All my shopping needs on one site? (Tesco)

Member Name: sandemp

Product:	Tesco
Date:	29/07/09 (104 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Convenience, Long Opening Hours, Petrol on site

Disadvantages: Not the cheapest, Out Of Town.

The town where I live is served by a number of the major supermarkets, and being cost rather than brand conscious I must admit I visit them all fairly regularly. My local Tesco is probably the largest of the bunch and situated out-of-town it is the hardest for me to get to and so the one I visit the least. Along with my local store I have visited others within a 20 mile radius and in areas that I used to live in.

With all of the major stores I've visited there's been ample free parking with plenty of dedicated spaces for disabled shoppers and those with children in tow. Unlike all the other supermarkets in the area there's no need for a pound coin to release trolleys for use. The larger stores I've used are, well large, some being almost warehouse sized, reasonably well laid out and have long opening hours. I find it fairly easy to find the particular products I'm looking for and they don't seem to move products around too often. The trolleys are, in the main, well maintained, but I do occasionally find that I've picked one that has a mind of it's own. Under normal circumstances there are plenty of hand-baskets but during very busy periods they can run out.

Most groceries are a reasonable price, but unless they are on offer, they're rarely the cheapest. The fresh fruit and vegetables are of decent enough quality and last a good few days after purchase before going off, but again they're not the cheapest available. There have been quite a few times when stock in the fruit and veg section has run very low in my local store, and this can be a tad annoying. The bakery section has a fairly good selection of both pre-packaged and freshly baked bread and I must admit that I do enjoy an occasional roll that's still warm when I pick it up. I do find that the fresh meat section is often lacking in variety and regularly under stocked.

Tesco was the first major store to introduce a 'value' brand, and this used to be the very thing that persuaded me to spend £6 travelling by train to my nearest store. Tesco's value brand is cheap, but not always the cheapest, and seems to be a bit hit and miss quality-wise. The value baked beans are extremely good value and taste ok, but their value 'cola' is revolting. Along with the value brand, Tesco also offers a standard alternative to most staples, and in the main these are as good as, if not better than the big-brands. There is also a premium range, which while tasting nice is quite expensive.

As I'm on a very limited budget I do like to get as much value for money as I can, and I will regularly stock up on reduced items that are close to the end of their shelf life and freezable. While Tesco does reduce such items, I find that the discounts are nowhere nearly as good as ,say Sainsbury, with there often being only a few pence deducted from the price. Damaged cans are similarly only reduced by a very negligible amount. As with most major supermarkets Tesco often runs such offers as Buy One Get One Free or 3 for the price of 2, but I find these are rarely on the sort of items I buy. It's staples that I need to find cheaper not luxuries such as ice-cream. I also find that more often than not other supermarkets are running offers on similar products and actually beat Tesco's price with these.

Along with groceries, my 'local' Tesco sells a comprehensive range of electrical equipment including small kitchen equipment, televisions and even computers. Prices for these are pretty reasonable and on a par with Argos. There is also a huge range of papers and magazines, with some magazines that are very difficult to find in the newsagents. In many of the larger stores (including the one I use) there is a clothing range available, some of these clothes seem to provide good value for money, with them being reasonably well made and at a low price. There is also a café in the store I most regularly use, from which I've only ever eaten one meal, which was a breakfast, and quite tasty at a competitive price. The in-store toilets are kept in a very clean condition, with toilet rolls regularly stocked up and a dedicated cubicle for baby changing/feeding.

My local Tesco has two different types of checkout, with the majority being manned and a few of the self-service. It doesn't really matter what time of day I use the store, there are always queues at the manned checkouts, and these are not open late at night. I find most of the checkout staff friendly and competent enough, but they can be very slow spending an age chatting to customers. I know friendly service is a plus, but there have been times when I've waited a good few minutes more than I needed to. It does seem that quite a few of the cashiers can't manage to talk and scan at the same time. When a problem occurs during the checkout process, the supervisors are on the main quick to respond, although there have been occasions when I've been stood waiting for a price to be checked for nearly 10 minutes. The self-service checkouts are easy to use but lack any personal touch and are not always problem free. There are occasions where they refuse to scan items, or tell me that more items have gone through than scanned, but it is easy enough to press a button and call for help.

I've only had to use customer services a couple of times and I find them reasonably knowledgeable, and certainly very helpful. When I've had to return items the process has been fairly painless with refunds given with an apology, and errors on my bill have been equally painlessly resolved. As a bonus, Tesco offers a Club Card, giving points on the majority of purchases that are regularly converted into vouchers that can be redeemed in store or on special treats. It's not the most generous of these schemes, but it's quite nice to receive these vouchers every three months or so.

Along with the actual 'supermarket' many larger Tesco's have an on-site petrol station. My local Tesco is one of these, and I must say it is the cheapest within 10 miles of my home. There are a reasonable number of pumps with a couple dedicated to 'Pay @ Pump', but it does get very busy and I do normally find myself needing to wait for a pump to become available during the day. During the night only the 'Pay @ Pump' is available and to use these a credit or debit card is needed, which is a little inconvenient if you don't have one.

As well as the larger stores, normally known as Tesco 'Extra' there are a number of smaller versions dotted about. These 'Metro' stores are far smaller with a very limited range of goods available. You won't find any of the value brand in these small shops and very often they only stock the more expensive big brand names, so they can make popping in for a loaf of bread quite expensive. But they are a little less impersonal, and normally have fairly long opening hours.

Tesco is in no way the cheapest or my favourite out of the supermarkets, it's beaten in price by one or other of my locals the majority of the time. It is however the largest supermarket in the area I live and the only one that offers 24 hour shopping. During 'normal' opening hours I find it very busy with lots of customers and at night it is often crowded with boxes as the shelves are refilled. Being 'out-of-town' it is also difficult to get to with having use of a car. But I do still find myself using Tesco quite regularly as there is a huge range of goods, some cheaper prices and if I can fill my car up for a few less pennies at the same time. As with all supermarkets, there are issues with small, local businesses being pushed out and exploitation of farmers but in this day and age we're all used to the convenience of being able to buy a whole weeks shopping in one place and I'm as guilty of this as anyone else.

Summary: Convenient but not the best