Why Are the Supermarkets in Denmark so Terrible?
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- Опубліковано 27 лют 2023
- #Denmark #Danmark #Dansk
If you want to know why supermarkets in Denmark are so terrible, this video is for you! We take an interesting and informative look at why Danish supermarkets are not up to the same standards as other countries in the EU.
It's no lie that in Denmark, consumers pay higher prices for diminished service and quality. We discuss how much higher they are and what could be done to bring prices down.
Danish supermarkets have lower product selection and are poorly staffed which creates an range of issues for Danes who shop in grocery stores in Denmark. We look at why there are fewer products on the shelves in Denmark and why stores are often left in disarray.
Many of these issues are a result of Danish law, and we take a hard look at the law from 1997 that stunted Denmark's grocery stores in a condition that hasn't changed. We look at how the law was updated once over the decades, and what we expect going forward.
WATCH NEXT: How Denmark Took Down McDonalds: • How DENMARK Took Down ...
MORE INFORMATION AND SOURCES:
* www.fig.net/resources/proceed...
* www.en.kfst.dk/media/51101/fr...
* nyheder.tv2.dk/samfund/2017-0...
* livsstil.tv2.dk/forbrug/2017-...
* www.yourdanishlife.dk/why-are...
* scandification.com/supermarke...
* cphpost.dk/2021-09-18/opinion...
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Denmarks shop isn’t terrible
As a Dane who has traveled a lot (in the US, too) I have to say, I prefer Danish supermarkets over foreign hypermarkets. I find American malls and supermarkets overwhelming and stuffed with unessescary and unhealthy, processed food. And the fact that you often have to use your car to get there … All in all I suspect the American supermarket-strategy to be a big contributor to health issues as overweight/obesity. So, no thanks to hypermarkets in DK. I’d rather pay the extra 2-10 %.
Enig
Total enig!
I totally agree with you. American Supermarkeds have a wider, but in many ways less selection of products. I would always choose a danish store like “Super Brugsen” or “Føtex” than US stores. Sorry - but on this issue I believe you are wrong.
I have been to store in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Orlando, Miami, washington, New York, US Virgin Islands and less knosn places - havent found stores with selection as I have in DK. Less selection of organic products, meats, fruits, vegtables, dairies and …
Helt enig
@Chris og Amerikas?
Since I do not have a car or a driver's license, it is essential that I can shop within easy walking distance. A situation where car drivers can get stuff cheaply in huge stores, and the rest of us will have to make do with a few expensive places is a nightmare scenario to me.
Oh absolutely. Cars are the bane of a well designed city.
Københavneri. Ska vi bøde fordi du har en cykel?
@@dgh25 Hvis du har brug for en bil er byen designet forkert.
@@karsten69 swoosh!
Ta en teletaxa
I have visited US 6 times and I noticed the difference between Danish and American supermarkets. Supermarkets in the US are generally much bigger with a wider selection of goods and the staff are generally more friendly. But it's my impression that many Danes like smaller local stores rather than bigger stores that you need to access by car. Mind you that many Danes don't own cars and walk or take their bike to the grocery stores/supermarkets.
A much larger selection of less quality and less healthy food you mean ?
@@agffans5725 Maybe.
@@agffans5725 Us markets have A large selection of same types of food. Danish supermarkets sell frozen pizza, ice cream, cookies, cakes, etc. It's all there for the consumer to buy. Danes have, overall a healthier eating lifestyle, and it has nothing to do with the supermarkets and the foods available in them.
@@r.w.h.1535 .. Not quite, much of the larger selection is also due to an artificially long shelf-life, like their wonder bread/sandwich bread, which has a vastly longer shelf-life than even the cheapest sandwich bread in a Danish Supermarket, because it's stuffed with so many different unhealthy additives, that you can hardly even call it bread and would not make it legal for consumption in Denmark.
@@agffans5725 Agree there, bread in US does suck. But over all, US supermarkets are better, Anyone can nitpik certain areas that are different, but as a whole? Our go to market in the US has a starbucks in it. My danish wife will grab a latte to sip on while shopping. There is a fresh sushi window, a deli for fresh sandwiches, individually packaged fresh healthy meals. Lots of these things. You won't find anything like this in a grocery store in Denmark. We do live in Denmark, but one thing my Danish wife tells friends and family when visiting the US, "just wait until you see the grocery stores" Maybe one reason folks in the US are fatter, plus, the bread still sucks.
My personal view / rebuttal:
As a person who lives in Copenhagen and doesn't own a car, I am extremely happy that I don't have to drive out of the city to do my shopping. And shopping in places like Bilka or Føtex - the places that come closest to the hyperstores - is not really a better experience for me than the smaller shops in the city.
I also think that we Danes have different expectations/wants in terms of customer service. Going to the US, customer service to me as a somewhat typical Dane, often feels over the top and way too "in your face". I'm always like "just leave me alone and I will let you know if or when I need your help."
Higher wages obviously leads to less staff. Would it be nice to have someone packing my groceries for me? Sure, but not so much if I know that person is hardly making a living wage. It looks like this reality could hit the US rather soon - considering the labour shortage and the rising minimum wage across the pond. Heck, if I was living outside of major US cities, I'd probably be better off working for 15 USD/hour than working a minimum wage job in Denmark.
As for the lack of competition, that is probably the biggest concern for me. Inflation is dropping right now, but prices in Denmark are not.
You are probably right that Danes don't have much desire for variety. I could probably get behind having 50 different types of cakes to choose from, but I can't be bothered to have 40 different kinds of mayo or oatmeal.
The death of Irma is probably a sign that in general, we tend to shop for price over quality. Now we just need some supermarkets that actually brings us low prices.
Come to think of it, the US has its own issues with low quality food, but it would probably take up too much space for me to get into stuff like high fructose corn syrup, additives, bread etc. Maybe part of the reason for those poor quality issues in the US is exactly that people have to drive out of the city to do their shopping and so they only shop once a week or less, hence the need for additives to not have the food go bad...
One bad example of supermarkets "expanding" has been seen in Denmark over the last 10-15 years: You can now get types of bread and pastry in supermarkets that you could previously only get at a proper bakery. I maintain that the stuff you can buy at the supermarket is of a much lower quality than what you could get fresh at the local bakery. And now quality bakeries are going out of business like hot bread...
Exactly. The kind of "higher quality" stores are killing the actual places that their goods are based upon. Bakeries, butchers, fresh fish, local restaurants the whole schebang!
Also in regards to bakeries, the rise of "trendy" chains like Lagkagehuset and Emmery's aint helping either. Like 2/3rds of all traditional bakeries in Denmark have gone bust in the last decade before the pandemic and the last thing we need is more of that! I'd gladly give 17kr for a Creme Snegl at the bakery rather than 10kr for a cheap imitation at Rema1000, but in many places you simply dont have a choice anymore. Its predatory and we dont like that! Like we need some kind of law like, if fresh baked goods are to be sold in a store it must be baked on site, like we see in the few stores like Dagli Brugsen where they can co-exist with traditional competition at the same price level.
