I was sooooooo confused when you said "This is your standard juice section." I was like.... "uhhhh do you know what juice is???" And then you clarified that you aren't blind. 🤣
Choice paralysis is a thing. Tesco did a trial with a bunch of jams and other preserves. People stopped buying them. Any of them. They reverted to a smaller selection and sales went up again. Well, back to normal.
That's because Brits aren't used to or able to make choices anymore. They like being told what to do and how to live. It was the same after Germany reunited. Many East Germans were actively wishing for communism to come back because life was too hard for them when they had to make decisions and provide for themselves. Even though they had freedom and the ability to live far better lives, they hated it. They preferred to be told what do to and when and be handed a subsistence existence. Britain is there now.
Reminds me of a story about Eisenhower. He was president of Columbia university and there was a quadrangle where students were expected to walk around. Unfortunately, they kept walking across it. The university asked Eisenhowers advice to get the students to obey the rules and walk around on the pavement. His answer was to build pavements where the students wanted to walk. So desire paths can work.
I’ve mentioned it in 2 other vids comparing supermarkets! Sometimes I get concerned about repeating certain things though I go back to certain topics 😇
I'm actually Dutch but concerning shopping I'm really German: I just want what I need and I trust it to be a good product and reasonably priced. 🤷🏽♂️🙃
One great thing about my country (and I'm sure it's a thing in a lot of other places too) are farmers markets that are usually very close to supermarkets and grocery stores. So essentially, not only do I live close to a grocery store, I can also see whether the potatoes are better in store or does the lady at the farmers market has better ones that day 😅 It's good to be reminded what a blessing these things are, especially when we're so used to them being normal.
Is freedom possessing the ability to choose between 20 brands of cereal or being able to puruse life goals regardless of the material conditions one is born into?
As a American living in Britain I agree and I’m glad that you pointed this out. I try to explain to my friends back home about how different things are here like that (so random I know) and it’s so hard but like it really was a culture shock moving here especially living in rural Britain
More choices doesn't necessarily mean more quality though, it just means more added artificial junk ingredients to give you those endless flavour options!😅 Perhaps the closest analogy is your cheap and cheerful high street Chinese restaurants where the menu options can run to several pages long but quality takes a backseat to quantity whereas a more upmarket Chinese restaurant will feature all of their menu offerings on just one or two pages but the raw ingredients are of infinitely better quality.
Just moved to the UK: The food is fresher and my shopping is much faster than when I was living in the USA. I am not staring at aisles upon aisle trying to make a choice. I don't mind going more often but the issue is I snack more now. My brain just goest "the shop is just next door, I can just get a chocolate bar or a bag of crisps/chips or a drink or dessert" Also because of you I had to pop down to my local Sainsbury's to get some ice cream. I don't hate the ice cream in the UK, but it isn't good either. I find the food selection in the UK good enough and some items I do prefer over the US counterpart, but oh do I miss larger containers of sauces, higher selection of cheeses, and some other items.
If you want a higher selection of cheeses, usually the bigger version of the super markets have a big cheese section like Sainsburys for example. I don't know about "upmarket" places suchas Waitrose etc as they are far too expensive for my wallet lol.
9:21 Yes, the sidewalk is largely useless. The only use is if you 'walk' for exercise or if you actually know your neighbors and go visit them. Spoiler alert: Nobody knows their neighbors
Canadian here, who lives 45 minutes from the border, and frequently "cross border shops." To my Canadian eyes, the selection in American stores is staggering. Also the insanely liberal coupon policies. Also, it's a fun day out. Canada is somewhere in the middle. Way less selection but hyper overprocessed and only a few mega corporations represented and a lean towards car-culture.
15:50 I did notice the chocolate bars next to the checkout had been replaced with protein bars and dried fruit but I'd never realised there was a new law supporting this! That makes more sense now.
It is, sort-of. There are multiple styles of Target - some are more like TK Maxx (I'd refer to it more as a general store), and some are "SuperTargets" that also have groceries (so-called Hypermarts). The prevalence of "SuperTargets" depend more on where you live than anything; I never saw one until I was in my 30s, personally.
Yeah but it says "non-dairy" in a very legible, noticeable font right on the front of the tub. Evan acknowledged that the reason for the new rule was, in theory, to provide for this, and that's fine. But a large portion of what the average reasonable consumer would assume are "OG, cow juice"-style ice creams... aren't. Like, if I intentionally buy sorbet, I'm not getting tricked.
Pretending for a moment that there is a consistent and useful definition of "ultra-processed foods," Ben & Jerry's Non-Dairy Stephen Colbert's Americone Dream would be an example of a UPF.
U.S. Anglophile here. Live in a nice user-friendly area of Northern Virginia & within walking distance of both a Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, so have a pretty good selection of groceries.
See, they're both still supermarkets aren't they? Just ones with nicer/healthier selections right? It's an interesting difference of mindset: to me here in the UK having a good selection of groceries means being near a greengrocer or a market (whether a permanent indoor/outdoor market or one that comes a particular day each week). Ideally a couple for choice. If I live somewhere with only supermarkets nearby to get my fruit and veg from, I see that as a limited choice no matter how good the supermarkets are! Do places in the US even have markets with fruit and veg stalls, or dedicated greengrocers shops?
I'm not really surprised that UK supermarkets don't stock all the varieties of American brand products. The UK has a staggering choice regarding UK specific products, and especially products targeted at immigrant communities: Ready made Indian meals and accessories as an example.
yeah as an American i think our tendency to want things that will last a long time so we don't have to shop as often is what lead to so many things being stuffed with preservatives and add that with everything having 5-10 different brand choices and maybe 1 is a "healthy" option that is kind badly labeled as that makes it really hard to try and eat healthy
Having to DRIVE several miles to get to the store (in most cases) is also going to factor in to that mentality. Local shops within a few minutes walk are a very common thing pretty much everywhere outside of North America.
@@TalesOfWar yeah that is definitely true as well that needing to drive so far Factors into that which comes from I think the fact that north American cities for the most part were made and grew after the industrial revolution so they were designed around cars compared to European cities that were mostly founded before the industrial revolution so they are more pedestrian focused
I just grab the first one that comes to hand and always seem to end up with something different. Last time it was black which was profoundly shocking until I realised it's charcoal toothpaste. Needless to say the flavour and texture are exactly the same as all the other types.
I recently moved back to the states from Glasgow (family stuff) and genuinely had reverse culture shock walking into US markets. Hell I even had shock just going into a larger Tesco extra while I was in the UK. Thankfully I live in a mega city in the US and so my local markets, even though they’re a drive away, are still quite limited in size compared to what one may experience in a rural community, so they prioritize essentials rather than choice. I also live quite close to a couple different Trader Joe’s and another market called Sprouts that has many healthy options that are relatively affordable. There are also a few ethnic food stores I’m near so I’m definitely privileged in terms of my options for healthy choices, especially in America. The one mainstream market near me, Ralph’s, I try to avoid haha.
My town (a suburb of Boston in the US) has no grocery stores in town and the nearest ones to me are a ten minute drive. Even if I wanted to walk or bike to the store, it really wouldn’t be safe, because our town doesn’t have sidewalks. We do have 14 pizza restaurants and used to have 5 Dunkin Donuts within a five minute drive, until a couple years ago.
