Waitrose

4.5 billion sounds good to me.

I don't get it? What is it with Waitrose? Mention Waitrose to the wife and she goes all gooey and moans that we don't have one, and it's the place to shop. Even though we've got a tescos, morrisons and a M&S simply food.

So are they going for Marks and Sparks ground?

I was surprised too. Waitrose are not cheap! In this current climate, I thought shoppers would have been looking for the most cost-effective options.

I was listening to to the radio during the week and they said the main reason is that it is part of John lewis and the staff are considered as partners in the business and share in the spoils when they do well.

Sounds like a good business model to me!

It's aspirational, different groups of society value different things.

So at one end of the scale you have people showing off about how little money they've spent and aren't they doing well with such limited resources (think along the lines of the Four Yorkshiremen sketch). Thrift is applauded.

At the other end of the scale are people showing off about how much money they have available to spend (think Hyacinth Bucket). It is the fact of *not* having to count every penny that is applauded.

I currently shop at Sainsburys and you want to hear the amount of ribbing I get for it from friends and family about having become "all middle-class".

I think Steve's right about Waitrose competing in the M&S market, but perhaps for a younger generation.

The difference I feel is that the M&S food range is centred on reliability and (not to beat around the bush) ease of use - you can buy a potato in M&S but their core products are the prepared items that just need to be heated up and/or tipped onto a plate. The adverts have Caroline Quentin entertaining her guests and emphasising how simple it is to "cheat" with these nice, ready made, high quality, easy-open packets of food.

Waitrose on the other hand is centred more on creativity and *ingredients*, organic this and free range that. Their adverts feature chefs like Heston Blumenthal and "new recipes" (freshly-marketed manufactured products). They're doing a really incredible job of appealing to both the idealised Professional Persona (dynamic, creative, new ideas, no messing about) and the idealised Homemaker Persona (home baking, healthy and delicious family meals, ethically-sound, environmentally-friendly).

So basically Marks and Sparks is for Middleage+ who live on ready meals and can't be **** to cook, but like to tell everyone they shop at M&S food.

Waitrose is for the aspiring dinner party chef who wants to be seen as sophisticated and doesn't shop at the Co-op.

Sainsburys is for that all important middle England image.

and Aldi is for his and her shell suits

Personally a Morrisons fan, but not sure if thats a good thing or a bad one! The fact I have to pay a

On my personal scale Tesco is somewhere between Asda and Sainsburys.

I'd put Asda for the shell suits. Aldi and Lidl are more student-y - great for bulk buys of rice and pasta and potatoes, fantastic for cheap booze and sweeties, but the vegetables are a token effort and the meat is all mechanically reclaimed.

I think they must've done. The queues to get in their big stores are responsible for all the major traffic jams in the towns.

After what you've all said about Waitrose, I'm surprised they're willing to let me through the door!

Happy New Year rather late, everybody.