I am American and i prefer Scandinavian type business model.
I work in a supermarket and while we keep hearing about the bad experience of costumers , absolutely no one is talking about the staffs experience. Its an absolutely demotivating and downright stressful job when costumers treat you like shit and blame you for every little thing in the store, or when you spend an entire day reorganising shelves and making sure it looks neat and tidy and the next day it looks like a grenade went off. Its really not hard to try and keep it looking good as a costumer as well. We do our best, but its a damn ungrateful job.
There's been a lot of buzz about this exact topic on Danish social media lately, to the point where one of the Danish grocery store brands (can't remember which one it was right now) is now launching a country-spanning campaign to advocate against staff abuse. I was honestly under the impression that it wasn't as bad here as it is in places like the US, but it seems like the tone of the customers has gotten increasingly worse in recent years.
I liked the video, but I feel like it probably should've also covered this aspect of the situation better, especially since it's a hot subject right now in Denmark. I personally don't mind messy grocery stores if it means the staff have an easier time going about their day at work. And unrelated, but I am also not entirely against the law they mentioned, as it's in my opinion extremely important to have stores that are accessible no matter where in the country you live, or what methods of transportation you have access to.
at least the pay is crap...
no but seriously... i always try to be polite to the staff and if i knock something over i always put it back and stuff like that...
it probably also helps that I've worked in the service industry so I know what it's like...
Granted, we dont experience abusive costumers that much at my store, but I heard some horror stories from other chains a lot. Ours are mostly pretty great, and the few that takes the time to put regretted items back where they took them instead of leaving a milk in the candy isle and bread in the freezer are pretty grand. We do have access to an app where costumers can write reviews though, and some of these are pretty brutal and unfair.
@@MegaSantaclaude We had a costumer break the protective glass at the register when he couldn't pay with cash.
@@TucBroder - time to call security and the police...and press charges! Though it might be difficult to get the police to turn up.
I think you're missing some of the finer points. The whole idea (backed up with loads of studies) of having a lot of items messy in a basket is that it increases sales of said item, compared to when it is neatly organised; it basically looks like it's a clearance sale. It's not laziness, but business.
Such an interesting video to watch. I don’t think the law is the main reason though - just preference. If danes liked big stores there would be more Bilkas. I personally prefer smaller shops like netto. I don’t miss having a bigger selection as it tends to be mostly processed foods like having 50 kinds of cookies or tomato sauce. If you bake and cook from scratch it just becomes annoying wasted space. I also do appreciate the sustainable element of danish shops too - way more organic foods than any country I’ve been to, fewer foods=less food waste+ lower energy use and a lot of “Almost expired” and “Grimm but good”-options. And I really do appreciate that I have several small shops within biking distance. I don’t think the carfree lifestyle would be possible for a lot of people if it wasn’t for the small shops. ❤
I HATE Netto.
they are always a mess, with the same kind of product scattered all over the store.
Some beer at the entrance, some next to the milk, some in the middle of the pickled and canned products, some amongst the other drinks...
Or chocolate, same goes with chocolate...
Or non food items... It's just everything is like that in netto.
And their lighting is always like yellow bathroom lighting.
I prefer Rema1000
@Rowan_Something Is Rema... 1000 times better?
I hate going to Bilka or stores of that size.. If a super megastore were to be built ever, I think I would go there for the novelty, once, and then never come back!
I'm also a big Netto fan👍🏾
I strongly disagree with this. Hyper Stores kill small communities because stores can't compete. It also encourages rampant consumerism which isn't healthy for the environment or people in general (in my opinion). Also, neatly stacked products is not a concern for me - that sounds extremely superficial. The only thing I can agree is an issue is fresh produce but if I had to go to a hyper store to get fresh produce, I would never get any.
As a grocery store employee, I respectfully disagree :)
Understaffed, yes. If the employees seem rude, it's because the customers are too. The tone of the customers is getting extremely harsh.
Definitely not much the employees can do about most of these issues - the biggest of which is the planelavn.
That is so not true. Young people simply don’t know how to smile and be respectful to the costumers. I never go to a store where there young especially boys at the checkout. They look like dead robots, I would be shocked if I see one give me a smile or even a good service. And I am never ever rude to anyone I always smile and say hi. You’ll never get a smile back of a hi from a young boy. And that is very typical from Danish teenager and young men they simply haven’t been taught to be respectful of other people.
@@conn7125 Maybe so, but the tone amongst the customers are getting really bad though.
@@TucBroder Goes both ways. Bad customers and people who doesn't have the mentality to do these jobs.
@@conn7125 I've never understood why a fake smile and a forced greeting are signs of politeness...
it's not good service in my eyes but a waste of time...
the only thing I need is sometimes someone who can show me where a specific item is and help if there are problems with the self checkout scanner... as little contact as possible is good service for me...
As a Norwegian,i was completely blown away when i grocery shopped in Denmark while on vacation there,on how much more options there were and higher quality to the groceries there were compared to Norway!
I respectfully disagree with your opinion. I don't think bigger stores would solve anything. If you don't have a huge family those buying in bulk stores just ends up being even more expensive due to the food waste. I don't have a car or a licens and I have bad knees and back so I am very happy with smaller stores that is close to where I live so I don't have to worry too much about my disability. Meaning I can go grocery shopping in the morning and in the afternoon I can do other stuff. The stores you say are better because they are bigger and better do to the variety, they would completely ruin me because of the walking distance inside alone. Bigger dosn't mean better and I highly doubt that a bigger selection of the same prossed food is a good idea. Also when I worked in fakta our biggest problems were understaffed, teenagers expecting to do nothing while they were at work, bad rules from corporate (meaning that we had to rely 70 percent on teenagers because they are cheaper to hire), truck drivers being a*holes and trying to get things for free in order to get our products at a reasonably time and lastly tiny budget for how many staff we could have in the store at certain times and if we went over my boss would get reprimanded badly by corporate. All these things where way we struggled every day to do our jobs properly. And I am sure these problems has only gotten worse over the years since. Maybe next time you make a video like this get some statements from the workers 😀 Other than that thanks for the video and good job guys 😀
Agree, I don't really agree with most of those points being made.
The local købmand here, and where my mom lives, and where my dad lives, are all open to suggestions when it comes to selection... If there's a specific dressing or fruit or vegetable, he can usually buy a small box on request once in a while at a reasonable price. But of course, if I request something, I'm also kinda obligated to buy a bit of it when it arrives.
Those small shops just can't afford to have a thousand options available when 95% of their sales of, for instance, ketchup is made up from 2-3 major brands and their own store brand. If they stock up too much variety compared to their local customers, there's just too much food waste in the long run.