It's funny because, creature of habit that I am, I've been meeting to figure out where the best places to find certain items rather than going to the same place all the time since I'm not exactly short on options. For those wondering, within an hours walk from my home there is: A Tesco, a Sainsburys, an Aldi, a Lidl, an Iceland and a Poundland. (obviously some of those are closer than others)
There's a Sainsbury's behind my parents' house and there's a little short cut into the carpark if you're coming from my parents' street. And it's a bigger Sainsbury's so my mum often goes around with her little cart full of reusable bags a couple times a week. Then there's a 'little' Tesco down the road if there's something Sainsbury's doesn't have. And honestly I'd rather have less choice - I don't really want to choose between several brands of kidney beans or whole wheat bread.
I just went to a brand new housing estate rhat isnt even fully built yet and bang in the middle of it is already a bunch of shops including the semi-local-mini supermarket that i work for. Its a lil more expensive than the buffer supermarkets but it specialises in giving you fewer choices but being very local and giving you the convenience of a lil corner shop (it's cheaper than those price marked abominations though) so we sit between the tiny corner shop and the supermarkets. Also, i can be in and out of a major supermarket within 5-10 minutes. 👌
I would be surprised if someone hasn't already pointed this out but for store layout crimes no one beats IKEA. Even though you can escape at several places if you know where to look, it is a snaking layout which forces you to go from start to finish :)
Ikea is my idea of shopping hell.. whereas I have friends who absolutely love going there and look at it as a great day out... I think I'd rather go to the dentist
I suspect they took their design strategy from museums rather than traditional retail. Many museums also lead you subconsciously on a winding journey through a chain of themed rooms full of things to look at. With strategically placed lighting to direct your eyes toward specific displays and keep you moving forward. AND museums often have a cafe/gift shop area near the exit.
I actually enjoy the IKEA jurney-like layout. I don't consider it a crime because they are straight open about it. You know what you are getting into when you enter the schowroom part and in many places you can skip forward large chunks of the track. With that said it is also true that one does not simply walk into IKEA and leave without buing anything. 😉
@@HumbleWooperI went to Ikea for the first time last week, and that’s how I described my experience, It’s like a furniture museum 😂 But I liked it, I view it as a day out too! It felt like I was walking in the catalog
I remember when I first went into Asda in the early 80s. It was called a Hypermarket at the time and seemed enormous. Now, exactly the same store seems normal (for a Brit). Asda was never a UK version of Walmart by the way. It’s just that Walmart bought them at one time (but don’t own them any more).
Hmm ... I shop at Target quite often, and rarely buy anything that wasn't on my list. But I see your point about the floor plans. And maybe I'm not a typical consumer.
I lived in Japan for 6 years and, when I returned to the US, I returned to my previous job at a supermarket here in the US. Maybe it's because I have to put up tags every week when the sales change, but I hate how much variety there is in the US & miss the limited selection in Japan (something I never thought I would say because initially I also missed having variety). Please explain to me why there are regular, family & giant sizes of the same cereal. Not to mention that there are Oreo and Crumbl "cereal". I swear there are at least 2-3 flavors (if not more) of every product. I still find it overwhelming.
The different sizes are (theoretically) so you can buy either the size that best fits your needs or your budget... but it's also secretly a way to confuse buyers into spending more than they need to. It's all a ploy to make us mindless consumers who just grab what looks best, because we don't have enough time or mental bandwidth to actually consider the dozens of options in front of us. The biggest box is *often* the cheapest per ounce/100g/serving of product, but not always. And it varies between chains which size box is the best value for any given cereal. And when the bigger box goes on sale 3 for $11 and the smaller one is buy four get one free, you have to redo all your calculations. You'd need to use a calculator or get very good at mental math and holding lots of numbers in your head, to make actual thoughtful choices about this stuff. Probably spreadsheets too, and nobody wants to spend an hour or more at the store poking spreadsheets on their phone every time they need food.
😂😂😂😂😂 Evan I've been watching every one of your videos for many years man you went down the rabbit hole with this one... OMG dude. I had to keep pausing to process the information with my brain. In Central Florida here BTW. And the thing that shocked me most about the video is how small the supermarkets are in UK . We have five super Walmarts within a 20-minute Drive. Also Me and my husband always laugh about all of the weird flavors of stuff...
The thing I find most annoying with Ultra processed foods is that, even if you cook from scratch, there will usually be something that has a weird ingredient. When you eat a frozen pizza or a breakfast cereal, you almost expect it. But when I make curry from scratch why is there a stabiliser in tinned coconut milk? It just seems unavoidable
Thats because canned coconut milk without stabilizer/emulsifier quickly separates into water and coconut fat. I couldn't find any manufacturer who doesn't add emulsifier, although I haven't searched in the organic food aisle.
@@TomekSmykowski The coconut milk I buy separates out anyway so the stabiliser almost seems pointless. Nothing a bit of elbow grease can't fix though...
I think going shopping a lot really reduced now more people work from home. Back when I used to work in an office we'd go the local super market fairly often for lunch(it being so close made it more appealing than making food the morning of and keeping it refridgerated), then going again on my way home(the super market was between the train station and my home, so I've just have a quick look to see what was on the discounted shelves). Now I go way less often because I work from home so I have the full kitchen to use to make food or decide what I want from, I can even leave something slow cooking the night before to have for lunch, I have no reason to buy a meal deal sandwich or whatever. And since I no longer walk past every day I don't check for discounted products until I need something either. I've gone from going around 8 times a week to once or twice a week.
I don't know about the UK but there are huge Walmart/Target size stores in Europe. the French chains, like Auchan and especially Carrefour are similar and Carrefour does have 24,000 m² stores. In Spaintheir stores a almost as big. Of course those are not in the city center but still not too far and in Barecelona are in quite dense areas accessible by public transit. There are even Costco in a few places and Makro, that is more for restaurants/hospitality industry but more and more regular people buy there. That said still most will also buy in the local stores, gonto the many fresh food markets, butcher, fuites and vegetable, bakery etc. When you have everything within a short walking distance you don't need those huge stores.
Tesco extra in Watford? Is that the massive one on the dual carriageway on the way in from the Arches? That is very much larger than the average UK supermarket
I've been really lucky the place I currently live and the apartment I lived before this to have grocery stores I can actually walk to. The one near me now is actually a Lidl so I have access to that sweet sweet bakery!
As a British person, I now understand why Americans going into Target even just for groceries inevitably end up with clothing, home decor and a thousand other things they had no intention of purchasing. I thought they were like our supermarkets where there's maybe a smallish and easily avoidable clothing/home section but most of the space is food, but I get it now. I get it. That layout is dangerous.
Reflexive comment after just watching the intro: Nah American stores have too much and I hate it. Comment after watching the whole video: I not only misjudged Evan’s opinion, but also somehow managed to miss the real topic of the video entirely. I mean, the plot twists just kept coming. Ps: Evan you have a lot of plants in your flat. It looks real nice.
I could believe an average of 80% of caloric intake being HPF in Canada considering how much of the average grocery store is that stuff. It also really matters where you live. I live in a poorer area and theres very limited healthier options at the grocery store, and some people are grocery shopping at dollar stores which have no fresh food at all. If I drive 30 min to the other side of the city, healthier options galore, and the HPF aisles are smaller. Fucking class war.
I guess compared to the US, a first world problem in the UK is that in a lot of places the nearest shop is something like a OneStop or a Co-op- I’M SORRY THE AVERAGE SIZE OF A WALMART IS WHAT? That completely threw me off my train of thought I have no idea what I was complaining about WHAT IS THAT SIZE
A thought I was having the other day while wandering around a Spanish branch of Carrefour was what a supermarket might look like if it were only stocked with items that you bought within the last year. If you predominantly do online shopping, this might be possible to quantify/visualise (or if you are super pedantic in keeping all your receipts) but I did wonder how much smaller the shop would be and whether we'd be annoyed at the reduced choice. Anyway, on the 200 flavours of Oreos, how many of these are created just for the sake of creating them to see if people will buy them (supply seeking demand) and how long they keep making them if they prove not to be a profitable flavour.
