BLEARY-EYED SPURTLE WANDERS IN
Fireworks, massed oompah bands and a baton-twirling Councillor Frank Ross marked the opening of Lidl’s latest supermarket, on Logie Green Road this morning.
Actually, some of those may have been hallucinations: 8am is outwith Spurtle’s normal competent-operating window. Reliable witnesses tell us that around 30 people and a dog queued in the rain before the doors swung open and a sodden piper struck up Dave Lewis’s Lament.
Within was an overwhelming aroma of fresh baking and the mingled aftershaves of Lidl executives in sharp suits and short haircuts. Their eyes glittered as the hordes squelched past.
A decisive snip
Having cut the ribbon, Ross – Deputy Leader of the Council, SNP Group Leader and former Economy Convener – chatted amiably to senior staff about how much better the store looked in reality than it had on the plans.
Paul Lawrence – the Council’s Executive Director of Place – was, he assured them, a marvellously ‘open guy’ who ‘really gets Development … understands how important it is’ and is ‘streets ahead of the others’, whoever the others may be and whatever the streets that divide them. Not that we were eavesdropping from behind the biscuits or anything.
The 868 sq.m. Logie Green branch is small by Lidl’s current standards (most are over 1,400 sq.m.), but they have honoured a longstanding commitment to open on this site and have stocked their full range of products here. Twenty-two new jobs have been created.
Spurtle has no expertise in rigorous retail analysis, so instead has opted for a process of shambolic half-arsed amateurism in comparing what strike us as like-for-like offerings here and in Tesco. Our detailed random findings appear at the foot of the page.
How they compare
- The shopping experience in both supermarkets was pleasant this morning. Lidl was reasonably busy, with a vibrant mix of locals (some of whom had come from as far afield as Montgomery Street for their milk) and disguised Tesco staff here for a neb. An hour later, over the road was quiet except for Costa, where some fragrant businessmen in sharp suits and short haircuts were finding each other hilarious. There was something vaguely familiar about them.
- Tesco’s selection of wraps and sandwiches dwarfs Lidl’s. There again, Lidl is next-door to the excellent Crumbs Café.
- Tesco has 20 tills, eight of them self-service. Lidl has eight tills, four of them self-service. This may be a consideration come Christmas.
- Lidl has no customer loos or baby-changing facilities.
- Tesco’s ‘Free From’ section has been growing and improving (in variety, quality and quantity) over the last few years. Lidl has no such section – a disappointing absence.
- Lidl’s plonk looks a lot less expensive than Tesco’s, but there’s a lot less of it and we don’t know anything about which ones taste better than others. There is a small selection of very reasonably priced spirits, few of which we have heard of before. Perhaps test them on your lawnmower first or buy a super-cheap box of painkillers for afterwards.
- Lidl’s fruit-and-veg price tags are clearly marked and devoid of confusing style and unit switches. Lidl’s tomatoes this morning were as soft to the touch as sun-ripened billiard balls.
- Tesco’s surprise section in Aisle 2 is currently full of Halloween tat. Lidl’s selection of novelty items washed off the back of a sinking Chinese supercontainer includes cut-price: foot spas, joggy bottoms, belt sanders, vacuum sealers, keyboards, karaoke kits, cordless multi-grinders, socks, and nebulisers with vibrating diaphragm technology. In short, all your gifts for hard-to-please in-laws in one place.
Both shops have considerable strengths and weaknesses. Both will thrive. Our sense is that locals will enjoy disputing their pet hates about them for years to come.
Got a view? Tell us at spurtle@hotmail.co.uk and @theSpurtle and Facebook
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John Robinson Surely the Spurtle should be comparing the prices of porridge?
Few things wrong with your map there #lidlsurprises #canonmills #broughton #edinburgh cc: @theSpurtle
Email from Stephen Nisbett: Just a cartographer's bad hair day – or a cunning marketing ploy to eliminate Tesco's address?
Mark Mcbride Not many Lidl bargains in that price comparison - unless you like oven chips! I thought Lidl were supposed to be cheap as er chips....
Still, will go and have a nosy tomorrow (living the dream!) have never actually been in a Lidl before.
Lizz Rennie I was in the lidl up the south side of Edinburgh and noticed that some of the items were more expensive than the other supermarkets for the same food item
Email from Jean Marie Meny (Logie Green Road): Was one of the thirty in the queue at 8am for Lidl opening. Never noticed the dog. Usually I do sleep at that time being retired. The shop is medium size smaller than Tesco. Being French I will get my croissant, fresh and hot every morning. Live bottom of the street. But I am very excited about is the wine. Small, very classy selection. Mainly Européen and well priced. Quality not quantity. I still will be shopping at Tesco but will keep an eye on Lidl for bargains.
Mary Graham Broughton one is very close to Tesco just further up but it's good. People might well shop at both.
Mary Graham Lidl Kirkgate are very good and I'm lucky as it's handy for me.
@theSpurtle you didn't mention the nifty little baskets on wheels.
Ella Taylor-Smith Can vouch for some of the spirits. Top recommendation is James Cook dark rum. Blended whisky: Queen Margot 5 year old. Single malt: Ben Bracken 8 Year old -really worth a go -you have to take the empty box to the till.
I like their prosecco too.
All in moderation, of course