If you want a bigger variety of veggies, try visit the green grocerers that still exist, probably because of that "horrible" law.
Local butchers are almost extinct, except for those that specialize in something like halal. Because the smaller pork sausage slingers have a difficult time competing with the larger supermarkets' in-house butcher/deli.
Also, if a supermarket has enough staff with enough time on their hands to stack the oranges too nicely, I'd get the impression that I'm paying too much for my food... Staff hours are expensive here in Denmark...
Anyway, the claims about lack of cleanliness and obviously expired fruit isn't something I've ever experienced... It's more common to experience that something is sold out.
Hi :) It all boils down to the fact that if giant supermarkets as there is in the US became legal in Denmark, all the smaller merchants in the smaller towns would disappear. Therefore, we have to choose a balance that may not suit everyone's needs. I don't want to lose my grocery store in my town with less than 1000 inhabitants (but has a lot of tourists from spring to the beginning of autumn). I don't even like shopping in Bilka because of its size, and even with my car, it would take me almost 45 minutes to drive to Bilka, which is a little south of Aalborg, in the area called City Syd, and where opposite my grocer is only approx 150 meters from where I live. I can get my groceries from my grocery store, which I think has a reasonable selection. It is extremely rare that I need a special item, and can often have the special item ordered to the store to the delight of others and me. There have been articles in the media about empty shelves of vegetables and fruit that Denmark imports from southern Europe and Morocco in the winter months, but due to the cold weather there this year, when the harvest has failed, but I have not experienced this at my grocer. :)
Exactly! The smaller stores are simply more convenient and nicer for all the businesses. But sadly a lot of Danes are also adopting the American shopping habbits and sending whole town economies into jeopardy! So many smaller towns are losing their local store whether its a Dagli Brugsen, Min Købmand, or even a Netto sometimes because some of these people in their big Dacia Duster are more willing to drive 30 minutes to Bilka once a week and fill up their car like they were an American at a CostCo!
Whats even worse is that big box stores and satellite malls like CitySyd in Aalborg and their Bilka don't just kill the life of small towns, but even the cities they're attached to as well! Like in Aalborg, despite it being a pretty pedestrian and cycling friendly city, its various historic areas arent always doing so hot. Heck, in Nørre Sundby one pedestrian street was even depedestrianised, allowing cars back on because people kept complaining about having to walk 50 meters from the nearest parking lot! Its scary.
I absolutly hate the big stores. They kill the small shops.
But in Denmark you don't have any small shops at all. There are only big chains like Netto, Rema1000 or Coop that killed all small independent shops.
@@emmaanna9146 Not just supermarkets, we talk about butchers, bicycle shops, bakeries, local restaurants, fresh fish shops, all of these kinda stores have been in trouble for several years due to the rise of big box shopping from chains like Bilka, Føtex, Kvickly, and Meny.
From what I have gathered from elsewhere in Europe, Danish stores are by far my preference.
Other countries have suuuper narrow aisles, no time to pack your groceries, messy in terms of where items are located and everything seems sweaty, but that might just be because I travel in summer.
I have never encountered any rotten or even expired food and why should every store be a bilka?
Just gimme a Rema1000, Lidl or Min Købmand and I am a happy camper.
If you, like me, is a pensionist living in a smal rural town, and has no car, it is priceless to be able to walk only 300 m to "Min Købmand". And how else can i get the gossips?
The items in a cardboard box is actually what defines the difference between a discount store and a non-discount store.. its logical.
Its been like this for discount stores for many many years.. it cost extra to have people line up stuff nicely on a shelf.. guess who has to pay for this extra labour, excactly, the customer.
The reason its same company having many different stores is also logical, a company like Salling or Coop can buy in bulk, hence buy cheaper, than a chain with only 5 stores.. thats also why you can find products labeled with the stores own brands, like Xtra and Anglemark in coop.. a small store chain wouldnt be able to do that.
Hyper markets would kill off small towns faster than has been the case the past years.. a affect much more visible in USA where towns turn into litteral ghosttowns as shops close, then workplaces vanish and property value drop.. in USA you also wont find a hyper market in a town with a population of a thousand people.. and if you did it would litterally be the end of both the town and the hyper market itself.
I feel your perception here is based on big city living, from big city USA to Copenhagen.. but Denmark is comprised of smaller towns that in no way could facilitate a large hyper market.. but here in Denmark we dont have that many big cities.. example the 145th largest town in Denmark has 4500 in population.
Another thing, again showing its clearly based on a big city view is the thing about the staff.. i smaller towns the person behind the counter knows most people by name, giving a very special shopping experience.. in a hyper market you are dealing with a indifferent person and is litterally just another number in line.. my small town has 3-4 grocery stores and in each store they greet me by name, take time for a small casual talk as they scan my groceries, i wouldnt want it any different.
I almost hope you some day try living outside Copenhagen, it would without doubt make you generalise a bit less.. funny enough, prices in larger cities are not cheaper than in smaller towns though one would think so.. that brings me to the last thing i want to mention.. many grocery store chains have different weekly sales for east and west Denmark, partly because prices actually often are cheaper in West Denmark.
Regarding quality you are very wrong, what you perceived as lower quality as Americans, are what we here call food without the huge amount of addatives and chemicals you find in especially American food.. or its because you just buy stuff and what you put in your basket is imports and not danish produced.. Quality is food produced in Denmark.
I rarely disagree with your views, but regarding this topic i have to disagree strongly..
Its rather funny that you think a huge store requires less staff than many small stores.. because its nowhere near how it works.
Maybe you are shopping the wrong places. Where I live, the stores are clean, the staff are so sweet and helpful and they will bend over backwords to help us as customers.
As for the sizes ..... everything is bigger in the US, but we don't need these huge stores here. And to be honest; we have done quite good so far!!
Same here (in the outskirts of Aarhus), 4 supermarkets within walking distance and two with 15 meters walking distance between them, all nice and clean, with super friendly and helpful staff, and one even having it's own master baker and bakery, with a quality of bread and cakes vastly above that of Lagkagehuset. I do not think you will be able to find a Supermarket like that abroad anywhere to be honest, they all get their bread from somewhere else or is bake-off.
I kinda hate many of the grocery stores in central Copenhagen. The Netto at Nørreport station is an absolute nightmare. I usually live in smaller cities or towns and it's usually way better. Both staff and stores.
@@agffans5725 France
As a Brit I can see the thinking behind this. UK now has a lot of big supermarkets, Asda, Tesco Morrisons etc. that sell everything. People are no longer going to the local butcher, greengrocer, fishmonger etc. and as a consequence a lot of town centres are struggling to keep going. Obviously the popularity of online shopping contributes to the problems facing small High St. shops but that would be difficult to restrict by legislation.
