Tesco Extra

In these times one can do better on price on generic groceries, see Aldi or Lidl. However, for the branded items that most of us crave for one reason or another, this is an excellent store in terms of shelved product choice and variety. The customer cafe, however, is lacking in choice and I would expect more from such a corporate giant. 

I actually like going here because my local Tesco (Llandudno Junction) is a bit small for a superstore. Bangor therefore always much more choice, in particular non-food stuff like clothes, toys and homeware. Also very handily placed just off the A55. Never had a free slice of pie though!

Fairly standard Tescos. No better, no worse.

OK..reviewing a supermarket.....This one is gross. Like a giant abbatoir without the animals. Went in for a sandwich as am working locally for a while. I dislike the ethos of this company. They are akin to a big ugly fish stuffing itself on little ugly fish. I wandered around; didnt make me hungry at all so this is the spot for dieters. Its a vacuum packed experience - row after row of ghastly pre-packed food and they have the cheek to try and charge for bags to be 'eco-friendly'. Vile beyond belief. I think in future, as I have to be here for awhile, I will stock up on tins of out of date sardines and dine in instead. Surely a healthier alternative?

Bangor's tesco is an Extra. Which makes is possibly the biggest Tesco in the area in comparison to Caernarfon, Holyhead and Llandudno Junction. (Although not as big as perhaps Broughton and Cardiff) The choice of goods is quite large and they have a decent choice of non traditional supermarket goods such as Clothes, Home Entertainment, Toys, Home Appliances etc...

The Cafe although quite large is basic and unfortunately compares to my old school canteen.

Parking is ample, and there are quite a few Parent and Child spaces and disabled spaces.

Staff are generally OK and helpful, although all too familar some staff are unprofessional and talk about personal issues to each other in front of customers.

Weekly shopping is quite pricey in comparison to Asda, Morrisons etc but the choice is better.

Pros: I love Tesco stores, particularly of late because they are starting to do some really special offers on goods now that the credit crunch is biting and people are trying to find ways to save money. They seemed to be losing a lot of customers to the cheaper stores like Lidl and Aldi but now they are fighting back.

What is also good is that they are starting to put all of their offers in the first aisle so that you can see them as you enter instead of having to search all round the store for them. Very helpful for their customers I find.

This particular store is one of the larger superstores and hence they have great ranges of products all under the one roof.

It is also surprising how quickly you can accumulate Tesco Clubcard points just buy doing a small shop here.

Enormous, has everything you could want in a Tesco and more. 24 hours. Has its own petrol station and car wash. The only downside is that it’s HUGE so difficult to find your way around but for a supermarket I guess that is a good thing as it has a massive choice.

A huge Tesco Extra that carries most things you might need on a day to day basis.

Food, clothes, shoes, books, DVDs, games, toys, CDs, mobile phones, TVs, medicine, perfume, baby stuff, fresh produce, petfood, bakery, a fair amount of frozen food etc. There’s even a cafe if you’re feeling peckish!

I find that Tesco in Bangor have a wide selection of products and they have something to suit all budgets, from value, own brand, branded and finest. They’ve even started a fifth level of branding known as “discount brands” recently that focuses on beating the credit crunch. It’s probably a gimmick, but the food I’ve tried has been of a decent quality, much nicer than value, so worth a try.

The massive carpark means you’ll never have trouble finding somewhere to park. Ok, sometimes you end up walking half a mile from one end of the carpark to the shop, but at least you get a spot, and it’s free. I don’t bother shopping on the highstreet if I can help it these days aminly due to the convenience of parking in Tesco or Asda Llandudno.

There’s always upwards of ten checkouts open, and there are self service points for smaller purchases too. I still find myself waiting in line for quite a while at times though, the place is just so popular. The waiting around is mitigated somewhat by the fact the staff are almost invariable polite and greet you, ask if you need assistance packing etc etc.

Half the girls that work there are pretty fit too. I’d rather go shopping there than a cheaper shop staffed by unattractive people. Shallow, I know, but I’m there buying my tea, don’t want to be put off it do I!?

It’s an Extra and has a big car park, loads of various sized free trolleys, no fighting to find a pound either. Get in, the layout makes sense and the isles are spacious, well stocked with pretty much everything you could want and it’s light and airy. It gives the impression of being generally well run.

