this post was submitted on 22 Mar 2025
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Buy European

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[โ€“] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (5 children)

Tesco can fuck off though. Price increases during the pandemic and the profits when up way more than that, indicating greed.

They also force you to have a club card otherwise pretty much every item in the store costs more money.

Edit: Also, why isnโ€™t Asda on this list? Itโ€™s owned by a couple of brothers from the UK now. Not that itโ€™s any better than Tesco.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Tbf, I think all of them took advantage of COVID to some extent

The card thing is annoying though. Tesco seemed to have pioneered it, and now Morrisons and the Co-op seems to be doing the same. Not sure about others.

Morrisons, Sainsbury's, M&S also aren't on the list, actually. But then again I don't think I've ever seen them outside the UK, so maybe that's why.

E: I've been told elsewhere that Morrisons was taken over by a US equity firm.

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[โ€“] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago

Norwegians don't shop food.

[โ€“] [email protected] 59 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (6 children)

Lidlโ€™s got their fucking ground covered. They are not even just in Europe. Theyโ€™re a major brand even in the USA. Same with Aldi. These two cheap discounters are not messing around.

Small hint: it should be Aldi Sรผd. Not Sud.

Sud is disgusting (basically meat juice) while Sรผd is a โ€ždirectionโ€œ.

[โ€“] [email protected] 20 points 5 days ago (2 children)

In my town (in America) there is literally a lidl and aldi across the street from each other

I like to imagine the staff get into fights

[โ€“] [email protected] 12 points 5 days ago

They probably do dance-offs.

[โ€“] [email protected] 8 points 4 days ago (1 children)

They probably couldnโ€™t care less about that sort of rivalry lol. They just go there to earn money. If anything I imagine they spend their breaks together.

[โ€“] [email protected] 10 points 4 days ago (1 children)
[โ€“] [email protected] 8 points 4 days ago

Yeah and maybe it leads to more intimate stuff. ๐Ÿซฆ

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[โ€“] [email protected] 32 points 4 days ago (5 children)

Metro is B2B-only in Belgium, their B2C stores (Makro) no longer exist.

Think they're B2B in Germany as well.

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[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago

fuck supermarkets

[โ€“] [email protected] 28 points 4 days ago

Auchan still operates in russia. https://leave-russia.org/auchan

[โ€“] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago

I shop at Aldi and Lidl too but let's not fool ourselves into thinking these are good alternatives. These companies are part of the problem and not part of the solution.

[โ€“] [email protected] 20 points 4 days ago

where Spar?

[โ€“] [email protected] 12 points 4 days ago (1 children)

They suck.

Coops tend to be far better.

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[โ€“] [email protected] 16 points 4 days ago (3 children)

Not sure I'd push Tesco as a great company. They are pioneers of data collection through the Clubcard and absolutely hammer you on price if you don't have one.

[โ€“] [email protected] 5 points 4 days ago (3 children)

That is sadly a trend I witness heavily here. Have a card or pay a lot more. Except Aldi they all do that now. You can't trust any discount-signs anymore as they all have a Lil footnote รก LA "only with our app". Boycotting this trend seems to be hard ๐Ÿ˜”

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[โ€“] [email protected] 25 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

I feel like it would maybe be more useful to see which American chains, if any, operate in Europe.

It seems half the supermarkets here in Dennark are Norwegian chains, for some reason. Not sure if there are any non-European ones around.

[โ€“] [email protected] 12 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

This map is still useful to remind everyone that Auchan is an amoral American style corporation that keeps doing doing it's best to keep a fascist country attacking Europe well supplied.

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[โ€“] [email protected] 13 points 4 days ago (7 children)

None of these chains are present in Norway. Lidl tried years ago and gave up. We only have some Norwegian chains here.

[โ€“] [email protected] 14 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Interesting enough, the chains in this graphic that operate in Germany are German. Apart from some small outlets, the German market is controlled by German chains. It's just that these also became relatively successful internationally.

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[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Fuck them all. Buy local, or from smaller companies.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I try to. But fucking hell, Maxima and Lidl sometimes have so much better prices. Though to be fair, it's usually because of the fact that they sell more foreign foodstuffs while the local companies sell more local stuff. So buying cheap stuff from Maxima or Lidl is a double whammy to the local economy. Which is why I haven't been to Lidl in like half a year. Maxima at least has local products too

And to be clear, even the local alternatives are supermarkets generally. Very few small independent stores are left and the ones that do still exist are usually significantly more expensive and don't carry a lot of stuff.

[โ€“] [email protected] 7 points 4 days ago

Spar, that is basically Global now

And Billa is Rewe, including: Penny, Nahkauf, Adeg, BIPA, Toom, DER, ...

[โ€“] [email protected] 16 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Aldi Sรผd and Nord are not really the same chain

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[โ€“] [email protected] 7 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Auchan is one of the shadiest there is. Still operating in Russia with no intention of leaving.

In Portugal I usually stick to Continente or Pingo Doce (both Portuguese capital owned, I think), and sometimes Lidl for some products that are only sold there.

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[โ€“] [email protected] 7 points 4 days ago (6 children)

Some patterns jump out:

  1. None of them have presence in Norway.
  2. They all skip Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, and North Macedonia.
  3. But some are in Croatia.

Curious, why?

[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago

the countries listed at 2 hardly compare to croatia in most things. croatia has a thriving tourism industry and more money. they just skip the worst-off part of europe

[โ€“] [email protected] 6 points 4 days ago

Between Coop, Rema and Norgesgruppen(Meny, Kiwi, Spar etc.) nobody have really been able to establish themselves. Lidl tried but only laster a couple years or so.

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[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

Aldi has left Denmark so the map is a bit outdated.

[โ€“] [email protected] 9 points 4 days ago

Aldi left Denmark about a year ago. Might have been more.

[โ€“] [email protected] 12 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Poland's gonna get them all!

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[โ€“] [email protected] 6 points 4 days ago (9 children)

are there any supermarkets in Europe that are not European?

[โ€“] [email protected] 12 points 4 days ago

Well, Walmart tried

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