Every person living in Loughton for a long time probably at least once visited one or two main town supermarkets: Morrisons and Sainsburys. I know a lot of people do their weekly shopping there and it is indeed very handy - the supermarkets are now our way of life.

I used to go to Morrisons much more than to Sainsburys because firstly, they very rarely or even never have empty shelves - there are always people in store that add the products to the shelves and check them out. Secondly, I hate paying for parking even though after the shopping it will be reimbursed - I like to drive in, do my shopping (in the shortest time possible) and then leave. Thirdly, I like the Morrisons’ atmosphere of neatness and order, which is sort of absent in Sainsburys, where everything is kind of everywhere. Fourthly, one very outspoken and relaxed manager in Morrisons used to reduce prices of the fresh products at the end of the day - I used to go there after 9pm on Fridays and would usually pick up some bargains. And lastly, Morrisons is still opened until 5 o’clock in the evening on Sundays, which is very handy for lasy shoppers and those, who get home after 4pm on Sundays.

Prices in Morrisons and Sainsbury are mainly on par, and almost all the time I used to do my shopping at Morrisons but I couldn’t miss Sainsbury’s ‘Spend 20 pounds, get back 4 pouns back’ coupons when they were available and if I was driving, I always avoided going to Morrisons on Saturday afternoons when it is virtually impossible to park in the store’s car park. Some people figure out how to do that but I quickly get frustrated and leave the parking lot.

This is how it was for several years - basically, after the new Sainsburys has been built near the Loughton underground station. But things started to change. For the last several months I went to Morrisons to do my shopping and left disappointed. For starters, I could no longer find my favourite corn-fed chicken. This is the only type of chicken one can actually trust because the meat is yellow, which means it’s been fed with the corn. For example, where’s the guarantee that the free range chicken has actually run on the grass and has not been sitting in its cage fearing the outside world? Sainsburys still stocks plenty of the corn-fed chickens.

Last time I didn’t find any pork mince in Morrisons - and it’s not like in Sainsbury where empty shelves with badges “pork mince” sometimes greet us but there was no pork mince in the shop at all because I could not find the shelf where it has been.

As for my favourite desert - the chocolate ice-cream - several years ago Morrisons had the best chocolate ice-cream in England - the Triple Chocolate Ice-Cream in a square box, costing two for 3 pounds. When the credit crunch came, they’ve firstly stopped the offer and then discontinued this ice-cream altogether inventing new cheaper types of chocolate ice-cream in different more traditional boxes but unfortunately the new stuff does not taste as good. Sainsburys have the chocolate ice-cream, two boxes for 3 pounds as before, but it’s a normal ice-cream, nothing special, not like Morrisons used to sell.

There are other things, which got worse at Morrisons but I think the three examples above speak for themselves. One day I even had to visit both Loughton stores in order to buy what I needed. It was of course a hassle, waste of some of my time but it was worth it. I have had a good shopping experience at Morrisons and I bought what I needed at Sainsburys. But next time I will probably go directly to Sainsburys, early in the morning when there are still products in store.

If you got sick of both of our local supermarkets, you can try to visit Tesco in Epping or Wanstead (place where M11 joins A406), ASDA in Harlow, Leyton or Romford and Lidl in Edmonton. Or just go to our local small shops - the Loughton shopkeepers will always be glad to see you.