American Reacts to Popular British Supermarkets

As an American I don't know anything about British grocery stores, so today I am very excited to learn about what the most popular grocery stores are in the UK and what they are like compared to the ones in the United States. If you enjoyed the video feel free to leave a comment, like, or subscribe for more!

[SiGr]

i am american myself, but i live in the UK. i can confirm, ALL UK supermarkets are literally like the high end supermarkets in the US. they are all very appealing, laid out beautifully, lighting is always great, very well maintained, pricing what you see is what you pay unlike back home in the US as the price of the product and the tax for it are calculated together so hence the one price. the variety of food here in the uk is amazing, Literally you can get food from any corner of the planet suprisingly, and the Qaulity is always great 9/10.

the other great thing here in the UK, you can literally go into ANY store, and you will find a huge range of alcohol to buy and you can purchase it 24/7 :)

[stephenheathfield]

One of the first things Walmart did when then they took over ASDA was to take away the staff discount on purchases. As a response Tesco offered their staff discount to ASDA staff. The resulting bad publicity forced Walmart to re-introduce ASDA's staff discount.

[LB-myej]

In the UK aisles are wide and the lighting is good. Music is piped throughout the supermarket and shopping is not stressful. Even Aldi and Lidl have wide aisles. The American obsession with eggs is amusing. Our eggs don’t need cooling as they are not washed to remove the natural protection unlike US eggs which are washed.

[WijaLE]

In the UK, the 'big four' supermarkets' own food is like a budget version of big brands. There are however two supermarkets here, Marks & Spencer, and Waitrose, that are very much seen as the 'posh' shops, with waitrose even selling produce grown on land owned by the Prince of Wales (possibly worth a separate reaction). The supermarket own food from those two are like the foods that other brands aspire to be.

[Walesbornandbred]

Fun fact:
When nature designed chickens eggs there were no fridges so the egg developed a coating on it's shell that would keep it fresh for weeks. Unless your government washes the egg in disinfectant thereby removing it's protection. Thats why we don't keep them in fridges.
Monger is another word for seller.
Most grocery stores are similar and come in a few different sizes the main difference are the prices.

[ukfmcbradioservicingTango]

You mentioned free bags not being at Aldi. The UK government don't allow free bags at supermarkets, to stop plastic bags ending up all over the place & in landfill. You are encouraged to pring your own reuseable bags.

Richard, UK

[Peterraymond]

Tyler. There are regulations that cover shelf labels in the UK. The label must first be accurate, it must include the price weight/volume, how much per unit, price per portion etc. this should allow the customer to make a good assessment based on price, if they care to do the work. For instance is a 12 pack of Coke cheaper than, singles, 4 packs, 8 packs, 24 packs?

[jacquiharney]

Waitrose and Marks and Spencer are more up market supermarkets, their foods are generally a bit more expensive but better quality. Marks and Spencer is more than just a supermarket though, it's also very well know for selling clothing, furniture, bedding etc... Marks is a bit of an institution in the UK, it's also known as M & S, it's been around since 1884.

[stuartfitch]

US eggs are put in the fridge section because they are chlorine washed before packaging.

UK eggs are like like the rest of Europe. They are not refrigerated because they are not chlorine washed before packaging.

In Europe the emphasis of egg quality is put more on the clean environment in which the egg is laid and the welfare of the chickens themselves. An example being many people in the UK won't buy battery laid eggs, they will only buy free range eggs.

If you fry a UK egg and compare it to a US egg you will see that the yolk on the UK egg is a much more natural colour. It is a brighter yellow/orange yolk than in a US egg. This is due to the much more natural way we keep the chickens and how we don't do anything to the eggs prior to sale.

[JarlGrimmToys]

What’s strange is I’ve always heard Americans say they heard we don’t have much of a selection of food to choose in the UK.
But every American who has been to a UK supermarket seems to say they’re really surprised by how much variety of products we have.

[sjchan]

Tesco, asda and sainsburys offer banking, insurance, even utilities gas & electric.

[martinsear]

Walmart and Target both tried to expand in the UK, they failed mainly due to our union laws here. They also failed in Germany for the same reason. Walmart ended up buying out ASDA to keep a foothold here.

[vernonallen]

ASDA was originally Associated Dairies, they contracted the name to the first two letters of each word.
Tesco also offer things like mobile phone contracts and Sainsbury’s have their own online banking services

[valeriewalker]

Most of our supermarkets have cafes in store and you can have a sandwich, cake or a meal. Also hot or cold drinks as well. Some also have a pharmacy.

[Lily_The_Pink]

Most British supermarkets offer ranges of food at different price levels, ranging from luxury to value. But the higher prices for the luxury ranges aren't always justified.
The main supermarkets have different sized branches, ranging from huge out of town stores to local convenience stores which are much smaller. The larger ones will sell clothes, toys, homewares as well as a wide range of food. The smaller ones just stock the basics and are sometimes attached to a petrol station or motorway services.

[brianhepke]

I remember my mum shopping at Morrisons in the very early 60's. It was the only branch at the time on a street corner in downtown Bradford. It was originally in Rawson Market but obviously decided to make the move when bigger premises were needed.
It wasn't "glamourous" very much like a "stack 'em high and watch 'em fly" kind of set up.
We used to travel downtown every weekend to buy our provisions there and carry them home on the bus in huge holdalls.

It was the only supermarket around at the time.... in the days when the corner shop dominated the suburban market. Those were expensive so it made sense for her to go on a weekly basis, with a couple of my siblings in tow to help with the schlepping!

Then in the early 70's the company relocated out of the city centre to a purpose built warehouse type of structure, which was more in line with what the modern day supermarkets look like today. From there the company went from strength to strength.

I like shopping there, from a nostalgic point of view, obviously the company has been bought and sold a couple of times and only retains the name, but it kinda feels like "going home" whenever I am in there.

[therealroadie]

eggs have a natural protection against bacteria, in america they wash the eggs removing this protection in the UK we dont wash our eggs and they can sit out at room temp

[dsrai]

We have big supermarkets like the US where they sell food, clothes, electronics etc etc. Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda being the most popular, but there are others that target people on a tighter budget like Lidl and Aldi, they’re both German stores and have become a lot more popular in recent years. Costco is also very popular.

[lynnjackson]

The great thing about the UK shopping experience is that unless you are in a wholesale store, you pay the price on the tag as sales tax (VAT, which is value added tax)of 20% is included in the cost of the product.
VAT is 20% everywhere in the UK.

[thepymes]

Things I love about my local Tesco: It sells 300 different cheese products covering well over 60 different cheese types: German Smoked Cheese - Got it. French Brie, Camembert or Comte - Got it. Italian Gorgonzola, Dolce Latte or Pecorino - Got it. Dutch Edam or Gouda - Got it. British Cheddar, Wensleydale or Stilton - Got it. Spanish Manchego or Montagnolo Affine - Got it. Greek Feta - Got it. You get the idea...