Sainsbury's is coming to Stroud Green Road - Woody's is going!
  • ADGS
    Waterstone's website is best of all, you can get points on your Nectar *and* your Waterstone's card for the same purchase!
    Also, perhaps more generally useful, Amazon.
    (I do not work for these firms either, though I did once do some freelance for Amazon years ago)
  • Emma
    I don't really know what I'm meant to do with my Nectar points now I have them, mind.
  • krappyrubsnifkrappyrubsnif

    I stored up about a zillion useless Tesco points and couldn't figure out what to do with them. I wanted to put them towards cheaper flights. But it all seemed so complex. So I chucked it away.

  • WillM
    Just visited the new Sainsburys.

    Positives:
    * Whilst there are a few things they have that Tescos don't (soft drinks, sandwiches, and I *think* higher-end wines), there are few things Tescos have that they don't. Given the different sizes of store, I see this as a positive
    * A lot better presented
    * Polite and helpful staff (in particular relative to Tescos)
    * Smelled nice
    * There's a strollability to the store - it's relaxing, and even when you have got what you want, you want to check out what they have. Big difference to the stress of Tescos

    Negatives:
    * Already have a leaky roof
    * Narrow aisles will be hell when it starts filling up
    * I think they're going to find it difficult to keep it looking nice when it gets busy - whilst there's a broad range of products, there isn't much of any one product.

    I'll carry on going there for the next few weeks to see how it turns out. For now I think they have the edge for most kind of food shopping trips.
  • ArkadyArkady

    Agree with all of your comments Will. The manager was having a bit of a stress about the roof. Very polite staff.

  • ADGS
    Emma - once you have 500, you can pay £2.50 towards a Sainsbury's shop with them. There are various other fancier options with more, all explained on the website.

    KRS: Tesco send me my points quarterly in the form of Tesco vouchers at the rate of a penny a point. I know they can be converted at a better exchange rate for holidays and such, but the vouchers have always seemed plenty useful to me.
  • Ali

    The loyalty cards are set up to confuse which is evident from the previous comments.

    Collecting points:

    Tescos £1 = 1pt Nectar £1 = 2pt Spending Tescos 500 pts = £5 Nectar 500pts =£2.50 but as you accrue at the rate of 2 per pound it is the same.

    Tesco’s can get better value as they have a multiple of 4 when not spent in the shop ie 500 =£20 and it is quite easy to spend them online to get money off vouchers etc.

    If you have a Tesco’s credit card you get an additional 1 for every £2 spent.

    If you reuse a bag you get twice as much at Tesco ie 1 Clubcard pt while at Sainsbury’s you get 1 Nectar point.

    Clucard also lets you get Airmiles which is something which I have never understood really as Tax is such a high part of the flights cost it doesn’t make much difference.

    So I guess the real question is how much is the “better” environment in Sainsbury’s worth ?

    Why doesn’t someone do a weekly shop in both and compare?

    I fully expect Tesco’s to do this and have a trolley sitting on the way into the store with the Sainsbury’s shop pointing out how much more expensive it will

  • miss annie
    They'd be better occupied putting their own house in order than pointing out any inadequacies that the sparkly new Sainsburys might have.
  • Emma
    Which, since they haven't actually done that, is rather a moot point.
  • Four Eyes
    Our Shiny New Sainsbury's has appeared on the Sainsbury's Store Locator today. Except it's called Sainbury's Crouch Hill and it's on Victoria Road apparently?!
  • WillM
    Four Eyes - you're entirely right, that's the one thing I forgot to mention. Quite silly.
  • tosscat

    It smelled like burned plastic when we went in there, and are not the plethora of staff just an opening gimmick? (I got asked three times whether I wanted a nectar card by three different people.)

  • Misscara

    Went in for a bit of a neb earlier and bought a few things. A quiche and salad for tonight's dinner, a bag of muesli, a pint of milk, a big pot of yoghurt, a banana and a bag of bagels all for just over 6 quid. I didn't think it was that bad really. Noticed the strange burning too, which smelled exactly like when we got a new oven at work and chef forgot to remove the protective film from the glass door before using it. A lot of things are more expensive than Tesco's but if you go in with an open mind there are a lot of offers to be had. They don't seem to have any of the 'value' range though.

    The manager (bald guy with glasses?) was really stressing out and frantically directing staff to get the shelves filled up. The other staff were very helpful, smart and looked cheerful. Best of all - no queues! In and out in around 8 minutes.

  • tricky
    I wanted to pop in this morning to get something for breakfast on the way to work only to find I couldn't get in the shop due to an interminable photocall with ribbon and small children. Customers already inside couldn't get out. Eventually got in, noticed the funny smell and left again.

    Was sadly hoping there might be something to welcome the locals in - coffee and a muffin? Oh well.