However it's not like people in Denmark are going to the local butcher, greengrocer or fishmonger either; that time has passed, noone has time or engergy to spend a day shopping for all kinds of things. They just go to the nearest Netto and buy whatever meager selection there is.
@Phiyedough.....i like that because that way it brings some Afghans, Paki's etc out of business. These people are poisoning your lovely culture with their stinky/backward/islamic/crime culture.
As a dane thinking of groceries as bad never occured to me until you said it. But I think, for groceries where you want to carry things on your bike anyway, going on a regular basis, I think not having to walk an hour though an IKEA sort of establishment seems fine for getting some eggs. Also hard to imagine any of these stores in a residensual district, if they were multible floors or so. You do still have shopping centers in a few places for centralized shopping, just not for food. Also don't think decentrilized stores are any easier to restock if they are bigger with as many of them in the countryside, where danes for instance care about local doctors preferably to a few centralized doctors, so with stores as well. For the spoiled food almost out of date, I think is more that danes prefer a bargain, and to not waste food, than that stores can't or won't restock it, so it seems like a better product if it's almost out of date, since you as a buyer don't need the extra time anyway, so why spend money to watch the food you already ate, not go bad? not worth it to buying bargains. Also, potentially, danes are so informal it most likely seems natural to stock items in batches, since it wouldn't add much, to add a ton of glitz to milk buying, so danes probably don't care enough to complain that items are stocked in a basic way. Directness is preferred.
Your assumptions caused a lot of thoughts, and I think some of them, are that you prefer big things for their own sake more than we do, so you look for it more.
Nah - all these small shops are very inefficient, they are absolutely right - its not just about big things, and also, it is definitely easier to restock a bigger shop, each employee have to work less, relatively speaking. and if they were to change the laws, it would not mean shops in every city would disappear, but mostlyy that cities might have a few less shops - for a large company like coop, it would be a huge difference and make it much easier to manage if they could reduce shops by 20-30% - but for most danes, they would not feel a huge difference in terms of how available the shops are, because mostly it is the competition in cities that is most fierce - I can also tell you, grocery shops in smaller cities are WAY better than in Copenhagen... Aarhus, even cities like Esbjerg Vejle and... Viborg...
The only case where I will walk an hour through an IKEA sort of establishment is for getting Swedish köttbullar/meatballs with mashed potatis and lingonberries.
Dude, don’t effing wall of text when you post comments.
More options would just offer more processed food, junk anyway. I would rather pay a litlle more and have the small shops and the small communities survive.
personally, I wouldn't shop in a larger grocery store.. 5000m2 is just a bit too big for me to like shopping there, but I do it when I have to...
as far as options go, I don't have a problem with a small selection... in fact I prefer it that way... it means I spend less time in the store and I'm out quicker...
I DO NOT LIKE TO GO SHOPPING... in case anyone was wondering....
Living in a small city with just 400 residences I'll definitly take higher prices over having to drive further to shop. Any saving I may have on the purches prices will be lost many times to fuel the car, and the lost time is just imposible to put a price on.
I also disagree. Rema 1000 is a really good shop in my area, with a lot of fresh organic food items. It is known for quality and a large variety of organic vegetables. I see it in a different way: most danes do not go shopping for a nice shopping experience, moreover just to use 5 minutes to get our goods. :)
I agree. I shop in REMA1000 on my way home from work and I can always find what I need. I don't need to go anywhere else, they have the essentials. I know the store so well that I make my list of groceries in the order, I walk through the store. It only takes about 10 minutes in total.
Yeah! Convenience and price are more important to us. And I'd much rather want that, than the hellscape of urban planning and food deserts we see across North America, thank god Walmart and Target arent in Scandinavia, and fuck god if Costco ever sets their ugly feet on danish soil!
Oh absolutely love REMA 1000❤ in Denmark
I feel like your views are a bit Copenhagen biased.
I live in Aalborg (4th largest city) and rarely have the long lines you’re talking about.
When I lived in a smaller town, the local shop was also a centre in the community, where customers knew the staff and vice versa.
Also, I’d prefer multiple easy-to-access small shops any day over only having to go to something like Bilka.
I lived in Aalborg 4yrs, I was phd student. as latino I can say that food at supermarkets is really bad. People say that in Europe the worst food is at UK, but I don’t think so, even some supermarkets are small they have delicious and good quality options.
On the flip side: Was just listening to a podcast from last year that encouraged people to donate food or money to Buffalo, NY, since the shooting they had shut down the only supermarket for a large community, turning it into a real food desert 😬
I have lived several years in the US and I definitely prefer Danish grocery stores.
Yes the selection in the US may be 10x bigger but it doesn’t matter to me since once I find what I like I tend to stay with that brand/taste.
Therefore, it takes me 10x longer to find my favorites to start with, it costs me a lot to buy stuff I end up not liking, and it takes extra time each time I go shopping because the stores are too damn big.
Also, I am incapable of meal planning for more than 1-2 days, so I truly appreciate the smaller and more conveniently placed Danish stores.
However, the grocery store parking lots are much better in the US 😅
Sound like a Copenhagen problem than a Danish problem.
Nah. Ive lived In Copenhagen, Aarhus and now In a town In Jylland. I found this issue everywhere.
I live in Brøndby (don't know if it counts for copenhagen for you guys) but it is very rare that I encounter angry store staff when I shop most are nice answer nicely when I make sure them about a certain item.
Wrong
I'm sorry. But you just completely miss the mark with this video. We don't want big stores. Also.. filthy? Rude staff? Where the heck do you guys shop?
I work with food quality and food safety for one of our discount supermarket here in Denmark. From a food safety and quality perspective, the fewer products you have in stores, the better! Every product gets a frequent check (food analysis, sensory check, quality development etc.). The frequent checks are important to monitor the quality and guarantee food safety as well.
Absolutely, I think it's a mix of the stricter rules of packaging and the messy product placements in stores that creates an idea that products are of lower quality. And products and stores in US being very keen on only best presentation, like throwing out or hiding the worse looking of a bunch at the back, and the lesser strict rules of packaging. Just because something looks "bad" doesn't mean it IS bad. Some countries are used to a "higher standard", not understanding that what we do is a perfectly fine standard as well.
As a Brazilian I DESPISE shopping for groceries, I almost always had to go really far for things, I’m so glad my region somehow developed in a crossroads for supermarkets, so in recent years I got much better options, but still, they are huge, busy, always extremely crowded and influence people to buy in bulk and quantities, leading for way loooonger lines and lazy employees, I worked at one, we are not incentivized to be fast, it’s so weird. Hate shopping here.
Very insightful video. Thank you for making this :)
So well written, so articulately delivered. Outstanding stuff. 🙂
Thank you 😊
Whenever I visit another country than Denmark, the US included, I'm always frustrated with how bad the supermarkets are. I haven't watched the video yet, so I'm looking forward to your take.
Okay, after watching the videos I have a few issues.