Oh, lots of the wild flavors of snack/dessert/breakfast foods in the USA these days are absolutely designed to prey on people's curiosity. If it's flavored like something we're familiar with, we want to try one and find out how well it matches our expectations. And if it's flavored like something we've never had (or is literally impossible to taste like "starlight" or "move", looking at you Coke-a-Cola), we wonder what that tastes like. Curiosity paired with a brand we know and enjoy the "regular" version of is a dangerous combination.
i've had europeans yell about how it's not fun to go to the grocery store multiple times and that i should just move when i've mentioned i wish here in the US that grocery stores were closer and walkable in rural areas. i have to drive so my shopping is once a week at most. visiting the UK in December and actually looking forward to being able to walk to get groceries while i'm there. really interesting video. we really have too many options here in the states, that salad dressing case from the beginning of the video doesn't even count the literal aisle where even more salad dressings take up a quarter to a third of the shelf space
The best example I can think of is the household staple - Bread, after Kingsmill got bought out the prices got jacked up high. The closest super market only sells thick slice bread (iceland)... I'm not kidding own brand at a £1. A 10 minute walk away is a tesco metro from that store, where you can get the tesco own brand for 85p. Since we buy bread about every 2 weeks or so, that's a saving of £3.90 over the course of the year. Sure, it may not seem like much but that can be put towards other things and over time it does add up.
As someone who grew up and will probably never leave NJ (unfortunately lol), I really appreciate the constant references/deep dives into to the garden state. I grew up in sussex county where for me, the nearest grocery store was a 25 minute drive away. Although, I love nature and appreciate that area, I now crave more walkable places and will probably be moving to a more walkable town next year. To me "walkable" used to mean walking along a precarious shoulder whereas to my partner it means sidewalks, bike lanes and downtown within walking distance. I dream about walking to a park to hammock, popping downtown to grab a coffee or grabbing some fresh produce at a market. One day! 🤞
I'm American and i really wish brands like Oreos and lays and Coke would stop making up all these insane flavors. Does anyone really even want them? They seem like they go away as quick as they appear and they're never anything decent sounding anyway. It's really ok to just have three options of flavors, good Lord.
Those wild flavors exist purely to capitalize on people's curiosity. And maybe get us to buy our favorite standard flavor of their product too (or instead) to compare or reaffirm to ourselves how much better it truly is. It's an arms race of "creativity" between brands fighting over our ever-shrinking pool of disposable income. They're trying to keep our minds on them instead of their competitor's equally shiny new flavor. Plus we live in a world of false dichotomies... by framing the choice as "new weird flavor vs classic good one" the idea of not buying a soda at all is far less likely to cross our minds. Even if we weren't planning to get one when we walked into the store.
@@HumbleWooper I absolutely can see your point and it makes sense , but god I still hate it. Stores are getting bigger, choices are getting broader, convenience is getting more common, and we're becoming lazier and more spoiled for it.
I come from Canada, not as bad but similar choices than the USA, but I have lived internationally in 5 different countries in the last 20 years. Every time I go back to visit my family, the supermarkets stress me out. It takes so long and has way too much shit in it. My favourite country was Norway, one to three options (if that) it means the supermarket are way smaller and use to take me at most 20 minutes to do my weekly groceries shopping. Amazing!
I definitely agree with this. I think it's no surprise that the thing I miss most about my one trip to Europe was the convenience of all the shops around where I was at. Sure, they didn't have everything, but it was so nice being able to wake up, get something, and that was that. Granted, I was staying in a hotel, und there are sometimes convenience stores and restaurants near those in the states, but trust me, it isn't the same. Also, my favorite store where I live in the US happens to be Aldi, which has way less than Walmart, and isn't much cheaper, but it's closer, and has enough. Which is more important. You're absolutely right, usually it doesn't matter if they have 200 flavors of Oreos, because you don't want 200, you just want Oreos.
Where I live I have a small shop, owned by a very nice old lady, where I go every week to by produce as it is small your choice is litery reduced to what's in season or whats available at that day. And once a month or so I buy shelf stable things.
one of my favourite supermarkets is mercadona in spain. so many reasonably priced, high quality products and i love the standard feature of pretty much all supermarkets in spain of having a fresh orange juice machine.
Thought on options - in my experience, it isn’t just about flavors. If you have any dietary restrictions, European-style grocery stores (at least in the US - maybe it’s better in Europe) often don’t have great options. Big grocery stores are some of the only places I can find certain foods I want. My local Aldi, which is conveniently a 3-4 minute walk away, doesn’t have some things I use every day or at least multiple times a week. If it did, I would never have to drive to a grocery store. I don’t care about having 20 flavors of Doritos or whatever, but I want to be able to buy more than one firmness of tofu (a necessity for some recipes) and any nutritional yeast at all lol. I could probably survive on the foods at my local Aldi, but I would have to rule out many recipes and probably take more supplements
Shop around easy to do. I live in a small UK town, 40k population. We have large Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, smaller Aldi, Lidl, Marks and Spencer and Iceland. Actually Lidl are moving opposite Morrisons into a brand new large supermarket. For 40k people?
I tend to shop at Trader Joe’s. I like that they have fewer selections. Walmart and Target really aren’t grocery stores. They just happen to have groceries in addition to the other items.
A) I don't feel like I spend more time in a supermarket (Safeway, etc.) looking for things than I do at Trader Joe's, typically TJ doesn't have well defined sections that make finding a specific item (like peanut butter) easy. I might spend more time overall, but I go with a bigger list in the first place and I find things faster. B) I wouldn't consider a Walmart a "grocery store", I think of it as a department store with a grocery section. typically the food portion of a Walmart is less than 1/3 of the floorplan. C) The layout of Walmarts and Targets doesn't seem problematic to me when I already have a hunch that the things I'm looking for are going to be on the back wall: electronics, sporting goods and automotive. I don't care if I'm walking through jewelry and women's clothing, I have no desire to buy it, and I'm rarely with people who would. D) my grandmother and some of the people in my family are *incredibly* specific about what they want from the store: "Get the Swanson beef broth, low sodium, but only the stuff in the cans, the plastic cartons make it taste funny." Like, I can't imagine you could *do* that in Europe. she's right about the packaging affecting the taste, and has a salt restriction, but I just don't feel like you'd have the option to choose like that elsewhere.
Fun thing for Americans, it really doesn't matter what you choose. Even the store brands are made by the major brands. They make the generics, then just put it in a different box. So, no matter what you buy, the 4 or 5 large companies in the US that own all the food brands make all the money I lived at a place like the Lidl example. The store was basically "across the street" but, it was a 4 lane divided highway. You had to go the opposite direction to get to it from where I lived though.
Americans get it all wrong with so much choice. The human mind enjoys seven options, but anything more and you either become stressed or ignore everything except what you already know. There’s a whole psychology of shopping and for some reason America just ignores it. Aisles full of hundreds of variations of a product is just a massive waste of space, but space isn’t at a premium in the US as it is in smaller countries like the UK.
