London Grocery Shopping

"Local" is their smallest format store...similar to a 7-11. Head over to Google Maps, type in the address of your apartment, click "what's here", enter "supermarket" and you'll get a complete listing of what's nearby.

Sainsbury's as i recall has more in the 'grocery" line than at 7-11. More a grocery than a general convenience store. So a convenient place to have handy. But i suggest that you also splurge and hit something like Harrods Food Hall and Selfridges for some more interesting "basics"

Sainsburys, Somerfield, Waitrose and Tesco are large grocery store chains in the UK. In the denser ares of London, they have smaller "express" versions of these same grocers, selling lunches, drinks, and other necessities, etc. So basically it is a mini version of a large grocer, with prices the same as the large one and not higher priced like a convenience store would be. And for gourmet choices, along with Harrods food hall you could also find that the grocery section of the department store "Marks & Spencers (M & S) has a nice variety of higher quality foods.

Just to add to what has already been posted. Somerfield have been taken over by the Co-operative. They are gradually refitting the stores and the names outside, and also integrating the supply chains. The selection of food is now better, with more specialist items. The "Local" and "Metro" versions of Sainsbury and Tesco do charge higher prices than in the larger stores in the chain. You will also find that the products are more specialised and concentrated on the higher-priced varieties in their own-label ranges. There will be fewer large sizes of things, or bulk-buy discounts. They are aimed at people living on their own, who are not shopping on price. All of these shops have good ranges of ready-prepared meals.

My apologies for the not quite accurate info! It never seemed to me that the prices were higher at the "express" shops. Maybe because it was still cheaper than eating in a restaurant.. lol