    I miss Woody's. But did notice Tesco's wasn't half as busy as usual at around 7pm.
  • crouchend tiger
    "The manager (bald guy with glasses?) was really stressing out and frantically directing staff to get the shelves filled up."

    Hello, Tesco? Hello?
  • Spent
    Its a supermarket - people need to buy food to live. End of
  • Ali

    It is a small branded Convenience store

  • miss annie
    End of what?
  • Four Eyes
    Called in last night after work and was a bit underwhelmed I must say.
    The manager seemed to be following me round the shop and every time I took something off the shelves he was magically behind me replacing the stock with an identical product.

    Unfortnately it didn't seem to me to be much competition to Tesco. As mentioned by others it's just a convenience store really; somewhere you pick up something for dinner on the way home or pop in to buy something you've forgotten to buy somewhere else. The only mental price comparison I made in my head was the Heinz beans were about 20p more expensive than in Tesco.

    On the plus side there was no queue, 4 self service checkouts (the same amount that are usually working in Tesco) and no queue at the cash machine which unlike most prints out mini-statements for you.

    As it has the same opening hours as Tesco I can only really see it getting busy on Sundays when Tesco is shut.
  • ActionVerb

    Has anyone done their main food shop at Woody's prior to its closure?

    For me, it was always a place for houmus, olives and some bread. The Sainsbury's is working on the same principle - only I presume cheaper than the Nisa at FP, and with a much better product range.

    Oh and re: manager following peopel round - the same thing was going on at the Nisa just after it opened, and there's still a couple of people too many just seem to be hanging round (at the Nisa) and watching. I expect he's just a bit excited, that's all.

  • nik61
    No Sandwiches, fine otherwise
  • Ali

    I was watching the food show last night on Ch4 as was surprised at the weekly shop item. As expected it had Waitrose as most expensive, Asda as cheapest by about £5 over a £40 spend. What surprised me was that Sainsbury’s was second cheapest at a couple of pounds cheaper than Tesco’s. The items included were all branded etc.

    Now that Woody’s is gone and so has it’s dips I think I will need to do a taste test on the Humus between Tesco’s and Sainsbury’s. I will also keep using the Stroud Green Convenience Store (ex Cost Cutter for those that don’t read signs!). At least I think the guys in there directly own the business and need support now they are stuck in the middle. They also do Turkish bread and are open longer.

    Trips to Green Lanes to stock up on the goodie I guess is now back on the Agenda. Might have to combine that with a try out of the pubs across there

  • miss annie
    Depends what you want from your houmous, I prefer Sainsburys version to Tesco as it has a more coarse texture, lovely for dipping chicory leaves into. Not massively different tastewise. Stand out winner is M&S spicy red pepper houmous with chilli. Yum!
  • gardener-joe
    Popped in today. I was underwhelmed, although it is a bright and cheerful store.

    Pretty poor selection of fruit and vegetables and bagged salad items. Woody's was ace for fruit vegetables. Not so many Sainsbury's branded items as I wanted ... and why all that booze?

    I was asked to use the self-serve rather than the checkout. For those of us who don't see too well, it is a bit stressy to be put on the spot to explain your check-out strategy.

    How come a small store like the Londis on Stapleton Hall seems to be able to supply a supermarket range, and this one doesn't?

    Perhaps it is too soon to tell ...
  • andy

    "I was underwhelmed"

    Love it. It's a Sainsburys Local, not a Brunelleschi chapel. Did you see the fresco on the back wall (by the croissants) depicting the life of St Peter? I thought it a clumsy pastiche at best.

  • miss annie
    The fresco of St. Peter should be near the fish section really. St Honore for baked goods.
  • Tallboy
    I like it. More than I was expecting. Much better range than its predecessor.
  • David

    I was looking forward to a reasonable Pino for a fiver. Unfortunately not there unlike the bigger stores. That was kind of my main reason for wanting it above Woody's.

  • krappyrubsnifkrappyrubsnif

    Bring back Woody's!

  • Four Eyes
    @Andy. Yes I too was indeed 'underwhelmed'. There's been so much eager anticipation for months about this Sainsbury's I was expecting to see Jesus himself on the checkout.
  • krappyrubsnifkrappyrubsnif

    I'm honestly not being grumpy or negative.....but I just went up to check it out (geddit?).....and there really wasn't anything I wanted there. So I put my basket back and went back down to Tesco instead.

    No red wine boxes. Poor range of cheese. Two random things but.....important in my life. Etc. Just not enough space. Great for ready meals and late night top-up shopping, I suspect, but that's about it.

    I am no lover of Tesco, but for the first time ever I suddenly appreciated the massive range of different stuff they have in there. So I bought myself some pickled cucumbers with chilli and a wine box to celebrate.