When I go shopping (Germany) I look at the list of ingredients and usually only buy stuff that has the lowest amount of ingredients and preferable no artificial flavour (yay, British spelling!). And that, for example, means only salted potato chips. ☺️
Would really, really have loved it if you done this level of analysis for Australian grocery shops. Where what you described as a duopoly is final, final being investigated by our government’s (A.C.C.C). Hopefully someone might go to goal for wholesale thievery from both customers and farmers. Ex-UK! Must said Utrecht is also my most visited Dutch town! NSW in Oz 🇦🇺
Trader Joe's is my favorite place for groceries, followed closely by a local chain called Harmon's. Both carry higher quality items and cultivate a better shopping experience than the big box chains like Kroger, Target, and Walmart.
I agree that big corporations shouldn't get away with stocking shelves with their products under other names. However, I like the choices. No I don't care if it's all Unilever in this context, I like variety and trying different things. I love Aldi's however the bulk of my shopping comes from Shoprite and unfortunately Walmart. I agree with the ultra processed foods they need to be burned. There are smaller grocery stores in the inner city but they don't sell the healthiest of items. I don't seem to have your view on shopping in NJ. I'm a displaced New Yorka staying in Jersey. Whether in NY or NJ I don't seem to have your view. Except that NJ is not pedestrian friendly and walking to a supermarket that's a mile or less away is impossible
That clip from That's Life must have been from about half a century ago.... BTW @Evan - don't buy that six-pack of Heinz beans - buy the four pack of Branston on the left (Crosse & Blackwell as was). You'll find that not only are they lighter, but they taste much better. 16:35 - that Tesco floorplan looks rather old, since they sold Giraffe in 2016?
We sell the pizza flavoured doritos in the shop I work at. There was also Burger King whopper flavoured ones for a while. Surprisingly tasted like a whopper.
Who's saying that ASDA is like a UK Walmart? Its just another supermarket, really ALSO the 2nd largest supermarket store is another Tesco in Warrington not too far from where I live and I'm not surprised, it is literally an enormous warehouse with a supermarket in it
I used to be in love with Target when I was younger but I hated going there because I would always wind up spending 80$ on shit I didn’t need at the time. Nice to know that’s how it was planned to be. Also makes sense now that my local Target has moved the pet section to the back of the store next to groceries and seasonal. Just yikes all around.
Also, is it really fair to compare grocery stores to WalMart when the super centers include departments for auto repair, electronics, clothing, etc in addition to groceries? Does the Tesco Extra or the Rewe have that many non-grocery retail offerings at their locations? EDIT: Got to the section on floorplans, so yeah, I see that Tesco Extra had electronics and clothing. And yes, I can never find anything in Target (I rarely go) even when I've researched the store location of the item I want on their website in advance. Planning a shop at Target like it's a commando mission.
To be fair, up until a few years ago Asda was literally owned by Walmart. So to say it was the UK Walmart is fair, despite the fact the largest stores 'only' do- groceries, electronics, clothes, pharmacy and opticians.
The biggest hate I have about all American foods is the dirty and unhealthy ingredients that some how passes all health checks in the US. Almost starved to death when in Washington (DC) a few years back, had to buy real foods (fresh foods) ouch my wallet was saying.
It wouldn't surprise me if lots of it WOULDN'T pass health checks, especially surprise spot-checks... sadly the FDA is astoundingly understaffed and underfunded. Most places (restaurants, factories, stores, warehouses, farms, everything) don't get outside third-party inspections anywhere near as often or as thoroughly as the written regulations require. And when they give people warnings, they don't have the ability to follow up on things and enforce fixes in a timely manner. I suspect that's a big part of why there's been so many food recalls here over the past few years. When people start getting sick they HAVE to trace sources and shut stuff down... which takes time and attention away from all the day to day checks and upkeep they also ought to be doing but don't have the manpower for.
The USA city in which I live, in 2024, has only 3 supermarkets and one small grocery store - down from 2009 which had 5 supermarkets and one bigger grocery store. Reason: A publicly traded supermarket chain bought our local family-owned chain and started closing down stores, starting with the bigger grocery store that they refused to buy as part of the acquisition deal, creating food deserts
The milk is in the back corner of the store so it backs against the storage cooler and can be stocked directly from the back... yea, definitely not to make someone who runs to the store to get some milk walk past all the everything else that looks tasty to get to it.
I shop at a small family owned grocery store (one in NH, one in RI that’s all) like you said about Trader Joe’s, it has good vibes, low stress while I’m there, zero big-name brands on the shelves. It’s nice knowing too that they’re very particular about what they sell in their stores. The actual size of the store is probably the size of the produce section at Market Basket lol, but it has everything I need.
Target is a discount department store that carries groceries, not a grocery store that carries non-food items. When you look at their stores as what they are intended to be, Target has a much better layout than Walmart.
While I’m not concerned about the ‘tyranny of choice’ I do feel every supermarket isle I have to walk past to get my shopping and depart is one extra reason for shopping elsewhere. 😀👍
I was sooooooo confused when you said "This is your standard juice section." I was like.... "uhhhh do you know what juice is???" And then you clarified that you aren't blind. 🤣
I should have taken the photo from further away
Well Evan does wear glasses soooo…. Maybe when writing the script he forgot his glasses
I’m loving this series, it’s just Evan getting progressively more accepting how British he’s getting and increasingly frustrated with Americanisms 😂
Choice paralysis is a thing. Tesco did a trial with a bunch of jams and other preserves. People stopped buying them. Any of them. They reverted to a smaller selection and sales went up again. Well, back to normal.
That's because Brits aren't used to or able to make choices anymore. They like being told what to do and how to live. It was the same after Germany reunited. Many East Germans were actively wishing for communism to come back because life was too hard for them when they had to make decisions and provide for themselves. Even though they had freedom and the ability to live far better lives, they hated it. They preferred to be told what do to and when and be handed a subsistence existence. Britain is there now.
It takes me five minutes to choose between strawberry or raspberry.
Does "just popping" anywhere even exist in the US? Seems like everywhere you'd want to go is a car drive away.
Depends on where you live. You can pull it off in major cities in the Northeast, for instance.
Not Just Bikes has a short series on RUclips called Stronger Towns, which is about exactly this problem.
We don't even get that these days. 9/10 businesses I drive to only allow online customers now.
unless you live in a big city like NY Chicago or some on the east coast then o
A path? No, that's a "desire path", which is where people have created a path around the paved/authorised walking areas. There's a subreddit.
Reminds me of a story about Eisenhower. He was president of Columbia university and there was a quadrangle where students were expected to walk around. Unfortunately, they kept walking across it. The university asked Eisenhowers advice to get the students to obey the rules and walk around on the pavement. His answer was to build pavements where the students wanted to walk. So desire paths can work.
“Walk the cow path”
Just for your info, if you didn't already know Evan, is that Trader Joes is owned by Aldi Nord.
Yeah, I also hoped Evan would have mentioned that.
This is so funny
I’ve mentioned it in 2 other vids comparing supermarkets! Sometimes I get concerned about repeating certain things though I go back to certain topics 😇
I'm actually Dutch but concerning shopping I'm really German: I just want what I need and I trust it to be a good product and reasonably priced. 🤷🏽♂️🙃
One great thing about my country (and I'm sure it's a thing in a lot of other places too) are farmers markets that are usually very close to supermarkets and grocery stores. So essentially, not only do I live close to a grocery store, I can also see whether the potatoes are better in store or does the lady at the farmers market has better ones that day 😅 It's good to be reminded what a blessing these things are, especially when we're so used to them being normal.
Is freedom possessing the ability to choose between 20 brands of cereal or being able to puruse life goals regardless of the material conditions one is born into?
