Staff chatting in shop

There are farmers markets in all towns in Germany which have survived - according to me- because they never opened their stalls to people selling cheap tatty teeshirts and 3-day old cauliflowers. The market is not expected to be cheaper in Germany, quite the opposite. We want the open air markets to survive.

There are no safety problems, the meat, cheese and fish are sold from ice cold trays and there is a glass front so that customers don't breathe on the stuff. Of course there is electricity laid on in the Market sqare but that is not a problem these days.
Many gransnetters complain about assistants talking but in Germany they serve you with just a Guten Tag and some eye contact. You may find them cold and unfriendly. They don't chat in Aldi but they have started to smile bit in these last few years.
I wouldn't buy in shop where they just chatted to each other. This happened to me in London in M&S.

Sorry gracesmum but I'm the sort of person who would always prefer to use an ATM than go in the bank to cash a cheque! Wouldn't do for us all to be the same, would it?

I meant "then go back to the car)- remembering the baby of course!

If only the little shops were in fact busy enough for the queues vegasmags refers to, and as for "meaningless chit chat" - that's what I call conversation, or human interaction or whatever you might like to call it! For many people living alone it might be their only contact on that day and a bit of friendliness can make the world go round. On the plus side for the better supermarkets, I find that the check out assistants in Waitrose are unfailingly (OK there was once a lapse) polite and friendly. The Sixth form lads are great - one is always greeted, asked if help is needed and often we have a chat about university or A level options as long as there is not a queue building up. There should be room for both which is why I think the WI suggestion is not unreasonable. From an economy point of view it makes more sense to ask for the exact amount you need instead of going with the prepacked usual 4 or 6 (if fruit, 2 of which will inevitably be bruised or go soft). I take the point about buggies in shops, but it is possible on the occasions I have shopped in Moseley with DGS (can't manage the double buggy, size of a small family car) but I also remember the nightmare of shopping at Sainsbury's when ours were babies. It was in the Arndale centre in Wandsworth and the carpark was on the floors above so you had to take the (full) trolley up to the car in the lift, and then, because there were no trolley parks, you had to take the empty trolley (plus baby) back down to the shop in the lift and then back up to the car.

I think French markets would give UK Environmental Health Officers heart attacks. Cheese, cooked meat, raw meat, cakes.....all on open stalls with no cover whatsoever. They don't seem to be any cheaper than the shops either and I am not convinced that all their goods are home grown or locally sourced.

Our market apparently went years ago and is now Waitrose. I heard on the radio the other day that the reason Wairose's market share has gone up more than the major supermarkets is that they have ditched the image of being more expensive than the others.

If I felt the staff in a shop were rude or inattentive I would stop shopping there if there was an alternative option.

whenim64 I could write a book about rude customers far outweighing rude shop assistants. From time to time I have to interrupt what I'm doing [internet customer shopping] to help on the tills. The woman on her mobile? common occurrence. A customer thought she'd give her child a ride and put him on the conveyor belt. I asked her please remove said child for various health and safety reasons - called me a 'jobs-worth' . When I'm pushing my large trolley full of customer crates, it is heavy to push, customer comes up and says 'eggs?' and walks away whilst I'm still explaining where they are - no thanks of course. Then we get the sweet old lady who is quietly shop lifting - lamb chops, biscuits etc. I alerted the guard and she was furious said she felt we could afford it. Not thinking that actually the customer affords it as the price of our insurance is put onto our food prices.

when I saw a woman do exactly the same thing a few months ago. It seemed incredibly rude and of course she was slowed down with her packing and paying, resolutely ignoring the stares of others waiting in line.

I always shop in Waitrose and the talking between check out assistants is starting up there as well.

I notice myself getting edgy about it and then think 'oh well, if it gives them a bit of pleasure in what is probably a boring job!'.

Not much worse than a forced 'hello, how are you' or whatever that they have to come out with nowadays.

We have a couple of thriving food makets here but I don't use them much apart from he W I stall. What about hygiene?

Or maybe people will still like to look, touch and feel merchandise?
Or find the unexpected?
As some of you know we had a recent victory here in MK. There was a dastardly plan to get rid of a thriving market - one that would be the envy of many towns - and replace it with a giant Primark. The market is not a middle class cutesy affair btw. and it brought a bit of grittiness into the centre which is otherwise a modern mall with all the chains. There was a huge outcry and the planning application was withdrawn at the final hour. I think this shows there is an appetite for "real shopping".

