Buying yr Boots "Meal Deal" at the perfume counter, Classic or Dud

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You know, rather than stand in a very long queue with five tills at the end, taking your three items to the Clinique counter. Because it's not a concession, they work for Boots so have to process yr item.

And they always look sooooo delighted.. They all went to perfume training school to do this, you know!

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 11:59 (nineteen years ago)

I did that all the time!

But now the nearest sandwich shop to where I work is Waitrose, where the sandwiches are much better and the equivalent "Meal Deal" actually cheaper.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 12:05 (nineteen years ago)

i do this at walgreens when the front register line is a mile long. noone seems to know you can do it. maybe perfume intimidates people.like maybe your walgreens brand advil isnt good enough to be checked out by the same register that checks out shalimar.

― sunny successor (katharine), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 12:06 (nineteen years ago)

ps i have no idea what a pharmacy meal deal is. a handful of rohypnol with a side of valium and a large robitussin DM? sounds good , actually.

― sunny successor (katharine), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 12:09 (nineteen years ago)

Popular in the Streatham High Road branch of Boots, I believe.

(Actually, why do nearly all Boots branches south of the river not stock food?)

(Yes I know they are strictly speaking CHEMISTS but even so etc.)

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 12:15 (nineteen years ago)

Well, the Post office are strictly speaking a delivery service and documentation processing service, but you can get oh DVD players, England Flags, John Wayne DVDs, novelty gonks and "Catholic Guilt" by Edward Ball there.

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 12:17 (nineteen years ago)

what a bizarre post office.

― Miss Misery xox (MissMiseryTX), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 12:19 (nineteen years ago)

ss - you can get your prepackaged something-and-mayonaise sandwich, crisps, and drink from boots as well as your prescriptions.

― lauren (laurenp), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 12:26 (nineteen years ago)

I think Mark may have made up that last item there.

Everyone knows that the only Creation act whose CDs are allowed to appear in Post Office racks are 18 Wheeler.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 12:29 (nineteen years ago)

Noo Noo Noo Noo...

Racks in the queue, top shelf of small unit, second section along, first CD there, 99p, down from £1.99.

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 12:31 (nineteen years ago)

You sure you're not mixing up Edward Ball in the Post Office with Andrew WK* in Woolworths?

(*note for youngsters: Andrew WK was the Lily Allen/MIA/insert name here of his day)

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 12:36 (nineteen years ago)

The Boots Meal Deal deserves its own thread. The other day I got suschi, an Innocent smoothie and a strawberry sundae for the £2.99. That's a £2.80 saving!

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 12:39 (nineteen years ago)

It wasn't suschi good sushi, but still.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 12:40 (nineteen years ago)

btw. is "meal deal" the naffest phrase available to us today?

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 12:41 (nineteen years ago)

add 'combo' on to it and maybe yes.

― sunny successor (katharine), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 12:43 (nineteen years ago)

the Benjy's 'meal deal' is the ultimate example of 'false economy'

― Ward Fowler (Ward Fowler), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 12:59 (nineteen years ago)

lauren, i like my meal deal better. i thought boots was a us northeast thing. theyre in london too?

― sunny successor (katharine), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 13:00 (nineteen years ago)

They are Boots of Nottingham.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 13:04 (nineteen years ago)

Boots is one of the most UK chains of stores ever (also a minor drug company, they discovered ibuprofen).

― Ed (dali), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 13:06 (nineteen years ago)

xpost

― Ed (dali), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 13:08 (nineteen years ago)

"Meal deal" isn't naff so much as almost too perfect for its purposes - it's short, memorable and you understand immediately exactly what the offer is.

I think Boots is an English chain - they are/were listed on the London stock exchange, for sure. (xpost)

― Earwig oh! (Mark C), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 13:11 (nineteen years ago)

I didn't realize Boots became a northeast US thing!

― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 13:25 (nineteen years ago)

What really annoys me about Boots is that:

- they process customers slower than almost every other major chainstore. I am almost invariably stuck in a queue when I visit.
They really need to bring some customer interface experts to help them correct this.

- Availability of Innocent smoothies in the branch I use is always very poor.

- They go on and on about their Boots card. Just get rid of it and speed the queues up.

― Bob Six (bobbysix), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 13:36 (nineteen years ago)

Boots sandwiches are so so bad. They LOOK sort of good, which makes it even worse.

― Tracey Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 13:41 (nineteen years ago)

i ate a mapco (gas station) ham and cheese on white bread pre-packaged sandwich yesterday. it was pretty good even if the bread was so white it would probably glow under a black light. i always get a great feeling when i eat prepackaged sandwiches because its something i do maybe once every 2 or 3 years and its always a last resort response (usually at 4amish, usually a gas station) to the insane kind of ill-eat-anything hunger that i rarely get. and of course when youre that hungry anything you eat tastes SO SO SO good.

