Aldi, Northfield - Saturday 25th April 2015

After having an awesome Men's Breakfast at Canvas in Selly Oak, my friend Ian and I decided to head to Aldi in Northfield to see what it's like.

Recommended by the Wheelers from church, Aldi is a German "no frills" supermarket celebrating its 25th anniversary of opening in the UK. It is one of the newer supermarkets in Northfield, and has been opening for around 5 years.

So, what is the supermarket like? The criteria is as follows.

1. Clean - Generally okay.
2. Friendly staff - yes, they gave a hello and thank you greeting to me. Nothing else much to say though as Aldi's aim is to serve customers quickly.
3. Aisle width - variable. If it wasn't for the annoying "reduced" items clutter due to lack of space, the aisles are wide enough to fit at least two big trolleys.
4. Everything I was looking for was in stock - Mostly. I was annoyed with the fact that there wasn't any 4 pint milk bottles available during Saturday lunchtime! Also, there are also some goods not available due to its size. However, what makes it unique is the centre aisle with lots of random and mostly useful stock available.
5. Extras: pharmacy/opticians/specialist food/petrol station - It's a no frills supermarket but it does have a lot of random and useful stock at the centre aisles. I was also impressed that it has now improved its fruit and vegetable and meat stock. Ginger, garlic and other "not so seasonal" fruit and vegetables are available. There is also a lot of seasonal stock available and impressed with the amount of British goods available despite being a German owned supermarket. You can get most of the stock there. Fish is lacking in variety though. You're better off heading to the "Big Four" supermarkets for this.
6. Fresh produce with long sell-by dates - Yes! All the goods I bought have long sell-by dates for the week. There are no use by dates for fruit and vegetables but it's obvious that they're fresh as it's restocked every day.
7. Opening Hours - Impressive for a no frills supermarket. 8am to 10pm Mondays to Saturday and 10am to 4pm on Sunday.
8. Speed of till-processing - three out of five manned tills in service so there was a bit of waiting time at the tills. Saying that service is quick and there was only a five minute wait.
9. Self-service tills available - No, not at a no frills supermarket.
10. Parking facilities -The lack of parking spaces meant that there was a queue of around six cars. I had to wait for around five minutes for a parking spot. Parking restrictions are okay, allowing you to shop for one and a half hours. You do need to be careful there though as you need to enter your car registration number after doing your shopping, otherwise you will face a hefty fine.
11. Value for money - As a no frills supermarket, a lot of stock is cheaper than the "Big Four" supermarkets. They are the leading price cutter whilst maintaining good stock quality.
12. Organic produce - available if you want them.
13. Cash machine or cash back - No, you will need to head along the Northfield High Street to get cash out. However, you can pay your goods by debit and credit card now which is impressive. Though you cannot use your American Express card.
14. Pedestrian access - yes and step free.
15. Space ultilisation - requires improvement. The store needs to enlarge slightly so that the goods are not cluttered around. Saying that, this will reduce parking spaces which would lower business takings. Also, it needs to increase the number of trolleys available as none were available when I entered in. A BIG minus point there!

Overall, Ian and I came to the judgement that the supermarket is good but has lots of areas it can improve on.

Photo courtesy of The Local Data Company

Rating: 6 out of 10 (-1 for lack of parking space, -1 for non availability of 4 pint milk bottles, -1 for lack of trolleys, and -1 for space utlisation and aisle widths)

Korea Foods, Selly Oak - Saturday 18th April 2015

 Last weekend, I decided to visit Korea Foods, also known as Seoul Plaza 6, an Oriental supermarket, in Selly Oak. It is supposed to offer competitions to the bigger Chinese supermarkets, that being the two Day in Supermarkets in the city centre, and the Wing Yip in Nechells.

Korea Foods comes from a former convenience store that was closed for a couple of years and reopened five years ago. Back then, I heard positive reviews from many students about this store, including myself.

So, how would it fare this time with my "supermarket critic" hat on?


The "revised" criteria is as follows.

1. Clean - Could be better. The store aisles were cluttered with boxes with stock yet to be put out and meant that it could have been better. There is a Korean takeaway inside the superstore, and the staff appear to be hygienic as they do wear gloves when serving food.
2. Friendly staff - Sort of. No formal greeting of "Hello" in the counter but they do pack bags for me so that's a plus.
3. Aisle width - unfortunately due to the size (and it being a former convenience store), the aisles are narrow. It is a struggle to fit two narrow trolleys side by side and often you do need to say "Excuse me" to get through. Also, the queuing system is a bit of a shambles as it can block an entire aisle! That's if it's busy, which wasn't for a Saturday afternoon, which was shocking. But then, the students are on holidays. However, you could argue that as most international students shop there, then that's not a good sign.
4. Everything I was looking for was in stock - Inconsistent. You cannot buy "Shrimp flavoured noodles" by Sau Tao. Nor can you buy dairy products. However, there is a generally good selection of other items.
5. Extras: pharmacy/opticians/specialist food/petrol station - Specialist Oriental stock plus a Korean takeaway,
6. Fresh produce with long sell-by dates - Variable - can be awesome to absolutely shocking. Most of the canned goods and packaged goods have long sell-by dates. However, if you want to buy fresh eggs, look somewhere else. Not only the eggs are expensive, the expiry date was on the day - 16th April! I find that's an insult especially if you want to buy fresh goods. Also, it seems that there is a lack of stock auditing. One pack of "Fresh Chinese fishcakes" was just dumped in the freezer with an expiry date of "14th April" so the staff don't really seem to care about checking stock. Shocking if you ask me. Fortunately, the fresh fishcakes that were on sales had a reasonable expiry date.
7. Opening Hours - As it's the size of a convenience store, the opening hours are good. It opens from 9am to 9pm every day. Very convenient for the students.
8. Speed of till-processing - two manned tills available. Could be faster, and could be a lot more cheerful.
9. Self-service tills available - No.
10. Parking facilities - Not a lot. There's three or four spaces outside the store, otherwise you will need to park at one of the side streets in Selly Oak.
11. Value for money - Terrible. Most stock is more expensive than Day in Supermarket and Wing Yip. Not impressed that it has shorter sell-by dates and the stock being more expensive.
12. Organic produce - not as far as I am aware of.
13. Cash machine or cash back - Two cash machines available outside Korea Foods. Cash back not available and you do need to purchase a minimum of £5 when using a credit or debit card (sorry no American Express)
14. Pedestrian access - Good. No step meaning that it's good for disabled access.
15. Space Utilisation - Generally space is well used with no wastage of space.

Overall, I'm disappointed with Korea Foods. It has gone downhill since when I was a student. Prices are expensive, goods could be fresher, and staff could be friendlier. I feel that the Korean takeaway is their saving grace. If you want fully stocked Oriental goods, head either to Day in Supermarket or Wing Yip

Rating: 5 out of 10 (-2 for fresh goods, -0.5 for parking, -1 for friendly staff, -1 for value for money, -0.5 for aisle width)

Photo courtesy of Korea Foods (www.koreafoods.co.uk)