Our high street has seen so many small businesses close down and charity shops take their place. But if I wandered up there today most of the shops will be closed, being Sunday, even those who aim for the tourist trade. Conversely all the little cafes will be open and doing a grand trade.

Vegasmags

I stood behind a woman at the checkout in the supermarket last week, and she carried on talking on her mobile phone the whole time from loading her shopping on to the conveyor belt to walking away with her bags. Not once did she acknowledge the person on the checkout, or say 'thankyou.' When she walked off I said 'hello' and the checkout woman said 'you'd be surprised how many customers do that nowadays.'

DH and I were talking about this yesterday. "What will there be in the high street in 20 years time?"

We agreed that with ever inventive technology developing there will be no need or demand for many of the shops there now.

The generation that has had little or no experience with digital technology will be gone and everyone will use online shopping almost exclusively.

In fact we could only think of personal service shops like hairdressers that would still be there.

Waitrose gives me a free cappucino, their Essential range prices are comparable to those in Tesco, and the staff in my local smallish branch know me anyway (especially the deli staff) because I live across the road and use the shop as my pantry.

On our high street there are some great independent shops which I support just because they're great: a florist, a beautician, a cafe and a gift shop. I don't mind waiting for a bit - usually when I'm shopping, I'm not in a rush.

We're lucky in that we have a reasonably sized Tesco, a small Co-op and an independent supermarket. All of which keeps the local shops on their toes with regards to price, and being retired we enjoy passing the time of day with the assistants/owners. (Haven't actually used the Tesco)

Where we used to live the small shops had mostly closed and we had to use the enormous Sainsburys. I hated the fight for parking, lopsided trolleys, miles of walking, hassle, queues, robot assistants, having to check enormously long bills (my fault, I'd put off going) and lack of service when the bill was wrong.

Give me a friendly chat and a ten second wait any day.

Yes Greatnan, it's now 2.06 EST and you're right, I have insomnia, given up counting sheep and come back on Gransnet

Correction , Jane, I see you are in the USA!

Jane - insomnia? Commiserations, I know about the wee small hours.

I spend about 30 euros a week in our village supermarket, just to help keep it open, but I do my 'big' shop at the large supermarket in the next village. It is quite nice to be recognised in my local shop, and having a chat with the owner helps my French. There is a lot of romanticising about little shops and markets in France - in fact, I believe about 80% of food in France is bought in supermarkets. Service has improved in the last ten year - checkout staff now say 'Bonjour' to each customer and 'Bonne journee' after you have paid, but they still tend to chat to the woman on the next till. No help with packing, of course - sometimes I miss Tescos! And no free plastic bags, which is a good thing.

I think that small shops can survive only by providing excellent quality AND good customer service, since they cannot compete on price with supermarkets.
I like to support local shops that provide both these things, but not if they don't.
The OP made me laugh, because the shop unit next to our local excellent baker was taken over by a green grocers and initially I was delighted. But there was just something not quite right about the women that worked there and there was no local produce, only stale imported stuff.
The shop closed suddenly and it later transpired that the owners had been arrested for money laundering

I miss the wonderful covered market open six days a week and the outdoor market twice a week, as well as the farmer's market once a month that I used when I lived in Darlington. There are two supermarkets in the centre of town here and a new one is being built but no individual shops or stalls in the style I am used to. As said above - each to his own.

That's true merlotgran. There is now a huge Sainsburys near where we used to live and every time we pass it I say to DH "I wish that had been there when ours were young."

As for Waitrose, I am a new convert. I think their prices are reasonable especially on "Essentials " range. With the loyalty card there are all sorts of other very good benefits too.

Yes. I think that too. I remember real shopping at the small shops we used to have. It took ages!

I guess I'm being selfish here - thinking about the enjoyment of going round small independent shops when on holiday. Different thing altogether.

All I know is that when I was a young mother with three children under five I would have killed for a Tesco or Sainsbury nearby. High Street shops were not family friendly. Children's clothes were overpriced and there was very little choice. You couldn't get a pram or pushchair through the narrow doors and as for trying something on.....what were you supposed to do with your kids/shopping/pushchair?

I think we over romanticize the image of the high street.

You don't pay through the nose at Waitrose and John Lewis!

It would be - and is - sad to see our varied small town high streets disappear.

Ouch!