I have to disagree - I'm really happy with my Somerfields! (Somerfields)

Member Name: SapphireSunflowr

Product:	Somerfields
Date:	09/03/09 (69 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Handy location, decent value as lots of offers on staple foods, good quality fruit and veg

Disadvantages: Smaller shops sometimes don't stock all the value brands

The nearest supermarket to us is a Somerfield, but I've always wished we had another one closer as I'm sure I'd be getting much better value for money. However after coming back from trips at both Aldi and Tesco without any more food than I buy for the same price at Somerfield (£25 a week), I am almost disappointed to report that I think the difference in negligible - and once you add in bus fare and the extra time it takes to get to the other stores it's actually the best value option.

Quality of the food:
Very good. I have been very impressed with Somerfield's healthy choice beans, their own brand filled pasta and pasta sauces, and the quality of their fruit and vegetables. Their broccoli lasts longer than Tesco's, and their bags of potatoes (both normal and sweet) last us a very long time without sprouting/going bad. The sell by dates on the shelves tend to be quite good too.

Offers:
Also very good. I find more food staple items on offer here than in other supermarkets - we pretty much always get our cheese half price, pasta sauce is very often on offer (currently Ragu is BOGOF and Lloyd Grossman 2 for £2), potatoes often on offer (currently 2kg for £1.20), vegetables (broccoli 50% extra)... and so forth. The offers today have meant that we were able to treat ourselves to chicken breasts and bacon (both half price) - much better than the supermarkets who are rightly critised for only ever having snack and treat food on offer. The reductions are good too - depending on how late you go, reductions go from 25% to 33% to 50% to then 75% off, all clearly marked and decent reductions, not like the ones you often get in other stores where once you've peered closely at the before price you realise you're only saving 15p....

Staff:
There seems to be a lot of negative comments about Somerfield staff, but to be honest I've only really ever had good service! We have one checkout lady who always speaks to us and is very friendly, once when pasta sauce was wrongly priced they reduced our items to honour the price tag, even though it was wrong, and only once have I had a small problem, when there was not enough cash in the till to give me cashback - but the staff were very apologetic.

Today I've come back from Somerfield, having spent a total of £23 (to the penny, very odd!) on a multitude of both goodies and staples, making use of offers and own brands to get what I think will be a healthy and tasty week of food for two people. Not only beans and jackets for me this week, I even managed to sneak a pot of natural yoghurt in there. Our store is quite small and doesn't stock all of the own brands - so some things, such as bread flour, balsamic vinegar and cleaning products are more expensive than I could find elsewhere, but this is a small inconvenience - I just pick them up when I'm passing another brand's store. I have to go against the tide here then, and say I'm very pleased with my local Somerfield, when I really didn't expect to be!

Summary: A satisfied customer!