Asda Store
 

I need the easiest supercenter close to London to access. My mom is dying to see what they look like (don't ask, I just do as told), but I don't want to go so far out of our way. There's a grocery store close to London, but I have a feeling that is not what we want - she wants to see the London Wal-Mart, not just a grocery store.

Hi,

Which part of London are you based in? ASDA IMO is "THE London Wal mart". Other than grocery, they have everything from clothes to cutlery to bed linen to CDs and what have you. All very reasonably priced but you'll have to keep an eye on the quality of the particular product that you are looking to buy. Then you also have "Tesco" another chain - also reasonably priced. At the higher end, there's "Marks and Spencers". Just keep in mind, the format of each store in the same chain may be slightly different; some bigger, some smaller with some sections entirely missing.

Hope that answers your question.

ASDA Store Locator
Below is a list of stores nearest to "Edmonton, London, England, N9 0". ... ASDA. Harj Jonsson. Mon: 9am - 11.30pm; Tue: 9am - 11.30pm; Wed: 9am - 11.30pm ...
classic.multimap.com/.../browse.cgi?...asda...Edmonton%2C%20London%2C%20Eng land%2C%20N9%200...

but if she has visions of a typical Wal-Mart in mind she will be sorely disappointed - more like IMO a K-Mart than a Wal-Mart.

PalenQ, your link doesn't work. If it has to be ASDA specifically, there's not that many in the greater London area and none in Central London. Those that are are located as shown at http://storelocator.asda.com/?qs=london. I've no idea why anyone would want to go out of their way to see an ASDA supermarket, but the easiest to get to would probably be the one near Clapham Junction railway station.

I was also going to recommend Clapham Junction...

I should add that if you are looking for a big box kind of store, you wont find them in central london in general due to the cost of space and transport. Most of these big stores are outside of central london, and may not be convenient on public transport - not to mention will take a while to get to which uses up your vacation time.

" I've no idea why anyone would want to go out of their way to see an ASDA supermarket,"

She doesn't.

She specifically says she wants to see a Supercentre: the handful of Asda stores that are supposed to be modelled on Wal-Mart Supercenters - though the differnce between them and ordinary Asdas is more apparent to the Asda marketing dept than to real people.

Clapham isn't one, though it's one of the few Asdas easily accessible from central London by public transport. The nearest Supercentre is at Leyton Mills, about 7 miles from central London: others - none nearer than Watford, which is another 10 miles further out - are designated "supercentres" on the Asda store locator.

Maddeningly, Asda don't include public transport details on their website, though there's a phone number to call. Get yourselves to Leyton tube station, and use the journey planner on the TfL site to check for any buses to the postcode given for the store on the Asda store locator.

I can't see any similarity at all between Asda and K-Mart. PalQ's obviously been on the Wal-Mart branded gloss again.

PS:

" I've no idea why anyone would want to go out of their way to see an ASDA supermarket"

I've no idea why anyone would find the desire odd

Whether the poster's mother works for Wal-Mart or is just curious, the fact is that many Americans see Wal-Mart as a distinctive symbol (for good or ill) of many aspects of modern America. Most see Wal-Mart as utterly different from conventional US supermarkets: many think they're unique to America, or that Wal-Mart's erratic overseas expansion is a mission to bring part of the American way of life to foreigners.

To many, the idea that such an apparently distinctive institution might thrive elsewhere is as intriguing as many Britons once thought the idea of a real English pub outside these islands was.

The real truth - that Wal-Mart's acquisition of Asda has neither ruined Asda nor improved its underperformance compared to Tesco - is a truly difficult pill for the exceptionalists to swallow.

Gonna be shocked by the lines of alcohol, the infinite number of curries and the lack of guns guys ye-ha :-)

I have gone to the ASDA in the Docklands and it is easily accessible by the DLR (Docklands Light Railway) - i think the Island Gardens station - right by the regular-sized ASDA store.

ASDA is more like a K-Mart than a Wal-Mart to me and i have been in dozens of each - flanner obviously has not been to any K-Marts, now owned by Sears

Nope, Crossharbour, PQ. It did cross my mind as something that could be combined with a trip to Greenwich on the DLR, but if it isn't the "Supercentre" the OP is looking for, then it would be an even greater disappointment than it is to those of us who live there (and heaved a sigh of relief when Waitrose opened a store at Canary Wharf).

I always thought that ASDA was rather dumpy - just like when Wal-Mart bought it along with the chain. I actually have not seen an Asda Super Centre and my comparisons of Asda to K-Mart are of their regular stores like at Crossharbour.

the OP yes says nothing about wanting to see an Asda just a Wal-Mart-like hypermarche and Sainbury's and Tesco's are both much more ubiquitous and there are none better for the Wal-Mart of London comparison.

If they are landing or leaving from Gatwick Airport in the first station south of the airport towards Brighton is one huge super centre i went to recently with a few hours wait after check-in and flight. A short walk from the station.