And those 20 brands being part of a single conglomerate at that
Oh definitely the cereal one. Everyone knows that. Don't you hear the eagle screech everytime you go down the cereal aisle?? :P
Yes.
@@druelia9485Sounded more like a redtail hawk, though
As a American living in Britain I agree and I’m glad that you pointed this out. I try to explain to my friends back home about how different things are here like that (so random I know) and it’s so hard but like it really was a culture shock moving here especially living in rural Britain
i think I'd have a mental breakdown trying to shop in America 😂
I'm just imagining it to be like IKEA but with food everywhere. And no signs to help you escape.
It happens frequently. Part of why there are so many "Karens" here.
I've never had an issue with "choice paralysis" and I've lived here my whole life.
More choices doesn't necessarily mean more quality though, it just means more added artificial junk ingredients to give you those endless flavour options!😅 Perhaps the closest analogy is your cheap and cheerful high street Chinese restaurants where the menu options can run to several pages long but quality takes a backseat to quantity whereas a more upmarket Chinese restaurant will feature all of their menu offerings on just one or two pages but the raw ingredients are of infinitely better quality.
Right, plus more options is a gimmick to make people spend more money thus making the corporations richer.
Just moved to the UK: The food is fresher and my shopping is much faster than when I was living in the USA. I am not staring at aisles upon aisle trying to make a choice. I don't mind going more often but the issue is I snack more now. My brain just goest "the shop is just next door, I can just get a chocolate bar or a bag of crisps/chips or a drink or dessert"
Also because of you I had to pop down to my local Sainsbury's to get some ice cream. I don't hate the ice cream in the UK, but it isn't good either.
I find the food selection in the UK good enough and some items I do prefer over the US counterpart, but oh do I miss larger containers of sauces, higher selection of cheeses, and some other items.
If you want a higher selection of cheeses, usually the bigger version of the super markets have a big cheese section like Sainsburys for example. I don't know about "upmarket" places suchas Waitrose etc as they are far too expensive for my wallet lol.
9:21 Yes, the sidewalk is largely useless. The only use is if you 'walk' for exercise or if you actually know your neighbors and go visit them. Spoiler alert: Nobody knows their neighbors
Canadian here, who lives 45 minutes from the border, and frequently "cross border shops." To my Canadian eyes, the selection in American stores is staggering. Also the insanely liberal coupon policies. Also, it's a fun day out. Canada is somewhere in the middle. Way less selection but hyper overprocessed and only a few mega corporations represented and a lean towards car-culture.
15:50 I did notice the chocolate bars next to the checkout had been replaced with protein bars and dried fruit but I'd never realised there was a new law supporting this! That makes more sense now.
Genuinely up until last year, I thought target was like tk max because of all the videos online of people showing off the ‘new in’ stuff.
Tj maxx is much larger than Tj maxx. American stores are massive.
It is, sort-of. There are multiple styles of Target - some are more like TK Maxx (I'd refer to it more as a general store), and some are "SuperTargets" that also have groceries (so-called Hypermarts).
The prevalence of "SuperTargets" depend more on where you live than anything; I never saw one until I was in my 30s, personally.
I hate that over half the time I spend at Walmart is on reddit finding which flavor of Oreo is best.
Trader Joe's, utilizes a more European style Market place for one great reason. It's owned By Aldi North, and utilised as a franchise in the US.
That Americone Dream Ben & Jerry's you miss so much is non-dairy Evan, last week you were arguing that non dairy "ice-cream" isn't ice-cream. 😮
Yeah but it says "non-dairy" in a very legible, noticeable font right on the front of the tub.
Evan acknowledged that the reason for the new rule was, in theory, to provide for this, and that's fine. But a large portion of what the average reasonable consumer would assume are "OG, cow juice"-style ice creams... aren't.
Like, if I intentionally buy sorbet, I'm not getting tricked.
Pretending for a moment that there is a consistent and useful definition of "ultra-processed foods," Ben & Jerry's Non-Dairy Stephen Colbert's Americone Dream would be an example of a UPF.
As an American I'd be fine if there was less crazy new options if it meant lower prices.
U.S. Anglophile here. Live in a nice user-friendly area of Northern Virginia & within walking distance of both a Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, so have a pretty good selection of groceries.
See, they're both still supermarkets aren't they? Just ones with nicer/healthier selections right?
It's an interesting difference of mindset: to me here in the UK having a good selection of groceries means being near a greengrocer or a market (whether a permanent indoor/outdoor market or one that comes a particular day each week). Ideally a couple for choice. If I live somewhere with only supermarkets nearby to get my fruit and veg from, I see that as a limited choice no matter how good the supermarkets are!
Do places in the US even have markets with fruit and veg stalls, or dedicated greengrocers shops?
I'm not really surprised that UK supermarkets don't stock all the varieties of American brand products. The UK has a staggering choice regarding UK specific products, and especially products targeted at immigrant communities: Ready made Indian meals and accessories as an example.
yeah as an American i think our tendency to want things that will last a long time so we don't have to shop as often is what lead to so many things being stuffed with preservatives and add that with everything having 5-10 different brand choices and maybe 1 is a "healthy" option that is kind badly labeled as that makes it really hard to try and eat healthy
Having to DRIVE several miles to get to the store (in most cases) is also going to factor in to that mentality. Local shops within a few minutes walk are a very common thing pretty much everywhere outside of North America.
@@TalesOfWar yeah that is definitely true as well that needing to drive so far Factors into that which comes from I think the fact that north American cities for the most part were made and grew after the industrial revolution so they were designed around cars compared to European cities that were mostly founded before the industrial revolution so they are more pedestrian focused
You mention Trader Joes as a European type store, that's because it is, Aldi Sud (cannoy type the u with an umlaut) from Germany
How many types of Colgate toothpaste are there in the US? In the UK there’s about 50 of them, which about 49 more than we actually need.
I just grab the first one that comes to hand and always seem to end up with something different. Last time it was black which was profoundly shocking until I realised it's charcoal toothpaste. Needless to say the flavour and texture are exactly the same as all the other types.
I recently moved back to the states from Glasgow (family stuff) and genuinely had reverse culture shock walking into US markets. Hell I even had shock just going into a larger Tesco extra while I was in the UK. Thankfully I live in a mega city in the US and so my local markets, even though they’re a drive away, are still quite limited in size compared to what one may experience in a rural community, so they prioritize essentials rather than choice. I also live quite close to a couple different Trader Joe’s and another market called Sprouts that has many healthy options that are relatively affordable. There are also a few ethnic food stores I’m near so I’m definitely privileged in terms of my options for healthy choices, especially in America. The one mainstream market near me, Ralph’s, I try to avoid haha.
My town (a suburb of Boston in the US) has no grocery stores in town and the nearest ones to me are a ten minute drive. Even if I wanted to walk or bike to the store, it really wouldn’t be safe, because our town doesn’t have sidewalks. We do have 14 pizza restaurants and used to have 5 Dunkin Donuts within a five minute drive, until a couple years ago.
It's funny because, creature of habit that I am, I've been meeting to figure out where the best places to find certain items rather than going to the same place all the time since I'm not exactly short on options.
For those wondering, within an hours walk from my home there is: A Tesco, a Sainsburys, an Aldi, a Lidl, an Iceland and a Poundland. (obviously some of those are closer than others)
There's a Sainsbury's behind my parents' house and there's a little short cut into the carpark if you're coming from my parents' street. And it's a bigger Sainsbury's so my mum often goes around with her little cart full of reusable bags a couple times a week. Then there's a 'little' Tesco down the road if there's something Sainsbury's doesn't have. And honestly I'd rather have less choice - I don't really want to choose between several brands of kidney beans or whole wheat bread.