  • andy

    Maybe if you didn't drink red wine from a box, you wouldn't need to buy such esoteric cheese to mask the flavour of red wine that comes out of a box.

  • David

    I just googled 'esoteric cheese' and found this

    I scored 6% esotericness, 33% cheesiness, and 31% danceability.

    I don't understand.

  • miss annie
    That's hilarious! I scored 28% esotericness, 24% cheesiness and 48% danceability. I'm oddly pleased about that.
  • twinspark
    Does anyone know what happened to the sign that proudly proclaimed
    'Sainsburys Local
    Stroud Green'

    It was above and perpendicular to the door for about 36 hours - then gone! It was the same size as the one above the cash machine. Come on own up who took it for a souvenir?
  • JoeV
    I don't know what it means but it seems I'm inclined toward dance. 35% esotericness, 11% cheesiness, and 54% danceability!

    @twinspark -- maybe they are swapping it out for one that says Crouch Hill. They still seem confused about the store's location.
  • MHP
    I like it. It is a bit on the pricey side for some things, but then again I found some toiletries 1/2 price that I use and will be stocking up. A male assistant was very helpful and asked me "Is there anything else I can help you with?" Have you ever heard that in Tesco or Woodys??
  • ADGS
    The self service checkouts seem to be as temperamental as Tesco's, but the assistant sorted it out quickly and then scanned all my shopping for me, which was a bit embarrassing when I only had two items. But, one of those items was a 2 pint container of skimmed milk, which Tesco seems to have given up stocking. And they also have Vegemite, which Tesco can for some reason never keep in stock, albeit at a 20p premium. Between which and the later Sunday opening, I'm sure I'll be using it occasionally, but probably not for main shops. Especially given they don't carry any of the cheapo ranges.
  • gardener-joe
    I made my second visit today and I am feeling much better disposed towards the place. I even used the automated checkout (something I refused to do in Tesco --- grumpy old person syndrome ---) and found it very easy.

    The store seems to have lots of helpful staff, not least at the checkout where this evening's articulate, bearded assistant was not only cute but incredibly solicitous.

    Service, so far, beats Tesco hands down for courtesy and willingness.

    Now for that Nectar card --- yes, you can tell --- I will be shopping there again.
  • kreuzkav
    One of the things I've realised from this stream of posts (and I'm included in this too) is how deprived we are on Stroud Green. When I lived in Hackney over ten years ago you just went to a big supermarket, got your shopping and went home. There were many cool bars, or pubs to choose from. Basically, people didn't get all sexy about some little local supermarket or some cheesy late night bar.

    I miss those days!
  • dion

    There is a massive Sainsbury's about just a short stroll across the park on Green Lanes - has anyone been there?

  • graeme
    There's a PARK!?!
  • miss annie
    @dion
    Yes. It's great, I have posted about it on here before - 20mins walk for me and there's a Homebase there too.

    @kreuzkav
    Given the troubles that you have with the existing bar on your doorstop I'm amazed that you'd like more late venues!

    I lived in Camden years ago (above the Good Mixer) and we were well supplied with a giant supermarket and a plethora of pubs and bars. I don't miss it at all and wouldn't live there now for all the tea in China.

    Stroud Green has plenty of good pubs (Misscara has previously supplied us with a pretty comprehensive list), and has a less transient and more community spirited feel than places that have more jazzy venues.
  • Emma
    Isn't the appeal of SG partly that we're not right on top of a humungoplex supermarket? And there are tons of restaurants, bars and pubs very nearby, more than can be sustained really. Anyway I do go to Big Sains (as we call it) quite often, it's a 15 minute walk down Endymion, which is a lovely stroll on a weekend morning.
  • magicP
    Yes, the other big Sainsbury's is a 20 min stroll for me too. I try to avoid Endymion, though. It's always madly chugged with traffic.
  • miss annie
    I go into the park from UTP and then out at the end of Endymion Road just beside the bridge over New River. Sometimes I do a quick detour round the lake to have a look at the wildlife too - brightens up the shopping trip.
  • magicP
    Might try that route.
  • Ali

    Will the new development in Fonthill Rod have a supermarket as there are shops and they will want an anchor client ?

  • ArkadyArkady

    @Ali: I can't find anything specific in the planning docs, but the whole ground floor and parts of the other floors will be retail. None of the plots are very big, but I seem to recall that there is flexibility in the internal partitions. I think that the largest plot is the one that has the potential to be converted into a new western ticket hall for FP station.

  • ActionVerb

    Yes - there was a supermarket as part of that scheme. I remember reading through the planning & retail statement. I shall do a quick dig if I get a chance, but there was no specific reference to a particular retailer.

    That scheme however is probably 10 years from being open.

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