Your views on a good shopping experience

I think this topic covers department stores, furniture shops, fashion retailers, and all other outlets, Duncan. Shopping in some of these can occasionally be pleasant, surely?

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One of the big furniture sheds near us treats people to a cup of coffee and a cookie on arrival. I expect that is in an attempt to get us to lower our defences. Another wretched marketing import from the USA I expect.

For some shopping is a way to lift the spirits. But at what cost. Wikipedia explains it better than I can @

en.m.wikipedia.org – Retail Therapy.

Malcolm, I think I know myself fairly well by now so I will leave you to draw your own conclusions about me, but that has no relevance to the topic which is about shopping experience 🙂

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There are numerous clothing retailers [some on-line or mail-order only] that specialise in fitting the fuller figure and make healthy profits doing so. I am surprised trousers at 44 waist/29 leg are hard to find – that’s not exactly off the scale, surely?

The problem with clothes shopping is the changing sizes for women’s clothes. My wife used to be size 10, but now mainly size 8, but her waist and hip measurements are just the same. Size 8 clothes are difficult to find

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When we do a big grocery and provisions shop we do just what you recommend, Beryl. No bags required actually; we have plastic crates in the back of the car to hold the different categories of goods and they are easily transferred into the right parts of the house for storing. It also means that the kitchen doesn’t get full of stuff that then has to go up to the bathrooms.

Loading the trolley systematically also helps to speed up the getaway.

We always avoid the checkouts where volunteers are deployed to ‘assist’ customers. Last week it was the Army Training Corps and in an adjacent lane I could see the detergent going in a bag on top of the tomatoes. They looked very smart though in their camouflage fatigues and probably raised a tidy sum for their efforts.

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The crates are an excellent idea John, much better than bags. Where can I buy them? The online delivery drivers also use them and load them onto their trolleys before wheeling your shopping to your door. It might pay supermarkets to supply them to customers at a reduced price. Anything that can speed up the check out process and shorten the long queues would be welcome and maybe encourage more footfall through the door.

Thanks Duncan, in hindsight maybe a twenty year old would lack the temerity to carry out such idiosyncratic measures in a public place, but age does have its advantages and as you say we can still dream!

Beryl, you like certain (piped presumably) background music then and you have a sexist attitude? 🙂 I may have got the wrong impression 🙁
I agree about using the trolley if the car park is easily accessible.

Folding plastic crates are available in places like B&Q. Useful for storing all sorts of things and they stack well.

The World’s Best Marigold Hotel demonstrates that age is not important.

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ducan, I had my tongue in my cheek, but the rejection of pre-menstrual tension young lady assistants caught my attention. I’m sure young males suffer from a parallel condition.

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Our ‘crates’ are not quite as big as the totes used by the delivery drivers which have fold-over handles [the crates I mean, not the drivers] but they are rigid and strong [repeat]. I can’t remember where we got them – just the local hardware and novelties store I think that sells everything from dolls-eyes to fly-papers. They are slightly tapered so they stack inside each other when empty which is an advantage. I have seen similar clear plastic boxes on sale in many shops like the large Tesco’s, Sainsbury’s, etc in the Household aisle. Several types and sizes are available at Wilko, and I expect Amazon have a vast selection. Our’s don’t have lids but they are usually available as an extra. It is also possible to get lightweight crate-type boxes that have hinged ends and sides so they can be folded flat when not in use but they don’t look strong enough for heavy shopping items in bottles and cartons.

This exercise does require a degree of planning and preparation in rearranging the car to accommodate the crates.

Hello all, as interesting as this conversation is, it is going a tad off-topic…

Beryl I like your suggestion about placing shopping straight into the trolley and leaving your shopping bags in the car, but what about those of us that aren’t travelling by car and only have a couple of bags?

There’s a cashier at my local supermarket that is super speedy, I’ve never seen anything like it. Maybe supermarkets should get her to share her skills that would surely speed up the queues? In any case, after being put to shame at my slow packing abilities when served by this cashier last week, I’ve realised I need up my game. I’m heading to the supermarket tonight so we’ll see how I get on…

Many thanks John, I can now see the importance of finding the right ones for the job. I didn’t realise there were so many different types of crate!

Hi Lauren. Most of the big supermarkets have a quick ‘baskets only’ check-out, usually limited to about 6 items which tend to move fairly quickly with two or three assistants working at the same counter and would obviously only require one bag, so no problems there.

Problems arise with car owners doing a big weekly shop, or longer, with multiple buys. For example, I usually shop every two weeks at the supermarket and visit the local village store when I run short of things like milk and bread.

Bulk shopping takes much longer to move through check-out resulting in longer slow moving queues, especially during busier periods such as weekends and the run up to bank holidays.

It is the nature of families’ weekly cycle of activities that means there are more big bulk shopping expeditions at the weekends so congestion occurs particularly on a Friday evening and Saturday morning – the same times when all the other shoppers are also in a hurry. Even when all the checkouts are open queues can still build up.

When we do a big groceries and household shop we sometimes need two trollies. The first one is only half full so it becomes available quickly to take its own contents plus start on those from the second trolley. We are fortunate that we are able to do our shopping during the weekdays and usually do it off-peak so as not to experience delays or hold up other shoppers. The slight problem with that is that the stores only have two three checkouts open in the early afternoons, but at least most of the other shoppers are not in a rush. Another advantage of off-peak shopping is that there are usually more parking spaces near the exit.

As I have been writing about this today – alphabetical product merchandising, crates in the car for product categories, systematic trolley loading, time shift for shopping, double trolley operation – it has progressively dawned on me that I am probably suffering from an over-organised shopping disorder and excessive checkout efficiency syndrome. Given that whenever a group of British citizens come together anywhere in the world it only takes fifteen to twenty minutes before Tesco or Sainsbury’s are mentioned I shall have to contain my urge to join in the conversation.