Aldi, Banbury - 2nd January 2014

 For my first supermarket review of 2014, I decided to head over to Aldi in Banbury to check out and see what it's like. The criteria is as follows:

1. Clean - yes, in general.
2. Friendly staff - hmmmmm... can't really say. They're focused on making sure stock's out and till processing is quick.
3. Aisle width - three trolleys can be fitted in (just) so it's okay.
4. Everything I was looking for was in stock - very disappointed at that time as many fresh fruit and vegetables were out of stock. Normally, it's not too bad.
5. Extras: pharmacy/opticians/specialist food/petrol station - it's a no-frills supermarket so it won't have many extras. It does however boast a middle aisle of non-food items which can be specialist stock if you ask me.
6. Fresh produce with long sell-by dates - Aldi get round that by not stating sell by dates for fruit and veg. Other fresh produce does and it's generally pretty good.
7. Opening Hours - 8am to 9pm Mon to Sat. 11am to 5pm Sun. Pretty good, I'd say.
8. Speed of till-processing - fast, super fast. But this is at a cost of customer service, which can be shocking.
9. Self-service tills available - who needs them when the sales assistants from the tills scan your items so quickly that you run out of breath putting things back to your trolley?
10. Parking facilities - plenty of car parking spaces available, with no parking restrictions.
11. Value for money - yes, many discounts and things are generally cheap here. However, you do need to be aware that some products can be more expensive than the big four supermarkets.
12. Organic produce - no specific organic produce I'm afraid!
13. Cash machine or cash back - no, and yes!
14. Pedestrian access - yes, you can get in through a pavement though you need to go up the stairs. There is an alternative entrance but this does mean you need to be careful of cars!

And finally.... I'm pleased to say that clotted cream is now available at Aldi at a discounted price of 99p per carton. This does make it a Churchcentral Forward event friendly.

Rating? 6.5 out of 10