided after my quick trip this evening that Friday's are my favourite Somerfield days. I visited last Friday after work and was nearly blinded by the number of yellow reduction stickers in sight! Having stocked up on 15p packets of bread rolls for the freezer last week, I had to resist hoarding more today. The discounts on the yellow stickers are quite considerable with a lot of items being 75% off. Obviously the use by dates are short but the savings make it worth while stocking up on items for the freezer or to be used quickly. The Burnley store has a section in the bakery for reduced items, as well as two separate shelf areas I've found within the store. But you'll also find some of the reduced items are left on the same shelves as their full-priced counterparts, so if you're looking for something in particular and there's a reduced one available, you're more likely to spot it. I think this is a great idea as it gives the bargain hunters a chance to grab some cheap bits from the designated discount areas whilst still allowing regular shoppers to save a few pennies on items they were planning on buying anyway.

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The Bad
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As I mentioned before, the Burnley Somerfield store is quite small and whilst it does stock a good range of items, it doesn't always give you a massive choice. Obviously this isn't a problem if you're just popping in for milk and beans but I found tonight a few of the items I would have picked up from Tesco or another larger supermarket weren't on sale in Somerfield. That said, I had only popped to get a few boxes of my cat's favourite food as it's on offer in Somerfield. Whilst I managed to pick up a few treats for me as well as some yellow sticker items, I'll still be popping to Tesco this weekend to do my weekly shop.

Also, despite having about 5 tills and a cigarette kiosk, I've never seen more than one till manned when I've visited my local store. There have never been lots of customers but I have found myself having to queue for a while to pay every time I've been there. Tonight, I paid at the cigarette kiosk as I needed to grab some cigs and I didn't want to have to queue twice.

Without wanting to generalize about all Somerfield staff, the ones I have encountered in my local store are a little slow which makes the process of queuing and paying even longer. That said, their lack of interest can work in your favour. Tonight, the man in front of me in the queue queried the price on what he'd bought as he thought his shortbread was buy one get one free. As the assistant went off to check, he admitted to me that it might have been the other ones he was looking at first that were on offer. The young man serving us came back and said he couldn't find the biscuits in question so he let the man have one packet free anyway. I also bought two of the same cheeses but one was reduced and the other full price. He scanned the reduced one twice which worked in my favour so I wasn't complaining! He then asked me my age before selling me cigarettes which made me blush and the man behind me laugh. I don't know which of these two gents offended me more!


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The Ugly
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Well now I'm just being pedantic! But there was one member of staff who I was very unimpressed by. This was during another visit when the man on the till was chatting to his mate who had come to see him for his break. He unfortunately lacked the ability to scan my shopping whilst chatting to his mate so the process was very slow and laboured. He was whinging to his friend that he should have been on his break five minutes ago and rang his bell at least 5 times whilst putting my shopping through to try and get another member of staff to man his till. Obviously this was irritating because I don't want to be hanging around the till at a supermarket after a long week at work but I also found it very unprofessional. Being British, and very very tired, I didn't actually complain about this but the Burnley Somerfield staff will have to be on their best behaviour during my future visits if they don't want me to kick up a stink!

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Conclusion
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Whilst you might struggle to find everything you need to complete a weekly shop, Somerfield do offer a good range of items. There are plenty of offers and discounts to give you good value for money and sometimes it's just nice to visit a different supermarket and think about what you're buying, rather than pushing your trolley round in autopilot and grabbing the same items week in, week out. For me, I like the convenience of having a Somerfield store right by work so I can stock up on essentials without having to fork out the ridiculous prices I would have to pay if I went to a Spar or convenience store instead. So if you've never visited because you worry about the lack of choice or the quality of the products, give Somerfield a go. You never know, you might even like it!

Summary: Somerthing different!