What a fantastic idea for a thread. I used to have a professional interest in this sort of thing, because grocery retailing was a specialism of mine as a journalist (years ago, I used to often write for the industry journal The Grocer and indeed used to subscribe to it until last year, when work took a different turn. Nielsen, Kantar and others still send me monthly figures on the supermarket sector, and they always make for interesting reading). It is an absolutely fascinating subject, and it plays an important role in all our lives.
I am lucky(?) enough to live in a fairly affluent but economically and racially diverse area of South London, so within walking distance I have a Sainsbury’s, a Sainsbury’s Local, a Tesco, Tesco Metro, Waitrose, M&S Simply Food, Aldi, Lidl, two Co-ops and an Asda, as well as a good selection of independents and specialists (eg a very good butcher, fishmonger, deli etc).
As a result, retailers use our area as a bit of a test bed for new concepts and formats. Last October Aldi opened its first-ever “Aldi Local” store (selling a smaller selection than a standard Aldi, with longer opening hours and an emphasis on fresh and chilled goods as well as “food to go”, ready meals, bagged salads, beers, wines and spirits etc), and Sainsbury’s and Waitrose have also tested new concepts and formats here.
South-West London, where I have lived for the past 30 years, has always been Sainsbury’s country, so until a few years that was my main shop.
Over the past few years I have diversified my shop - this has been the case with most people since the 2008 crash. All the data suggest we as a nation are shopping more frequently, shopping more locally (ie at places within walking distance rather than out-of-town sheds), buying less at each shop, and are shopping more promiscuously - ie, we’re becoming less and less loyal to one particular supermarket and shopping using a “portfolio”.
In my own case, I have a lot of choice, and I shop mostly at Aldi and Sainsbury’s, but use Lidl, Waitrose, M&S and the Co-op for top-ups or stuff they do well, and I buy meat from the butcher. I never use Tesco, the service and availability are terrible and the company is an absolutely horrible one. Asda is just a grothole, never go there.