I thought for a moment you were going to say they climb over their back fence 😅
One of the reasons why ALDI is doing so well in the US
I just went to a brand new housing estate rhat isnt even fully built yet and bang in the middle of it is already a bunch of shops including the semi-local-mini supermarket that i work for. Its a lil more expensive than the buffer supermarkets but it specialises in giving you fewer choices but being very local and giving you the convenience of a lil corner shop (it's cheaper than those price marked abominations though) so we sit between the tiny corner shop and the supermarkets.
Also, i can be in and out of a major supermarket within 5-10 minutes. 👌
I would be surprised if someone hasn't already pointed this out but for store layout crimes no one beats IKEA. Even though you can escape at several places if you know where to look, it is a snaking layout which forces you to go from start to finish :)
Ikea is my idea of shopping hell.. whereas I have friends who absolutely love going there and look at it as a great day out... I think I'd rather go to the dentist
I suspect they took their design strategy from museums rather than traditional retail. Many museums also lead you subconsciously on a winding journey through a chain of themed rooms full of things to look at. With strategically placed lighting to direct your eyes toward specific displays and keep you moving forward.
AND museums often have a cafe/gift shop area near the exit.
IKEA is a destination in itself. An immersive experienc, basically a day out.
I actually enjoy the IKEA jurney-like layout. I don't consider it a crime because they are straight open about it. You know what you are getting into when you enter the schowroom part and in many places you can skip forward large chunks of the track. With that said it is also true that one does not simply walk into IKEA and leave without buing anything. 😉
@@HumbleWooperI went to Ikea for the first time last week, and that’s how I described my experience, It’s like a furniture museum 😂 But I liked it, I view it as a day out too! It felt like I was walking in the catalog
I remember when I first went into Asda in the early 80s. It was called a Hypermarket at the time and seemed enormous. Now, exactly the same store seems normal (for a Brit). Asda was never a UK version of Walmart by the way. It’s just that Walmart bought them at one time (but don’t own them any more).
Hmm ... I shop at Target quite often, and rarely buy anything that wasn't on my list. But I see your point about the floor plans. And maybe I'm not a typical consumer.
Great job Evan. Thanks
200 flavours of Oreo? 🫨 I can’t even think of 200 separate foods whose flavours you’d impart to Oreos…😅
Maybe they are combinations. Strawberry and onion. Chocolate and tuna. Vanilla and pork.
I lived in Japan for 6 years and, when I returned to the US, I returned to my previous job at a supermarket here in the US. Maybe it's because I have to put up tags every week when the sales change, but I hate how much variety there is in the US & miss the limited selection in Japan (something I never thought I would say because initially I also missed having variety). Please explain to me why there are regular, family & giant sizes of the same cereal. Not to mention that there are Oreo and Crumbl "cereal". I swear there are at least 2-3 flavors (if not more) of every product. I still find it overwhelming.
The different sizes are (theoretically) so you can buy either the size that best fits your needs or your budget... but it's also secretly a way to confuse buyers into spending more than they need to. It's all a ploy to make us mindless consumers who just grab what looks best, because we don't have enough time or mental bandwidth to actually consider the dozens of options in front of us.
The biggest box is *often* the cheapest per ounce/100g/serving of product, but not always. And it varies between chains which size box is the best value for any given cereal. And when the bigger box goes on sale 3 for $11 and the smaller one is buy four get one free, you have to redo all your calculations.
You'd need to use a calculator or get very good at mental math and holding lots of numbers in your head, to make actual thoughtful choices about this stuff. Probably spreadsheets too, and nobody wants to spend an hour or more at the store poking spreadsheets on their phone every time they need food.
😂😂😂😂😂 Evan I've been watching every one of your videos for many years man you went down the rabbit hole with this one... OMG dude. I had to keep pausing to process the information with my brain. In Central Florida here BTW. And the thing that shocked me most about the video is how small the supermarkets are in UK . We have five super Walmarts within a 20-minute Drive. Also Me and my husband always laugh about all of the weird flavors of stuff...
Yay rare Australia mention
The thing I find most annoying with Ultra processed foods is that, even if you cook from scratch, there will usually be something that has a weird ingredient. When you eat a frozen pizza or a breakfast cereal, you almost expect it. But when I make curry from scratch why is there a stabiliser in tinned coconut milk? It just seems unavoidable
Thats because canned coconut milk without stabilizer/emulsifier quickly separates into water and coconut fat. I couldn't find any manufacturer who doesn't add emulsifier, although I haven't searched in the organic food aisle.
@@TomekSmykowski The coconut milk I buy separates out anyway so the stabiliser almost seems pointless. Nothing a bit of elbow grease can't fix though...
I think going shopping a lot really reduced now more people work from home.
Back when I used to work in an office we'd go the local super market fairly often for lunch(it being so close made it more appealing than making food the morning of and keeping it refridgerated), then going again on my way home(the super market was between the train station and my home, so I've just have a quick look to see what was on the discounted shelves).
Now I go way less often because I work from home so I have the full kitchen to use to make food or decide what I want from, I can even leave something slow cooking the night before to have for lunch, I have no reason to buy a meal deal sandwich or whatever. And since I no longer walk past every day I don't check for discounted products until I need something either.
I've gone from going around 8 times a week to once or twice a week.
I don't know about the UK but there are huge Walmart/Target size stores in Europe. the French chains, like Auchan and especially Carrefour are similar and Carrefour does have 24,000 m² stores. In Spaintheir stores a almost as big. Of course those are not in the city center but still not too far and in Barecelona are in quite dense areas accessible by public transit.
There are even Costco in a few places and Makro, that is more for restaurants/hospitality industry but more and more regular people buy there.
That said still most will also buy in the local stores, gonto the many fresh food markets, butcher, fuites and vegetable, bakery etc.
When you have everything within a short walking distance you don't need those huge stores.
Tesco extra in Watford? Is that the massive one on the dual carriageway on the way in from the Arches? That is very much larger than the average UK supermarket
I've been really lucky the place I currently live and the apartment I lived before this to have grocery stores I can actually walk to. The one near me now is actually a Lidl so I have access to that sweet sweet bakery!
I miss the choice of seafood options and meat cuts in the US supermarkets compared to here.
As a non american, target looks more like a shopping mall, but open plan than a supermarket.
As a British person, I now understand why Americans going into Target even just for groceries inevitably end up with clothing, home decor and a thousand other things they had no intention of purchasing. I thought they were like our supermarkets where there's maybe a smallish and easily avoidable clothing/home section but most of the space is food, but I get it now. I get it. That layout is dangerous.
Reflexive comment after just watching the intro: Nah American stores have too much and I hate it.
Comment after watching the whole video: I not only misjudged Evan’s opinion, but also somehow managed to miss the real topic of the video entirely. I mean, the plot twists just kept coming.
Ps: Evan you have a lot of plants in your flat. It looks real nice.
Ye bastard, ehh
_Sits and waits_
being behind you means we gotta wait less, wooppee
I could believe an average of 80% of caloric intake being HPF in Canada considering how much of the average grocery store is that stuff. It also really matters where you live. I live in a poorer area and theres very limited healthier options at the grocery store, and some people are grocery shopping at dollar stores which have no fresh food at all. If I drive 30 min to the other side of the city, healthier options galore, and the HPF aisles are smaller. Fucking class war.
