Netto and Sainsbury's - neighbours at Heaton Park. In fact originally it was all Sainsburys until some of the space was given to Netto at the end of last year.
The proof of the pudding, they say, is in the eating.
At the end of a crazy week when the media hasn’t always painted the kindest picture of the village I realised I hadn’t seen a single opinion expressed by anyone who had actually shopped at a Netto. So yesterday afternoon (Thursday March 19th) on our way to visit friends in Yorkshire we stopped off to see the Heaton Park store which opened at the end of last year.
It is literally attached to a far larger Sainsbury’s so clearly they think they can co-exist. (Sainsburys has a 50% stake in Netto UK). Before arriving we were apprehensive – let’s be honest Netto did not have the greatest brand image before they withdrew from UK in around 2010. But now they are back and it’s not really recognisable as the same store.
You are greeted at the door by a full aisle of fresh produce. We picked up a pineapple for 65p a big bag of easy peel oranges for £1.09 plus a pack of 6 pink lady apples for £1.55. The store has a Premieur Range ( equivalent to the much praised Deluxe range at Lidl ) Cold meats, smoked salmon, fish, mascarpone cheese-cakes and olive oil were among the lines I spotted. But there were plenty of recognised brands too making it easy to stock up on all the basics. A loaf of Warburtons was 95p. The same loaf next door at Sainsburys was £1.30 – figure that out.
Halfway round was a small area that puts one in mind of the IKEA “market hall” , candles, cloths, napkins, small household goods. As a man I always make a point at IKEA of walking straight past but Su was definitely impressed.
They were clearly pushing the in-store bakery – nothing like the smell of fresh bread for the feel-good factor but like Aldi and Lidl there was no deli counter. The total product range - 2,000+ is apparently very similar to the other two big discounters.
Half way round we met the manager Malene Heby and UK Head of Sales Kenneth Luxhoi (yes they're Danish) - next to the lego display which is a feature of every store. Kenneth had been following the news stories about Lymm with some puzzlement I think and seemed pleased that we had come to see for ourselves. They were both keen to distinguish between old and new Netto and pointed proudly to the regularly changing spot deals. Then just as we were chatting who should walk in but Netto UK managing director Morten Nielsen, and Sainsbury Business Development Director Helen Buck on a fact finding visit. They joined us and told us about Netto’s plans to expand quickly to 15 stores and win customers with attractive, wide aisled, uncluttered stores.
Would I shop there ? Yes- no problem. Would I buy everything there? – almost certainly not – They are similar in some ways to Lidl where I often shop now in that they offer great value and they do have spot deals but in the end you go elsewhere for a little more variety from time to time. Also one or two of the products like the flavoured crispbreads promised more on the pack than they delivered to the tastebuds. I definitely like the prices. Low and simple. One reason I abandoned Sainsburys in Warrington was the endless “buy one -pay over the odds, buy two at a reasonable price -end up wasting one” deals.
The whole Netto concept is an experiment for Sainsburys/Netto that may or may not work as they have to break in to a now established and successful discount market.
Will it work for Lymm? In the end it’s the customers who will decide but personally I know more people who wanted a discount store than wanted a more upmarket name and there’s not much wrong with this one. In some ways I feel this kind of store could be more positive for the village centre too. An upmarket “end-to-end” store with a deli, counter and butchers would be far more likely to eat into some of our local village businesses. I have to say I find it hard to see how Lymm can support two Co-ops, a Sainsbury’s local and another larger store – not to mention M&S Simply Food at Poplar (It’s small by the way – not very exciting) but only time will tell. We are in the middle of a major shift in food retailing and this is just another example of it.
Now where’s my Chocolate and Mascarpone Pudding ?
Alan & Su Williams March 20th 2015
Their range is 2,000+ products - around the same as Aldi or Lidl.
They obviously like to promote their Danish credentials
Some interesting stuff beyond the basics
The famous £5.50 Prosecco. - Review will follow !
Su - who likes to make chutney - was taken with the vinegar at 21p a bottle. The photo was supposed to be of the olive oil above it.
As you would expect the choice is limited but adequate.
Our Shopping Basket
Ours was a pretty random collection of goods. The ones in the picture came to around £34.50 including a bottle of Prosecco for £5.50 ( well it is Friday ) five pairs of patterned ladies socks £5 and on the right a ram's head coat hook at £3. (don’t ask) So the other 20 items came to £21 in total.
Amazing who you can bump into when you go shopping. Left to Right Su Williams(Lymm) Morten Nielsen (Netto UK Managing Director), Kenneth Luxhoi (Head of Sales), Helen Buck (Sainsburys Business Development Director)
We took our pictures with the permission of the management and I tried to avoid taking pictures of people. It was 2.30pm Thursday - not mad busy to be honest !