― sunny successor (katharine), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 13:48 (nineteen years ago)

(x-post)

Well, that's true as well.

For a while I gave up on Boots, because of the poor quality, and moved my custom to Pret A Manger. But whilst PAM's sanwiches are a lot better, the ridiculous expense got to me.

― Bob Six (bobbysix), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 13:48 (nineteen years ago)

- they process customers slower than almost every other major chainstore. I am almost invariably stuck in a queue when I visit.

The only people slower are Marks and Spencers. Every time I stand in an M&S queue I want to shout at all of the cashiers "PICK WITH THE LEFT HAND SCAN WITH THE RIGHT GET ON WITH IT".

Instead they pick something up, use both hands to scan it, lovingly put it into the bag, gaze around at the wonder that is life today, then look at the lovely basket someone has been kind enough to bring them ... "Oh! Another thing in there! How nice. I'll just pick it up" ... then slowly, gently, towards the scanner, beeeep, into the bag. REPEAT UNTIL I GO INSANE.

― stet (stet), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 13:56 (nineteen years ago)

Boots cashiers are much slower than M&S ones, for lunch at least.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 13:58 (nineteen years ago)

No way. I can eat an entire Meal Deal in the time it takes M&S to get their scan on.

― stet (stet), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 13:59 (nineteen years ago)

I'm freaking out about being able to buy sammiches at the chemists. Ours only sell drinks :(

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 29 June 2006 01:13 (nineteen years ago)

Don't forget the sushi! It is terrible sushi, mind.

― Mädchen (Madchen), Thursday, 29 June 2006 08:14 (nineteen years ago)

soon every shop will sell everything

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 29 June 2006 08:19 (nineteen years ago)

Trayce, the availability of sandwiches in counterintuitive places defines Britain today.

Here is the motto of Boots:

STAFF NEARBY WILL BE HAPPY TO SERVE YOU

(Because the one picking at her weave five feet away has better things to do)

When I first lived in London the Boots next to my job did prawn and camembert sandwiches, which made me very happy, but they haven't done them for 15 years. Mind you this was back in the days when you could only get a tub of Haagen Dazs at Harrods Food Hall.

'Meal deal' is very depressing, it's like 'rat, here is pellet - eat pellet!'

― suzy (suzy), Thursday, 29 June 2006 08:33 (nineteen years ago)

I bought a sandwich at a newsagent the other day. I always wondered who did that.

― Alba (Alba), Thursday, 29 June 2006 08:59 (nineteen years ago)

I could never buy food from Boots. It all looks as if it was prepared in a laboratory 300 miles away by biochemists. I guess this is the appeal, but I imagine it would taste slightly of Listerine.

Boots in general is a terrible shop, dreadfully laid out. I seem to waste more time in Boots looking for stuff than anywhere else. Independent pharmacists are the way forward, esp. the ones that sell things like hair pomade, obscure shaving creams & Chuppa Chups.

― bham (bham), Thursday, 29 June 2006 09:12 (nineteen years ago)

I do love a couple of flavours of Boots sandwiches - Chicken and Stuffing, and one of the ones with sausage and egg in.

― Forest Pines (ForestPines), Thursday, 29 June 2006 09:20 (nineteen years ago)

The best sandwich Boots ever did was the Pastrami and Garlic Sausage one, discontinued c. 1989.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 29 June 2006 09:26 (nineteen years ago)

I could never buy food from Boots. It all looks as if it was prepared in a laboratory 300 miles away by biochemists.

I know. This is my problem with it too. Food and chemistry don't mix, at least not in my appetite. Especially since half their sandwiches say "Shapers" on them, like they're a component of a prescribed slimming medication. I don't think many men buy their sandwiches at Boots.

But still, the Meal Deal is too generous too ignore.

― Alba (Alba), Thursday, 29 June 2006 09:27 (nineteen years ago)

Does anybody actually buy "only a sandwich pack" at £2.50 as opposed to "add a drink and a pack of crisps for 49p extra"?

(some of the main thingys used to be more than the meal deal price, so you'd get the extras for net -30p)

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 29 June 2006 09:31 (nineteen years ago)

Boots in general is a terrible shop,

It is indeed awful. Overpriced, and there's a nagging sense of violence murmuring behind every cliincal aisle.

I think I may have been affected by animal rights campaigns.

― Alba (Alba), Thursday, 29 June 2006 09:34 (nineteen years ago)

The only high street virtual monopoly that's worse is WH Smith.

― Alba (Alba), Thursday, 29 June 2006 09:36 (nineteen years ago)

Marcello, I think that my favourite was discontinued then, too.

Calling soda plus crisps plus sanger a MEAL must be some violation of the Trades Descriptions Act or whatever they call it. The words 'meal deal' are usually a sufficient alert that whatever's on offer ain't good enough to pass my lips. I shudder inwardly at the the whole Shapers phenomenon - how many do you have to buy to get a free FOOT SPA? Better to buy half-sarnies from Pret (especially great with All! Day! Breakfast!) and drink extra water if you really want to lose weight.