Chilli Heatwave is the only Dorito worth eating.
I guess compared to the US, a first world problem in the UK is that in a lot of places the nearest shop is something like a OneStop or a Co-op- I’M SORRY THE AVERAGE SIZE OF A WALMART IS WHAT? That completely threw me off my train of thought I have no idea what I was complaining about WHAT IS THAT SIZE
A thought I was having the other day while wandering around a Spanish branch of Carrefour was what a supermarket might look like if it were only stocked with items that you bought within the last year. If you predominantly do online shopping, this might be possible to quantify/visualise (or if you are super pedantic in keeping all your receipts) but I did wonder how much smaller the shop would be and whether we'd be annoyed at the reduced choice.
Anyway, on the 200 flavours of Oreos, how many of these are created just for the sake of creating them to see if people will buy them (supply seeking demand) and how long they keep making them if they prove not to be a profitable flavour.
Oh, lots of the wild flavors of snack/dessert/breakfast foods in the USA these days are absolutely designed to prey on people's curiosity.
If it's flavored like something we're familiar with, we want to try one and find out how well it matches our expectations. And if it's flavored like something we've never had (or is literally impossible to taste like "starlight" or "move", looking at you Coke-a-Cola), we wonder what that tastes like. Curiosity paired with a brand we know and enjoy the "regular" version of is a dangerous combination.
i've had europeans yell about how it's not fun to go to the grocery store multiple times and that i should just move when i've mentioned i wish here in the US that grocery stores were closer and walkable in rural areas. i have to drive so my shopping is once a week at most. visiting the UK in December and actually looking forward to being able to walk to get groceries while i'm there. really interesting video. we really have too many options here in the states, that salad dressing case from the beginning of the video doesn't even count the literal aisle where even more salad dressings take up a quarter to a third of the shelf space
The best example I can think of is the household staple - Bread, after Kingsmill got bought out the prices got jacked up high. The closest super market only sells thick slice bread (iceland)... I'm not kidding own brand at a £1. A 10 minute walk away is a tesco metro from that store, where you can get the tesco own brand for 85p. Since we buy bread about every 2 weeks or so, that's a saving of £3.90 over the course of the year. Sure, it may not seem like much but that can be put towards other things and over time it does add up.
Target's layout looks kinda like Home Bargains, and other british cheap "value" stores.
As someone who grew up and will probably never leave NJ (unfortunately lol), I really appreciate the constant references/deep dives into to the garden state. I grew up in sussex county where for me, the nearest grocery store was a 25 minute drive away.
Although, I love nature and appreciate that area, I now crave more walkable places and will probably be moving to a more walkable town next year. To me "walkable" used to mean walking along a precarious shoulder whereas to my partner it means sidewalks, bike lanes and downtown within walking distance. I dream about walking to a park to hammock, popping downtown to grab a coffee or grabbing some fresh produce at a market. One day! 🤞
I'm American and i really wish brands like Oreos and lays and Coke would stop making up all these insane flavors. Does anyone really even want them? They seem like they go away as quick as they appear and they're never anything decent sounding anyway. It's really ok to just have three options of flavors, good Lord.
Those wild flavors exist purely to capitalize on people's curiosity. And maybe get us to buy our favorite standard flavor of their product too (or instead) to compare or reaffirm to ourselves how much better it truly is.
It's an arms race of "creativity" between brands fighting over our ever-shrinking pool of disposable income. They're trying to keep our minds on them instead of their competitor's equally shiny new flavor. Plus we live in a world of false dichotomies... by framing the choice as "new weird flavor vs classic good one" the idea of not buying a soda at all is far less likely to cross our minds. Even if we weren't planning to get one when we walked into the store.
@@HumbleWooper I absolutely can see your point and it makes sense , but god I still hate it. Stores are getting bigger, choices are getting broader, convenience is getting more common, and we're becoming lazier and more spoiled for it.
Trader Joe is Aldi Nord. Aldi is Aldi Sud. Both German.
Richtig
I come from Canada, not as bad but similar choices than the USA, but I have lived internationally in 5 different countries in the last 20 years. Every time I go back to visit my family, the supermarkets stress me out. It takes so long and has way too much shit in it.
My favourite country was Norway, one to three options (if that) it means the supermarket are way smaller and use to take me at most 20 minutes to do my weekly groceries shopping. Amazing!
I definitely agree with this. I think it's no surprise that the thing I miss most about my one trip to Europe was the convenience of all the shops around where I was at. Sure, they didn't have everything, but it was so nice being able to wake up, get something, and that was that. Granted, I was staying in a hotel, und there are sometimes convenience stores and restaurants near those in the states, but trust me, it isn't the same. Also, my favorite store where I live in the US happens to be Aldi, which has way less than Walmart, and isn't much cheaper, but it's closer, and has enough. Which is more important. You're absolutely right, usually it doesn't matter if they have 200 flavors of Oreos, because you don't want 200, you just want Oreos.
I know the Watford tesco extra like the back of my hand. It is as standard as it gets.
No matter how bad a day I'm having your videos always cheer me up as I can be thankful that I wasn't born American. 😂
Where I live I have a small shop, owned by a very nice old lady, where I go every week to by produce as it is small your choice is litery reduced to what's in season or whats available at that day. And once a month or so I buy shelf stable things.
A six-pack of BEANS!?!
😂😂😂
one of my favourite supermarkets is mercadona in spain. so many reasonably priced, high quality products and i love the standard feature of pretty much all supermarkets in spain of having a fresh orange juice machine.
Since you asked, the best kitchen foil is the Kirkland commercial grade one available at Costco.
Thought on options - in my experience, it isn’t just about flavors. If you have any dietary restrictions, European-style grocery stores (at least in the US - maybe it’s better in Europe) often don’t have great options. Big grocery stores are some of the only places I can find certain foods I want. My local Aldi, which is conveniently a 3-4 minute walk away, doesn’t have some things I use every day or at least multiple times a week. If it did, I would never have to drive to a grocery store.
I don’t care about having 20 flavors of Doritos or whatever, but I want to be able to buy more than one firmness of tofu (a necessity for some recipes) and any nutritional yeast at all lol. I could probably survive on the foods at my local Aldi, but I would have to rule out many recipes and probably take more supplements
Shop around easy to do. I live in a small UK town, 40k population. We have large Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, smaller Aldi, Lidl, Marks and Spencer and Iceland. Actually Lidl are moving opposite Morrisons into a brand new large supermarket. For 40k people?
I tend to shop at Trader Joe’s. I like that they have fewer selections. Walmart and Target really aren’t grocery stores. They just happen to have groceries in addition to the other items.
From watching your videos I notice things here in KSA are very similar to the US
A) I don't feel like I spend more time in a supermarket (Safeway, etc.) looking for things than I do at Trader Joe's, typically TJ doesn't have well defined sections that make finding a specific item (like peanut butter) easy. I might spend more time overall, but I go with a bigger list in the first place and I find things faster.
B) I wouldn't consider a Walmart a "grocery store", I think of it as a department store with a grocery section. typically the food portion of a Walmart is less than 1/3 of the floorplan.
C) The layout of Walmarts and Targets doesn't seem problematic to me when I already have a hunch that the things I'm looking for are going to be on the back wall: electronics, sporting goods and automotive. I don't care if I'm walking through jewelry and women's clothing, I have no desire to buy it, and I'm rarely with people who would.
