Snap Shot

For as much as I smiled at the attack dogs reference, I don't mind the PNS staff here in Wanganui.

In PNS I can have a conversation with the checkout staff when I'm packing my own groceries. Y'know, just like I did at the supermarket in Britain. I don't mind the fact there's no false ceiling in the building so it has the ambience of a dungeon ! It's part of the experience as far as I'm concerned. I miss seeing the decoy bird of prey at PNS over the lettuce when I go to cd !

At cd the aisles are to narrow, the music is to loud, the lights are to bright. The girlies on the checkout are mostly students. Pleasant and friendly but obviously not doing it for a living.

The deli meat is better at cd and I can buy the one or two things PNS don't stock but I haven't done my main grocery shop there for ages.

jmh

Yep I can confirm that. Rents are certainly lower which probably helps.

madao

What gets me is Foodstuffs Group owns Pack & Save, New World and 4 Square franchises. Granted not Countdown as well but altogether they take nearly 60% of the market apparently.

Given the nature of supply chains and associated cost efficiencies you can pretty much bet that between all three brands the actual suppliers and transport network are all linked to maximise the operation.

No matter what you buy in whichever of their shops I recon its usually sourced from the same place and transported through the same distribution network.

Could be wrong though but it seems logical.

*edit, sourced from Wikipedia about Pack n Save* The stores are supplied daily from their co-operative distributor Foodstuffs. Pak'n Save stores often buys stock in bulk. This process means that stores don't offer a wide variety of products as full-service supermarkets - a 2009 Consumer magazine survey noticed this especially in the pet food and toilet paper categories

*edit again - it's amazing what you learn" New World has been a member of the Fly Buys programme since the programme started in September 1996; Foodstuffs has a 25% stake in the Fly Buys company.

Clappy

I think that is the most important point when making the comparisons.

I have been in one New World that was a complete dump but the one that I go to every week to do our shopping is about as close to a Waitrose that you will get here.

That impression is probably more to do with the other customers that use it rather than the range (or lack of it) of items to purchase.

BevK

Ditto

wendy_woo

Who is Asda then, or have you been away a while? Tesco is expensive here, Asda is the cheapest of the main stream supermarkets, then you get really cheap Aldi and Lidl which I have only looked in and left, feeling I wasn't that poor yet!

whitesand

I hate Pak'n Save but I still shop there for some groceries. I hate their battering rams they call trolleys. I thinks it's like some down-market warehouse you would have seen in Romania years ago.

You have to be selective though, because for everything they put down. they put up another price. They have been steadily increasing things by around 50 cents since the new year. I never buy meat there nor do I buy any vegetables. I hardly ever shop in Countdown as I find it far too expensive, and I always get my fruit and veg from the Asian shops. The new Milford one inside the shopping centre is particularly good for fresh veg.

northeastlad

When we lived in NZ, we used to shop in PNS for staple goods, only going to CD for the odd veggies. We found the best thing about PNS being the fuel vouchers you got with each shop! (I really hope they still do that if we go back!)

As for meat, we always went to the butchers. It was SO much cheaper and it's a decent quality AND you could watch them cut it for you.

BEVS

They all do fuel vouchers.

Never mind all that. I hate grocery shopping - anywhere - period.

I want to go back to being able to on-line grocery shop for the staples & have it delivered.

northeastlad

I didn't think CD did the vouchers? I just wish the UK would!

And I agree with the other two parts too.

marblep

I always shop at PnS because it's so much cheaper. But like everyone else said, depends on your particular PnS.

Feel free to let me know which PnS aren't up to scratch. I'll make a list.

gcr

The Papakura/Takanini one seems fine to us. We've shopped in much worse!

Tom1983

Riccarton Mall, Northlands Mall and Moorhouse Avenue Pak n Saves

Snap Shot

I've been to the PNS in Riccarton Mall. The PNS on Moorhouse Ave, it gives me chills just remembering it as we used to go past it on the bus when we went into town on the No 5 bus.

We went to the PNS in Wainoni or something like that. It entailed collecting our groceries by bus. We used to put our shopping in our backpacks.

The PNS here in Wanganui is great. Well, I like it. I load my groceries in the boot of my car now. What really changed from shopping at Tesco/Sainsburys/Morrisons etc ? (Apart from the choice and the price but lets not go there !)

GoingIn2011

Can I close this thread now - given I started it?
Too dull now...