Flanner is right - Ma's a longtime Walmart employee, so she wants to see the British version since Walmart bought Asda. I could skip it, but I try to make sure when I travel that all persons have something special they really wanted to do. This is Ma's, so I'm doing the legwork to see if it is possible. (Payback is when I take her to Billy Elliot instead of Sister Act the Musical).

We are going to Edinburgh, then London. We are doing a day trip to the Cotswolds one day. I promised I would look into getting to a Asda Supercenter. Walmarts here started out as regular stores, then added the grocery part, so the Clapham Junction one doesn't work since it does not have that Supercenter feel. We are staying at Milenium Bailey's, if it helps. I have checked the website out, but as someone pointed out, they do not have transportation options which is frustrating.

I do wonder if Asda - the WalMart of Britain is as anti-union in the U.K. as they desperately are in the U.S.?

I boycott WalMart in the U.S. because of their exploitation of workers - do Brits have that same feeling?

"I boycott WalMart in the U.S. because of their exploitation of workers"

Do American workers boycott Wal-Mart? Seem to be an awful lot of them singing those inane comnpany songs.

Are you boycotting Wal-Mart on behalf of the millions of desperately poor people in countries like Bangladesh who wouldn't have a job at all if it wasn't for Wal-Mart?

Or you just think Americans should pay absurd prices to inefficient retailers so that criminals like the Teamsters can continue to exploit ordinary people?

" as someone pointed out, they do not have transportation options which is frustrating"

If the TfL website (www.tfl.gov.uk) doesn't help, go to www.transportdirect.info. Input the store postcode and the postcode of your hotel

They have two Supercentres in Edinburgh. On the map, the one in Leith looks to be be much easier to get to from anywhere else a visitor is likely to be than any near London:

http://storelocator.asda.com/store/leith

PalenQ


I boycott them but for a different reason.

I had a nasty encounter with a member of their staff, it's the first and I hope the only time a supermarket employee has used the 'F' word to me.

That's bad enough, but the fat that the manager didn't see a problem with it and that after writing to the head office I still didn't get an appology I decided to take my money elsewhere. BTW this was before the Wall-Mart take over.

To the OP

contact the head office in the UK and explainabout your mother - they will probably arange a guided tour - hopefully with more plesant language than I experienced.

Are you boycotting Wal-Mart on behalf of the millions of desperately poor people in countries like Bangladesh who wouldn't have a job at all if it wasn't for Wal-Mart?>

No

But because of such practices as locking employees in after hours in smaller mid-west stores and making them work overtime and then not paying them for the overtime - plus not allowing unionization or collective bargaining and dozens of more unsavory practices

flimflanner.uk - you should know about one of their notorious practices or driving the price down on products thru their hardball tactics with suppliers - well why go into the detail on that except that it is grossly unfair in their method - not in principle.

I suppose that flimflanner.uk - a shill for the food industry it seems would never oppose any 'business' practice no matter who it hurts - it's the bottom line that counts. And from his gated Cotswold Estate, cum gardener and all, flimflanner.uk is looking out for the welfare of the folks in Bangladesh - i dare say flimflanner looks at his carbon footprint - with huge energy-guzzling estate and can connect the dots to this waste of energy - by long commutes to work as well - as being a direct contributor as to why many Bangldeshis will be under water sooner rather than later.

He shot JR as well, PQ, don't forget that. And he eats babies.

Well there are a zillion reasons to boycott Wal-Mart - the world's number one exploiter of labor and the top reason so many American jobs are now in China or similar low-wage countries -

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Asda are owned by Wal-mart are they not?

Yes they are and i do boycott ASDA as well though i think perhaps the U.K.'s European Socialist government would protect its workers better than our Dog Eat Dog stance vs workers rights and wages - i mean $7.15 or whatever as a minimum wage and no benefits and no health care, etc. - i would think they would get much more at ASDA plus the Socialism gives everyone free health care.

<<<U.K.'s European Socialist government>>>

I see you're clearly just as well informed about British politics as you are about British supermarkets.

and they say Brits do sarcasm and satire? Seems not.

PQ doesn't do WalMart simply because the car park is too full and he can't find a space . . . . . (saying he is boycotting is just him trying to look good to a certain segment)

For his SUV?

Raven, you might have better luck if you follow Patrick's advise about the two Asda Supercentres in Edinburgh. You don't really get supercentres in London - too expensive, too crowded - unless you have car.

I see you're clearly just as well informed about British politics as you are about British supermarkets.>

well i had hoped at least - and expected that the British government would not tolerate the worker abuse that WalMart has inflicted on their workers - so in Britain you can smash Union organizing by intimidation and refusing to hold elections, etc.

Thanks Gordie for telling me it's about as rotten for workers then in the U.K. as in America. I did indeed, mistakingly as you point out, think it must be better for workers in Britain. I guess they can even lock in workers and not give them overtime.

<(saying he is boycotting is just him trying to look good to a certain segment)>

Well if so that certain segment is hardly representative of many if any Fodorites.