D) my grandmother and some of the people in my family are *incredibly* specific about what they want from the store: "Get the Swanson beef broth, low sodium, but only the stuff in the cans, the plastic cartons make it taste funny." Like, I can't imagine you could *do* that in Europe. she's right about the packaging affecting the taste, and has a salt restriction, but I just don't feel like you'd have the option to choose like that elsewhere.
Fun thing for Americans, it really doesn't matter what you choose. Even the store brands are made by the major brands. They make the generics, then just put it in a different box. So, no matter what you buy, the 4 or 5 large companies in the US that own all the food brands make all the money
I lived at a place like the Lidl example. The store was basically "across the street" but, it was a 4 lane divided highway. You had to go the opposite direction to get to it from where I lived though.
Americans get it all wrong with so much choice. The human mind enjoys seven options, but anything more and you either become stressed or ignore everything except what you already know. There’s a whole psychology of shopping and for some reason America just ignores it. Aisles full of hundreds of variations of a product is just a massive waste of space, but space isn’t at a premium in the US as it is in smaller countries like the UK.
Actually people don’t enjoy choice, because it forces them to make decisions. It is called the paradox of choice.
Asda used to be owned by Walmart, hence the same logo. They have the same Onn own brand etc.
But about a year or so it was sold to a new UK owner.
When I go shopping (Germany) I look at the list of ingredients and usually only buy stuff that has the lowest amount of ingredients and preferable no artificial flavour (yay, British spelling!).
And that, for example, means only salted potato chips. ☺️
Would really, really have loved it if you done this level of analysis for Australian grocery shops. Where what you described as a duopoly is final, final being investigated by our government’s (A.C.C.C). Hopefully someone might go to goal for wholesale thievery from both customers and farmers. Ex-UK! Must said Utrecht is also my most visited Dutch town! NSW in Oz 🇦🇺
Trader Joe's is my favorite place for groceries, followed closely by a local chain called Harmon's. Both carry higher quality items and cultivate a better shopping experience than the big box chains like Kroger, Target, and Walmart.
I agree that big corporations shouldn't get away with stocking shelves with their products under other names.
However, I like the choices. No I don't care if it's all Unilever in this context, I like variety and trying different things. I love Aldi's however the bulk of my shopping comes from Shoprite and unfortunately Walmart. I agree with the ultra processed foods they need to be burned. There are smaller grocery stores in the inner city but they don't sell the healthiest of items. I don't seem to have your view on shopping in NJ. I'm a displaced New Yorka staying in Jersey. Whether in NY or NJ I don't seem to have your view. Except that NJ is not pedestrian friendly and walking to a supermarket that's a mile or less away is impossible
Very interesting video. I learnt a lot of this as part of my food management class at uni last year. Very interestig
We don’t have garden centres in our supermarkets but we are starting to get McDonald’s in our Asda’s well the big ones 😂
Oh my gosh Asda needs to pick that YMCA idea up. That’s great 😂
That clip from That's Life must have been from about half a century ago....
BTW @Evan - don't buy that six-pack of Heinz beans - buy the four pack of Branston on the left (Crosse & Blackwell as was). You'll find that not only are they lighter, but they taste much better.
16:35 - that Tesco floorplan looks rather old, since they sold Giraffe in 2016?
I so miss Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia - I can't even buy it online !
I had decision fatigue in the US, I love having only a few brands to choose from. I hated Target, weird, I know.
We sell the pizza flavoured doritos in the shop I work at. There was also Burger King whopper flavoured ones for a while. Surprisingly tasted like a whopper.
The two Walmarts he mentions are located in Albany and Utica. Is that an intentional reference?
i mean, probably. but the walmart in Albany is absolutely /ridiculous/.
How's the variety in the produce section in the UK? To me this is more important than 427 types of salad dressing
Who's saying that ASDA is like a UK Walmart? Its just another supermarket, really
ALSO the 2nd largest supermarket store is another Tesco in Warrington not too far from where I live and I'm not surprised, it is literally an enormous warehouse with a supermarket in it
ASDA is (or at least was?) owned by Walmart so I think that's why he was told it was the UK 'version'
@@noahjohnson8740 Yeah it was owned by Walmart until early 2021.
Evan what’s your favorite musical? For science reasons
You should come check out grocery stores in Canada (not Walmart, actual grocery stores).
I used to be in love with Target when I was younger but I hated going there because I would always wind up spending 80$ on shit I didn’t need at the time. Nice to know that’s how it was planned to be. Also makes sense now that my local Target has moved the pet section to the back of the store next to groceries and seasonal. Just yikes all around.
Also, is it really fair to compare grocery stores to WalMart when the super centers include departments for auto repair, electronics, clothing, etc in addition to groceries? Does the Tesco Extra or the Rewe have that many non-grocery retail offerings at their locations? EDIT: Got to the section on floorplans, so yeah, I see that Tesco Extra had electronics and clothing. And yes, I can never find anything in Target (I rarely go) even when I've researched the store location of the item I want on their website in advance. Planning a shop at Target like it's a commando mission.
The bigger stores do usually have these in Europe in my experience.
To be fair, up until a few years ago Asda was literally owned by Walmart. So to say it was the UK Walmart is fair, despite the fact the largest stores 'only' do- groceries, electronics, clothes, pharmacy and opticians.
My local Tesco is about 1/4 cleaning and personal care products, 1/4 other non-food and about 1/2 food.
The biggest hate I have about all American foods is the dirty and unhealthy ingredients that some how passes all health checks in the US.
Almost starved to death when in Washington (DC) a few years back, had to buy real foods (fresh foods) ouch my wallet was saying.
It wouldn't surprise me if lots of it WOULDN'T pass health checks, especially surprise spot-checks... sadly the FDA is astoundingly understaffed and underfunded. Most places (restaurants, factories, stores, warehouses, farms, everything) don't get outside third-party inspections anywhere near as often or as thoroughly as the written regulations require. And when they give people warnings, they don't have the ability to follow up on things and enforce fixes in a timely manner.
I suspect that's a big part of why there's been so many food recalls here over the past few years. When people start getting sick they HAVE to trace sources and shut stuff down... which takes time and attention away from all the day to day checks and upkeep they also ought to be doing but don't have the manpower for.
The USA city in which I live, in 2024, has only 3 supermarkets and one small grocery store - down from 2009 which had 5 supermarkets and one bigger grocery store. Reason: A publicly traded supermarket chain bought our local family-owned chain and started closing down stores, starting with the bigger grocery store that they refused to buy as part of the acquisition deal, creating food deserts
The milk is in the back corner of the store so it backs against the storage cooler and can be stocked directly from the back... yea, definitely not to make someone who runs to the store to get some milk walk past all the everything else that looks tasty to get to it.
I shop at a small family owned grocery store (one in NH, one in RI that’s all) like you said about Trader Joe’s, it has good vibes, low stress while I’m there, zero big-name brands on the shelves. It’s nice knowing too that they’re very particular about what they sell in their stores. The actual size of the store is probably the size of the produce section at Market Basket lol, but it has everything I need.
Target is a discount department store that carries groceries, not a grocery store that carries non-food items. When you look at their stores as what they are intended to be, Target has a much better layout than Walmart.
I very much agree!
@@evanTarget in Australia has no grocery included, so understand now why it’s still successful here! NSW in Oz 🇦🇺
While I’m not concerned about the ‘tyranny of choice’ I do feel every supermarket isle I have to walk past to get my shopping and depart is one extra reason for shopping elsewhere. 😀👍
ASDA - A Leeds supermarket established by ASsociated DAiries (the dairy farm co-operative)...