The staff are very helpful and polite. The store is open 24 hours as is the attached petrol station. The store has cash points and a post box a bakery, fishmonger and deli, toilets, cafe and those do-your-own till things.

The clothes section does okay on basics but lets itself down by having things like plain t-shirts in XL XXL or XXXL sizes! what happened to the S-M people? Sometimes they have a little too much stocking of shelves at busy times and if you go at an odd hour at night expect stocking tolleys and packaging everywhere.

It is a great shop with trolleys especially made for toddlers like small cars with a basket on top, great reasonably priced restaurant, and you can buy clothes/shoes at great prices..for all the family

We drive about 35 miles to this shop so it must be quite good! It is rarely out of stock of items that we want, sells clothes, has a cafe, petrol station and all the things you expect from a larger Tesco.

Tescos is my shop of choice mainly because I can guarantee to get all my shopping done as I rarely find things I want out of stock. I also appreciate being able to collect Tesco vouchers as they soon mount up and can be exchanged for some great deals. The children’s clothes are really good too and reasonable priced. They also have a good baby section so that you can get quite a lot of nursery equipment without having to travel further afield. They have lots of special offers but you have to compare the prices carefully as bigger pack does not always mean cheaper. I also appreciate the greeting card section and stationary department as it is handy to get these with your general shopping. The book section is very good and lots of good pricing deals. They are good at opening extra tills at busy times and the self service tills work well. The car park is a nightmare as it can be very busy, very windy and if it is raining you get soaked.

This Tesco store takes a bit of getting to as it’s located on a roundabout in between Bangor and Caernarfon. What’s good about this store is that it’s the only 24 hour supermarket for miles, but as it’s a bit too far for people from Bangor to walk to, it’s very quiet of a night. The Tesco store has an excellent cafe which is located above the store floor up an escalator which means customers get to people watch others doing their shopping (and look at the dust on top of the aisles!) whilst they drink their coffee, eat their muffin and read their newspaper. The cafe is quite large and there’s always an abundance of free seats and plenty of staff serving which minimises the queueing time. Prices in the cafe are reasonable, for example a cafe latte coffee is around £1.15 whilst a jacket potato with a little pot of tuna is £2.50.

The store has a great entertainment section, with a wide range of dvds and cds, and all the latest mobile phones, mp3 players, kettles and other electrical goods. As well as this they have an entire row filled with the yellow deal racks, which include stationary, clothes, tools and home utensils, and some of the special offers are located immediately upon entering the store, which highlights the best offers.

I agree with “Fat Andy” whilst Tesco Bangor is not my local store I still venture over to Bangor as it has a much better range on offer.

I love the wide selection of Fruit and Vegetables, in my local store it is quite limited but Bangor being much bigger offers a good range of Organic and Value Products along with the more rare items like Tropical Fruits and fresh Herbs.

Being a Bargain hunter I’m always on the look out for the reduced (Near their sell by date) Products, Tesco Bangor always has a huge shelve full of reduced items which allows me to stock up my freezer and try things that I may not normally buy if they were full price.

Tesco Bangor is also a great place to source rare food items, like Chinese and Indian Ingredients that are hard to find in the smaller stores.

Another Good Point is the Electrical Department where you can buy excellent value electrical items such as Cameras, Televisions etc. I have had a few bargains from Tesco including an Ipod and an LCD Tv.

Our Local store doesnt have a clothes department so this is another reason why I prefer the bangor store. They have some great value fashion items and I recently Purchased a Bra in the Sale for just £1.70 (Still cant quite beleive it was such a Bargain!!)

I only wish this store was my Local one, it would make my weekly shop much easier and much less stressful!

TESCO, located on Caernarfon Road, is almost identical to any other large size TESCO. It stocks a full range of groceries, drinks, and a fine selection of multi media entertainment products. This branch does benefit from a top notch café – reasonably priced and the food is always smoking hot. The staff are friendlier here than in some TESCOs – there was a rumour flying around Bangor some time ago that this was because they all snacked on products in the storeroom. Whether this is true or not, I cant say either way (cough cough). When you go in, ask for someone called Dizzy Dewi and say you want a slice of pie, seriously – you will get a free sample. Just don’t tell the managers.