1) As you say yourself, we don't need more choices - and if we do we just walk to the other chain which is often located less than 300 meters away.
2) Understaffing is mostly an issue in the Greater Copenhagen area
3) Why should you expect things to be unnecessarily neatly organized? The products doesn't become worth more or taste better, and you as a customer know that the store is not wasting their employees' time doing menial tasks such as stacking canned food (see "point 2)" )
4) Rotting produce in the shelves is not a problem where I come (mainly Esbjerg), can't really speak for other places
5) Irma has only survived because they were bought by, and given money Coop - Irma themselves have been in the red for over a decade because they couldn't run a business.
@@Lorentari
1: Which has the exact same items. So not much of a choice.
3: It's just a better experience. Meny knows how to do it maybe as the only supermarket
4: Rotten fruit is something I see constantly on Danish supermarkets
5: Coop ran Irma and couldn't make money on one of the most loved brands. Amateurs.
Thorough and enjoyable video, keep it up!
I for one would not be using a hypermarket. It would require customers to own a car, because they would take up so much space that they could only be built in the outskirts of towns or in industrial areas. Even if there was a train station right by the entrance, I'm not gonna go for a train ride just because that store had 15 brands of butter instead of the 3 brands they have at my local supermarket.
Danes don't want hypermarkets, we want to be able to walk to the store. When I see pictures of American urban landscapes, I feel bad for the people who live there. Humongous buildings, surrounded by even bigger parking lots. It's ugly as hell, and all just to get a wider selection. No thanks.
Many danish supermarkets are also franchise stores, meaning the local owner has a lot of influence on how clean and presentable a store is. Two stores from the same chain in the same city can have wildly different shopping experiences, even though they have the exact same selection of products. For example, I prefer Nettos selection, but will only use one of the 4 Netto stores in my town, because they others are simply too messy (and far away on public transport).
Every Netto I´ve been to in Denmark has been a total mess. And incredibly cold stores. When Netto had stores here in Sweden they we´re a lot nicer. There might be something about the discount mentality in Denmark which leads to many stores looking like animal barns.
@@sungod86 Nah its down to franchises. There are several Nettos in my local area. Some of which are really well run, others being a hot mess! It all depends on the local owner and how good they are at managing it. I know in some places its the same guy owning different franchise location within the same general area (but then again if someone owns multiple stores, they generally arent the kind of guy who thinks about how well kept their stores are to begin with).
@@drdewott9154netto is not franchise, you are confusing it with Rema 1000 which is. All Netto stores are 100% owned by Salling Group
Netto is not franchise
I’ve NEVER seen rotten food in a grocery store, and I wouldn’t want some random person groping all the food JUST to make it "pretty"! 🤢
Oh I have! Last Sunday in my local Kvickly. A whole display of tiny mummified springcabbage. Its not the rule, but it definately happens!
Netto often have rotten fruit and vegetables, I don’t buy avocados there any more, because 50 % or more are always bad, which you cannot see on the outside.
Thanks, guys! I’ve always been surprised and curious about this phenomenon.
Why would we need Hyper stores?
Your UA-cam channel is so helpful! :) Thanks for all the detailed information!
I'm so glad! Thank you for watching 😊
Thank you for videoes once again. Keep on making this its good knowledge 👌
Very informative- keep up the great content 😎
Hey Guys, I love your videos, I'm usually in agreement with your views, but this time I must disagree, you are talking from a point of being from USA, we Danes actually prefer smaller retail stores, I've travelled very extensively in the States, and for me a shopping day at Walmart is not my taste, it's too big, and loaded with unhealthy fast foods, prepared and canned foods.
I usually go grocery shopping in Netto, it's close to my house, and it's got all I need. I've never experienced it being Dirty or having spoiled food on the shelves. Maybe it's different in Copenhagen, but it's not like that in Vestjylland.
Concerning Irma, time had just run out, it's 20-30 % more expensive, not good in a climate of price hikes on energy, where people save where they can.
Again you have your opinions as Americans, and you are entitled to them.
The stores in my part of Copenhagen are fine too.
First,thanks for all your videos. I enjoy your sharing of living in Denmark as Americans and introducing Denmark in general. I am sure you have helped the Danish tourist industry but getting viewers so interested in the country that they come to visit. I found your comparison of American and Danish
groceries a bit simplistic. True most Americans grocery shop with a car and thus can get more items at a time, but grocery shopping in a city such as New York where people tend to walk to grocery shop and probably have little storage space in their homes run into the same issues you discuss
Thanks for the videos guys. I have never been thinking about this when im out shopping for food in DK. I would like for options though when food shopping!
The biggest factor you don't take into account is the size of Denmark's population. Denmark has just under 6000 million and Germany for example has over 83m. the same goes for the UK.( regarding variety of choice). As for as Irma, most people shop there for the "special items" that aren't available elsewhere. The rest of their shopping they buy at the discount supermarkets. If Irma made a profit which they haven't done for years and people supported them, they wouldn't have to close down. Irma have their shelves neatly packed ( items out of boxes) and their prices are about 33% higher than the discounters.
6000 million? 😂 As one of only 83 million Germans I have to admit: I'm impressed. Such a small country and soooo many people. Hats off to the (Great) Danes!
First of all - I love your vids! I'm a danish swede who moved to Denmark in 2014 and now I'm about to move back (this time to Malmø). Thanks for explaining Planeloven. When I started coming to my summerhouse by Storebælt in 1996, if we arrived on a Saturday afternoon, we had to remember to shop in Sweden on the way, since EVERYTHING was closed on a Sunday. That changed with Planeloven. What I will miss in Sweden is actually all the small grocery stores! In Copenhagen and suburbs there is almost a grocery store on every corner, it makes life easy. I'll visit a larger/more expensive/greater selection store once or twice a month for special items, but most of my daily use I can find in my grocery store around the corner. I love it. Your vid helped me understand why there is this difference just across the Øresund. Keep up the good work!!
The limited selection of items in Danish stores is the thing that I notice most. I thought it was because some big French and German brands don't bother to make Danish labels for their products, because the Danish market is too small to make it worthwhile. I didn't realize that the size of the stores was also limited, so there wasn't as much shelf space. I agree that Danes also aren't adventurous in trying new foods, except when a major food fad hits. Especially canned goods - Danes don't expect canned food to be any good, so there is no market for producers of high-quality canned goods.
I find a big selection of different items by going to the ethnic supermarkets - there are asian, middle-eastern, and eastern european markets where I live, that have completely different foods for sale. These stores have to print Danish labels, with the ingredients and instructions translated to Danish, and put them on each individual can, jar, or bag. People also go to separate butchers, cheese shops, bakeries, and farmers markets to pick up special items. It is also exciting to make a special trip to Sweden or Germany to pick up new items that aren't in Danish supermarkets.
Yes, I live in Sweden and because Swedes generally are very keen to try new things the supermarkets are packed with interesting stuff.
