Last Thursday, the German-based supermarket chain Lidl opened a brand new shop here in Nynäshamn. I have been really busy and haven't had a chance to go and check it out, but today I decided to pop along and see what it was like. I had read the advertising blurb with opening specials and there were a few things that I was interested in getting to stock up the boat for summer, especially spices and long-life milk (and theirs is a third of the price of the other supermarkets). I was also curious to see if it is a serious alternative to my usual supermarket.

We already have three big chains in a town of 13,000 people and many wonder if the town can possibly cope with another player in the scene. Firstly, there is the big ICA Kvantum on the northern outskirts of town. It is large, clean, roomy, well stocked with a great variety of foods and is a pleasure to shop in, but unfortunately it is very expensive so I rarely go there. If I could afford to, it would be my first choice of supermarket.

In the centre of town, with the very best location is Konsum. It is tight, with narrow aisles, high shelves, is crowded, poorly set out and there are long queues at the checkouts. This is also a very expensive shop and the choice is quite limited unless you want to buy strictly Swedish-type foods (falukorv, meatballs, herring etc). I do pop in for milk and bread occasionally (and their homebrand vanilla ice-cream) if I am passing back from the harbour, but not much else.

The other supermarket, situated in the north-east part of town is Willys, where I do most of my shopping. It is again poorly set out, you have to negotiate around packing cases and pallets and is not always very clean. The shelving is high (and I always need something on the TOP shelf!) and the shelves and freezers are often empty even of basics like coffee, flour (how can you run out of flour?). I suspect it is all "out the back" somewhere but you can never find someone willing to look. The queues at the checkout can also be a pain (waiting times of 20 minutes or more are not uncommon). There are also quite a few younger teens hanging around outside trying to get you to buy cigarettes and beer for them! But it is by far the cheapest food shop in town, has a good choice of products and I have worked out, through trial and error, the best day and time to go there and have a chance of getting most things on my list and not stand too long in the checkout queue. So I figure that the inconvenience is mostly worth it.

If I had to put it in Adelaide terms, I'd say that ICA is like Coles at Burnside Village, Konsum is like Woolies at Norwood and Willys is like Coles at Central Market.

So on to the new supermarket. The first thing that struck me about the Lidl shop was the location:



As you can see from the above map, it is right on the seafront, in the sort of location that would be prime residential real estate in most other countries, offering a wonderful view over the harbour entrance to the archipelago beyond. Not the sort of block of land where you'd build a supermarket and carpark! Still, it could be worse, I suppose - at least it isn't McDonalds!

Lidl have had a bit of negative press in this country over their employment practices (everyone is casual, part-time and non-union with unpaid overtime a common complaint). I have also been told that the staff are not allowed to go to the toilet except during scheduled breaks and there was a fuss recently in Poland, where women workers were required to wear special headbands during their monthly periods, to be allowed to use the toilet. Several people I spoke to in Nynäshamn flatly refuse to go to Lidl because of the way the staff is treated and also because they stock mostly non-Swedish products and engage in some very questionable practices.

Today, it was fairly quiet in the shop. It is spacious and bright but not really "attractive" at all, being set up more like a warehouse. It reminded me of Half-Case Warehouse in Glenunga in its early days. There were no shopping baskets, only trolleys, so if you only want a few things you either have to carry them in your arms or get a trolley. That's a bit of an overkill if (like me) all you wanted were half a dozen items.

Most of the goods were brands that I didn't recognise. They were cheap, but then unless you tried them you would not know the quality. I'm not a snob when it comes to cheaper brands, some of which are really good, but was reluctant to choose so many unknowns in one hit. I did notice that the Swedish brand items were the same or slightly higher in price than the same item at Willys. Beer, however was ridiculously cheap. I also spotted sultanas (not usually available in Sweden) and (joy of joy) some tins of reasonably inexpensive Aussie Macadamia nuts! In view of the story quoted above, I avoided the meat products

The check-out system was the same annoying, ball-breaking one they use in Australia at Franklins (and one of the main reasons I never shopped there). You have to unpack your items onto the long conveyor belt, then dash to the other end of the checkout where your items are piling up at an alarmingly rapid rate on a tiny table. There is only a short space for your items and the idea is that you just quickly pile everything back into the trolley, take it to the long shelf lining the front of the shop and pack it into bags there. I suppose they think it makes the checkout faster, but I HATE that system!

So overall, I might go there very occasionally for special items like UHT milk or dried herbs, but will continue to do most of my grocery shopping at Willys.