Tesco Express, Shoreditch, London

Updated Below....

This is a small, new branch of Tesco, but with a very well chosen stock and a location which seems a bit in the middle of nowhere but is actually good. It’s on the route for those walking or getting the bus from the city (and even better in a few years when it will be right next to a new tube station… clever…), and in an area which doesn’t have major supermarkets close by. The well chosen stock even includes some things that bigger stores don’t have: e.g. my favourite Tesco mid range yoghurts including a hazelnuts flavour which actually tastes of hazelnuts, not caramel like some do.

All of which is a bit annoying, because it’s a bit of a lottery if you are going to get your shopping out in one piece! All’s fine until you get to the checkout. They are those tiny little things with nowhere to put your own bag and I always seem to get a server who insists on packing for you and hasn’t got a clue. If you’ve got a nice soft loaf of bread or bag of salad that goes in the bag first (I actually asked once, and was told their system is largest thing first, duh). Heavy tins and a carton of juice get dumped on top squashing it nicely and sticking out at angles so the carton threatens to pierce the bag. A lasagne goes in on its side, so all the layers fall down and can’t be smoothed back so when you cook it you end up with a pool of sauce one side and dry leather pasta the other. Then they take those nice yoghurts and literally throw them in, landing on one of the protruding edges of the carton and ending up with a hole in the foil top. I’m not kidding, all this has happened, though admittedly not all at once... Then when I stop at a free checkout to repack they look daggers at me like I’m doing it just to annoy them.

For some reason I try and avoid this place. But it’s just too convenient. Arrrrgggghhhh!

**UPDATE***

I wasn’t exactly delighted by this place originally. It scraped two points because it was convenient and stocked yoghurts I like. Well they’ve stopped stocking the yoghurts, and I now find it very inconvenient that they are occupying the space a better store could be using. I’ve also narrowly avoided being seriously short changed on 3 occasions. I managed to raise a fuss and got my money on all occasions, but it’s too much.

First time I was given change for a fiver instead of a tenner. Second time involved mis-labelled Pringles. They had two types on the shelf, but only one price label, just over a pound if I remember correctly. So I went for the ‘normal’ ones to be sure of getting the low price. Needless to say at the till I found myself getting charged about £2… I raised hell, thinking I was getting charged for the expensive type, only to be told the label was an old one from a promotion and wrong for both types of Pringles and I’d have been charged even more for the others… LOL! I did end up getting shelf-advertised price. But check out this blog…

Final incident I was expecting to get £6.03 change from £10. I was not happy when I got handed 3p….

I can’t help wondering how many times I’ve been ripped off without realising!

I quite like some Tesco stores… but I never want to enter this one again.