They are NOT! They suit the danes
We don't generelly want big stores, but smaller shops, close by.
Going to fx Bilka is AWFULL.. HATE it.
Why are you critisising? It's a different culture!
He’s comparing it with other European countries like Germany
@@Idris-ji3jy Which is also a different culture from the danish🙂
I don't like the idea of bigger supermarkets. Chains like Walmart completely annihilates the local community and forces everyone into cars instead of just cycling or walking. As soon as you deregulate, you will see small town losing their local supermarket.
Thanks for sharing , have a Nice weekend
I love the views you put on our little country. Professionally I am a urban planner and respect the research you have put into this video. Great to have a discussion about the way we choose to do things in Denmark. And also having focus on both sides of the coin. I think the majority of danes find our retail structure and our planning act a huge succes - primarily because it provides stores in even small village etc. The way retailers choose to do things inside the shops is another story. The idea that "if it looks cheap - it is cheap" doesn't work for me - I simply can't distract myself from the real pricetag. Everytime you see a really good local shop manager, they get good feedback from the costomers.
When it comes to the topic of stores being understaffed and the employees working there coming off as rude, it’s a multitude of different problems. Most of the workforce in the grocery stores are younger people and for a lot of them it’s their first job. Their don’t work full time, as most of them have school during 0800-1530 hours and have a couple of shifts during the week. The grocery stores likes getting people in the age gap 15-17 because they get paid less than when they are over 18. After they turn 18 they usually terminate their contract unless you made a good a really good effort.
Personally, I admire the younger people who can work as a cashier for a year or two at that age, with that schedule, cause it’s hard work. Especially also with alot of the costumers being so annoying, rude or straight up dehumanizing.
Nobody wants to be there, not the costumers who just had a horrible long day or the employees that still have 3 more hours to go. It’s usually not a nice experience for anyone cause everyone involved either want to get their groceries as fast as possible or their pay and be done with it. So if anything isn’t up to par with what the costumers believe it should be (even if it’s fair or not) alot of the time someone who has almost nothing to do with it other than working in that store, gets the blame for it.
Overall my point is that working in a grocery store in Denmark is definitely not my preferred job, and I don’t think it is for most of the people working there.
The age of the staff in the grocery shops truly amazed me, when I first came to Danmark, I don't think I ever seen teenager under 18 in work like that in Poland.
I always loved going to the supermarket when I was visiting the States. So many interesting things on the shelves!
I do think you can have too much of a good thing when it comes to variety, but to each their own.
While I agree that downtown supermarkets, especially in Copenhagen, can be very disappointing, I've personally found that to be less of a problem as you advance out of the city.
Hardly ever have I found empty shelves or understaffed stores, and I've lived in Søborg and Solrød, respectively.
So maybe the law is failing somewhat, because it does seem to make a difference which area you live in, at least in my experience.
I absolutely detest huge stores like Bilka where you have to walk for several minutes to get to the product you’re looking for
Seriously does there need to be 90 diffrent kinds of breakfast cereal or yougurt? Does there need to be huge ugly box looking stores? Nope. Huge stores aren't all that.
I am not very impress with many Danish supermarket in greater Copenhagen. They are often understaffed and messy, and I have many times come home and discovered that the food I just bought had gone bad. I don't mind the size of the stores, but I miss specialized stores in my town, like a Butcher for example.
I learned a lot of new things, thanks!
I see the problem in us paying a ton and having fewer options, but it is also my understanding that even if you gave us more options we would stick to what we know.
I like having the different supermarkets even tho i would have to go 2 places to get my things, but if i really need to i would.. I personally HATE grocery shopping as it makes me nervous and overstimulates me a lot, on bad days i will have a full on meltdown on my way home and break apart the moment i get inside - this is why i like the sizes of our supermarkets, they are small and they only have a few select brands, but i know my way around, i know what i need and if they don't have the brand i need i know the others well enough to make a snap decision - i cannot stand going into a Bilka as it is way to big, noisy, smelly, messy, and has way to many things.. unless I'm just "browsing" alongside my mother in law who needs something in there, then i can relax as i am not searching for something specific.
I would like to see these big hypermarkets, but i would also fear i would get way too overwhelmed way too early.
Also, i am the kind of costumer who picks up things from the floor, place things as they should be, sometimes even "trimming" if I'm getting something that is hiding way in and hard to reach, i most often go to cashier with "miss placed meat" or milk, as it is gross and rude of the idiot who left it in the toys section..
I could never work at a supermarket knowing how rude customers are. Im kind and friendly to all workers no matter the attitude. Also when the worker is super kind and helpfully you will see some entitled sh*t coming up to them rude and mad that they didn't have anymore of a certain item like who the hell do you think you are - some people should be banned from shopping.
I don't own a car, I don't own a big box freezer, I don't have a spare room to spare for a pantry, so I shop for 2-3 days at a time. Why would I want bigger market further away from home?
Yeah, Danish grocery stores kinda suck when comparing to American stores. I'm not saying that we need 15 types of butter like you see in America, but the deli sections or specialty items will not impress an American shopper, let alone a French or Italian tourist. And customer service range from mediocre to really bad, especially in discount stores.
But I think it really comes down to preference. Most Danes prefer that the grocery store is located close to your home, and that it is accessible not only by car but also by foot or on a bike. This allows you to pick up the kids from the kindergarten, walk to the store to buy dinner, and walk home. Lots of smaller communities and towns fight for the survival of their local store. Some even invest or right-out volunteer at the local grocery store to keep it open.
If the price for a local, smaller store where you meet your neighbor and the kids school teacher is higher prices and smaller selection, we prefer the smaller store.
That certainly depends on the store - you cannot expect discount stores like Netto and Coop 365 to provide the same selection as Føtex/Bilka, Kvickly and certainly Meny - but the prices for the exact same goods are significantly different too. I only buy things there that are on sale or marked down for other reasons.
Norwegian here. Supermarkeds in Denmark are waaay better than what we have up north. But yeah.. Both suck.
I read somewhere that Norwegians are the most discount-conscious consumers. With Denmark not far behind.
Thanks for the video. Living in Denmark for 6 months now and this always confused me!
I'd love big stores - but not if that means that the smaller ones nearby closes (Witch it would). The cleanliness and messiness of the store seems greatly depending on where its located - looking at the amount of sad/angry smileys it's easy to conclude that especially in the bigger cities (with more throughput) is worse. Not strange since they are undermanned (I will agree with that). Danes loves discount - and one of the things with discount stores is that they somehow have to look like discount (Some anyway) , hence the cardboard boxes. The "rodekasser" is a marketing trick, makes people think its way cheaper that in reality.
Anyway - always fun to hear your views :-)
Oh, I totally agree with you guys - I thought it was just me being picky but I am so disappointed with the grocery stores and the quality of products. I'm used to Whole Foods Store and Trader Joe's, and Sprouts. Is there anything similar to these stores or farm shopping? I would like to see Costco in Demark!
There are plenty atound, ask an otganic store in your area for guidance! :) ther are usyally market days or coops in most cities with fresh organic local produce
Im very happy about the small shops, dont want the huge ones 🙃🥴😜
I love that law ❤ Bilka/Føtex is the worst place to shop for groceries in the entire country 👌
Grocery store work in Denmark is tough in a store that is understaffed. I remember working in retail when i was younger, and i was instructed to never escort a costumer to a particular item if they couldn't find it, this was because it was more essential for me to restock shelves as fast as humanly possible as opposed to offering costumer service.
The most scarce resource when understaffed is "time", so only the most essential and profitable tasks are prioritized - costumers waiting in line with their groceries are less important to cater to than making sure "milk" or "Potatoes" are restocked.
Such a mercenary attitude toward customer service is why nobody hires Danes to run international multi-million dollar retail corporations, where total quality management, from top to bottom, is often the key to success.
In the old days before the supermarkets, things were much better. We had small stores wich were specialized in their field. Like fishshops, Cheese, candy, tea and coffie, wine and tobacco, toystores aso. The wararity were much bigger and the storeowners were specialists and had a pride about quality. The towns were lively and busy. The supermarkets made ghosttowns. Bigger supermarkets will just make that problem worse.
Exactly! Big box stores are parasites! Bilka is already bad enough as is, with how as soon as one open at the edge of a city in some industrial dump, it suddenly attracts every hillbilly with a Dacia Duster within a 30 kilometer radius
Very interesting and informative. I wasnt aware of these things other than yes our selection is very small and quality is lacking in fresh produce very often. The card boards depends on the kind of supermarket. Discount markets usually do this, but not other kinds.
I see some of your points with some places looking a bit messy, sometimes a few too little staff and not always as many options, but if there were way more giant grocery stores, many of the small local stores in the small towns might not be able to compete at some point/have to close, and many likes to have a local store, so they might not have to drive an hour to get to a store, if they only need bread, eggs, Milk or other essentials, and maybe some people like not having to walk an hour through a store, Just to buy a few things. Maybe some people think the workers at the stores could be nicer, but also The media has talked about that workers in the grocery stores might not always have the best experience themselves at work, because some of the costumers could be much nicer, not take it out on them if they are tired, in a hurry, some things are unfortunately sold out, think they should be able to fix everything etc.
Not sure if others mentioned but many Danes get different goods at different stores. Bread from the baker, meat from the butcher etc. This furthers reduced need for massive stores.
bad thing about more options, is that more food gets thrown out... in the states, 40% of all food in stores, is never bought and thrown out... FORTY PERCENT!!
Not sure that you read that right, Americans throw 30-40% of their food out because they dont understand the expiration date. Im pretty sure grocery stores couldnt survive if they threw 40% out.
@@master8laster49 according to Feeding America, under Food Waste and Food Rescue "How much food waste is there in the United States? Each year, 119 billion pounds of food is wasted in the United States. That equates to 130 billion meals and more than $408 billion in food thrown away each year. Shockingly, nearly 40% of all food in America is wasted." so i was kinda right, but in a bad way, as people not understanding expiration dates, are morons, coz that's something u learn as a kid, even before going to school...
I am from Australia and over here we have two worlds of shopping. On the one hand we have large supermarkets and warehouse type stores (eg Costco). On the other hand, there are tons of little stores that sell gourmet and specialty food items. If you want specialty cheese, nice meet, quality coffee and freshly baked bread you go to a small retailer, market or visit a hipster neighbourhood. The prices are a lot higher than the supermarkets, but the food is 100 times better.
Hi. The percentages you showed for the different retail chains are not accurate for 2022. Aldis failure to stay in the Danish market is also more closely rooted in their inability to provide recognizable brands for the customers instead of knock-off brands. Most research show the danes to have a high brand loyalty. Most competing supermarkets got about double the turnover compaired to an Aldi of the same size.
That’s not the only reasons, Aldi simply had bad marketing and were very late in renovating their 80’s looking stores. Lidl did a much better job at appealing to the danish consumers and even making them buy their own labels, something aldi failed to do.
We don't like the giant stores, that's why.
To be honest, if a supermarket is too fancy and clean cut, it can feel a bit intimidating to me, but that's just me personally, I don't have an answer to why it's a cultural thing.
As for service, I've never seen it as a lack of respect, but I suspect it's part of that danish cut-to-the-chase kind of communicating; they're there to scan your wares, get the payment, print your receipt, and get the lines moving as fast and effeicient as possible, so small talk and over-friendliness could(!) be considered time-wasting. There is also the concept of it being extra emotional work that could be unnecessary to the actual physical work.
My mind was officially blown to bits the first time I sat foot in a Lush store in Manchester, and the friendly and slightly-over-the-top service was a really weird mix to me. At one point I was tempted to tell the girl that I'm, well, gay, so please stop flirting, but reminded myself that it was just the service, and I should just endure it and get the transaction done so I could leave.
It is SO true what the person told you. In the education to be a salesassistant, you learn about the psychology and how to affect different "shopping personalities". Like all the Netto stores have a very messy middle lane if you go into them - not 1, but all of them. All because it looks cheaper than nicely ordered items on the shelfs.
I live In Denmark 🇩🇰 and I have to say the quality of the product s are very low for the most . I find it hard to get good quality product and international good products . Some Arabs supermarkets in nørrebro have many international products and they have some good and not so good products
Having lived in a bigger city for some years while I studied, and having stayed in England a few times now, I would actually like it if we had a nice mix of smaller local stores and bigger stores. I personally like Bilka in size but the problem is that they don't actually offer more variety than a normal Føtex does. I personally like Tesco. It's Bilka sized, but have much more to choose from across all food categories. Wouldn't want US size stores, but definitely UK size ones (along with more UK speciality foods of course :) ).
the only thing that am gonna miss that only irma was having is their vegetables and the best options of meat,and when it comes to be clean irma show that even if you are small shop you don't have to be disgusting
It would be nice to have one or two 24/7 supermarkets in Copenhagen.
interesting video. Yes Coop and dansk supermarket are sitting on the majority of the supermarkets. And yes Danes prefer to buy on discount and as far as i understand the sale of organic items are going down at the moment in Denmark. But if i compare Aldi in different countries they in general have some items standing on pallets, so does Lidl. I also would say that the level of friendliness towards costumers in a rural Lokabrugsen often is better compared to a lidl or netto. Last time an article wrote about it in a Danish newspaper it also said that on average Danes pay 1/3 more compared to the average EU citizen
When we lived in Copenhagen in 2008-2011, we shopped at Metro which was a version of Costco. It had a lot of stuff the smaller local stores did not. Is that still there?
Living in DK after many years abroad, I am happy with the size of danish stores. I don’t need 18 alternatives to a product.
(US Expat in Denmark for 40 years) You guys should have moved in 1983 like myself.
No Black Angus, only the byproduct of retired milk cows.
And now Coop is making their own brands. I lost my favorite Mango Chutney Hot from West Bengal for Coop's watered down brand.
The only thing that is left is good salami from Italy.....they just can't make it in Denmark
As a Dane I agree, I have been to many supermarkets in Germany, and Denmark just fails in the selection of products and their different varieties. The stores especially Netto are always messy and have sticky floors, as most of the employees are teenagers wearing AirPods who doesn’t take their job seriously and just want their paycheck. In Germany many of the supermarket workers are actual adults, and they are much more competent in their job. I guess it’s due to the labour in Denmark is too expensive and to save costs, it’s much cheaper to hire under 18 as they get half the pay. But when a big corporation relies on 15 year old workers managing their stores at such a young age, the unprofessionalism is very visible.
Also Bilkas are not allowed to be build anymore as there’s a new law which makes it illegal to build stores larger than 3.500km2, and a bilka store is at least 10.000km2.
So hypermarkets are illegal now. I think It’s so ridiculous. Let people go where they like, and if the small stores are dying, obviously they are not doing something right.
Is this a Copenhagen thing? I don't feel like the stores over here in Jylland are terrible
It's the same here on Vestegnen... outside Copenhagen. I have in several Stores in Copenhagen - and they either to messy or small. But on Vestegnen were I live.... it's clean, organized..... Like Rema1000 and Netto. I prefere the smaller shops..... whit a little brands to choose from.
I think is DK thing. I lived in Aalborg 4 yrs. Grocery stores quality suck, specially Netto and Rema (although cheap?) I am latino and moved to UK, supermarkets may be still small but at least they have good quality products. Don’t know why people think that Uk has the worst food in Europe, when Danish is much worse
I don't think a larger selection of groceries equals better shopping. Our brain shuts down, when there are too many choices to make, and I really don't need more than three ketchups, four mustards, or seven types of rugbrød, when I'm shopping. I definitely prefer my local Netto.
I used to love Bilka 40 km away, but it's not worth the trip. I end up feeling stressed and overwhelmed by the amount of groceries and end up buying loads of useless stuff that I don't need.
Superbrugsen employees thought I was a thief and they came after me, they cursed me and kicked me out of the shop and I had money so I moved to Spain denmark is cold and people are bad😢
Yikes, sorry that happened to you.
As a Dane i must say i too wonder why our supermarkets are so empty whenever you need something you need to go through 5 supermarkets & if you are lucky you find it otherwise you need to go to a special shop. with that said im happy theres a huge selection of Greens & nearly no GMO based food. & if it contains GMO then its marked with a label....
I agree, it should be possible to have well-stocked shelves with the same selection of organic and natural foods like many other countries have done. Denmark should have some of the best supermarkets in the world.
Came to this video after searching because as a Brit I'm amazed at the terrible quality of the fruit and vegetables in Danish supermarkets. So much of it is rotten / expired / on the verge of expiring. I'd just instinctively assume the UK would be worse than Denmark for produce but clearly not.
I am latino having lived in both DK and UK, and clearly UK has a greater variety of products in supermarkets and of much better quality. When people say that food in UK is not good (there is good and accessible restaurants though), I tell them you have not tried food from DK supermarkets, too boring and simple
@@alfredoe3581 I'm biased of course, but I've been lucky to travel quite a lot around the world, from the Borneo rainforest, China, most of Europe, North America etc. And I don't think UK food is particularly bad. I believe the stereotype comes from when we had rationing in the 50s. In fact there's very very few cities in the world that compete with London in such a wide range of authentic restaurants. In terms of supermarkets, again, very few countries compete with selection and quality with the UK, especially when it comes to smaller metro supermarkets or our "premium" ones like Waitrose and M&S.
I was in Copenhagen for work and went to buy groceries to keep in my hotel room, and I just couldn't get over the decomposing produce on display and it wasn't a one-off. You'd *never* see that in the UK and in fact would probably cause health inspectors to intervene.
Interesting didn´t know this. Yes was thinking about Bilka hypermarket in Field´s that is 12.000 m2 but you explained this exception. Also this explains to me why that Bilka feels a bit weird planned out with no connection and/or integration between the sections. To top it off for a hypermarket that size the food section feels both really small and not the best variation. The variation sure is better across the waters in Sweden.
Mixed feelings here…I agree with a lot you say…but at det same time I wouldn’t want to shop i mega stores full of crap options. How ever I do sometimes miss a good french supermarked 🥰
I worked in a grocery store in Denmark, which shall not be named because I don't know if things have improved since I worked there. When I worked in one of those stores, they told us that if customers were to find something that was past the expiration date, they would be given a bag of coffee beans for free, and not the cheapest either. They also expected two people to actually be able to check all the food-items in about half an hour before the store opened for business, every day, so as you can probably imagine, they ended up giving away a lot of free coffee, to the point where they started instead giving away bags of coffee beans that were *also past the expiration date*, with a nice little sticker placed on top of that date... I can only hope things have improved, because that seemed kinda sketchy to me. I only worked there for a month, though, and I haven't set foot in that store again (mainly because I also live, like, 160 kilometers away from it now)
Sounds like Netto
My guess is Føtex.
Many many years ago I worked in a grocery store (also will not be named) we were only 2 working and sometimes in the afternoon a ungarbejder would come and sit at the register. We had 15 min to open the store. One to check dates and give a quick once over and the other to open the register and start the ancient computer to see if we had any new messages from corporate. 15 minutes. I haven’t been back to that chain more than a handful of times since and we are talking 15 years or so ago. I hated that environment.
I wouldn't have it any other way. If there is one thing I despise, it's large commercial spaces. I generally find the shops and staff fine.
Danes might prefer discount. Thats true. However … should I have the option to go to a hypermarket, I seriously don’t want to. It might sound enticing to have 16 different brands of cereal to choose from. But at least 40% is not fit for human consumption. Sugar, salt, additives makes most not suited as a source of nutrition. Give me fewer options that turn out to be a lot healthier, thank you very much.
Geographically - Denmark is not suited for several hypermarket chains. Our land size, makes us a perfect match for under 5000m2.
One of the first thing I notice from moving from Slagelse to Copenhagen was that the amount of differs meat products had lowered. I have also notices more wait and fewer cashiers in Copenhagen than in smaller cities. But man there can be many supermarkets in Denmark. In Slagelse you couldn't go 1 km or less without see one.
Yeah, I think it's a case of quantity at the expense of quality (to oversimplify it).
it is the same as the last piece of cake that no one will take. When everything is in order, you don't want to destroy it. So no sales. we call them impulse boxes and they are changed often to tempt you with things you didn't know you were missing