― suzy (suzy), Thursday, 29 June 2006 09:46 (nineteen years ago)

i agree also that boots are always the worst laid out shops on the high st - maybe it's a bloke thing, but it always takes me AGES to find what I'm looking for - the signposting is useless, and nothing seems consistent from shop-to-shop (also the boots opposite the Oxford Circus HMV has to be the warmest shop ever - just unbearable on a sunny day)

i tend to buy my toiletries from superdrug or the mysterious 'savers' these days

― Ward Fowler (Ward Fowler), Thursday, 29 June 2006 09:47 (nineteen years ago)

Savers is indeed a mysterious treat. It reminds me of SHARE, which we used to have on Rye Lane, when I was a nipper.

Calling soda plus crisps plus sanger a MEAL must be some violation of the Trades Descriptions Act or whatever they call it.

Not just soda – Innocent Smoothies!
Not just crisps – fruit salad!
Not just sanger – bad sushi!

― Alba (Alba), Thursday, 29 June 2006 09:50 (nineteen years ago)

Don't get me started on the bad sushi.

― suzy (suzy), Thursday, 29 June 2006 09:51 (nineteen years ago)

When I visited the UK I think the only thing I did in a Boots was get my photos developed at a 1 hour place. Maybe bought some painkillers or something too. This was in the midlands tho - in a shopping mall that had the only cafe outside London I came across that did Proper Coffee - I asked for a short black and the lady squinted at me and said in a conspiratorial voice "you know they come in little tiny cups, don't you?"

Even country towns here know better :/

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 29 June 2006 09:52 (nineteen years ago)

when did you visit the UK?

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 29 June 2006 09:55 (nineteen years ago)

Australians no I mean Melbournites know more about coffee than most people I know. My neighbour upstairs, an IP lawyer who is with The Gays, used to have an espresso café in Melb.

― suzy (suzy), Thursday, 29 June 2006 09:59 (nineteen years ago)

The Greggs meal deal is the ne plus ultra: pasty + large fizzy drink + jam donut for about 99p. V popular with the bon viveurs at my local 6th form college.
Just typing it gives me the first stirrings of a diabetic coma.

― bham (bham), Thursday, 29 June 2006 10:01 (nineteen years ago)

where to begin

crosspost

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 29 June 2006 10:02 (nineteen years ago)

Skipping 5 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

For a drummer?

― Alba (Alba), Thursday, 29 June 2006 10:16 (nineteen years ago)

No, multi product Album ads similar to Virgin / HMV / Play / Amazon.co.uk etc

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Thursday, 29 June 2006 10:17 (nineteen years ago)

KERCHING, N.

― suzy (suzy), Thursday, 29 June 2006 10:18 (nineteen years ago)

Reading even had a branch of "Audio Boots"

They didn't sell bootlegs though, chortle.

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 29 June 2006 10:22 (nineteen years ago)

SID JAMES: Boots even advertised in Sounds magazine in the 80s.
TONY HANCOCK: For a drummer?
SID JAMES: No, multi product Album ads similar to Virgin / HMV / Play / Amazon.co.uk etc

Priceless.

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Thursday, 29 June 2006 10:24 (nineteen years ago)

I can vividly remember the Boots carrier bags for lps: white, with a blue & purple picture of a conductor on one side & a psychedelic freakrock guitarist on the other.

Boots was good for things like record cloths & cassette racks.

― bham (bham), Thursday, 29 June 2006 10:30 (nineteen years ago)

ARTHUR LOWE: Boots even advertised in Sounds magazine in the 80s.
IAN LAVENDER: For a drummer?
ARTHUR LOWE: No, multi product Album ads similar to Virgin / HMV / Play / Amazon.co.uk etc

I like this game.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Thursday, 29 June 2006 10:33 (nineteen years ago)

I went to the Oxford Street one once and took Footballer Of The Year for the Spectrum to the counter.

GREAT GAME.

the rest of this thread is yucky. discussions of 'meal deals' seems to bring out the worst in ILX.

― teh_kit has 22 friends (g-kit), Thursday, 29 June 2006 10:36 (nineteen years ago)

SYD LITTLE: Boots even advertised in Sounds magazine in the 80s.
EDDIE LARGE: For a drummer?
POOR SYD LITTLE (GLUMLY): No, multi product Album ads similar to Virgin / HMV / Play / Amazon.co.uk etc

ME: those Boots record bags made a great play of being biodegradable, a good 15 years before anyone much cared about placcy bags being biodegradable.

― Tim (Tim), Thursday, 29 June 2006 10:39 (nineteen years ago)

CLIVE TYLDESLEY: Boots even advertised in Sounds magazine in the 80s.
DAVID PLEAT: For a drummer?
CLIVE TYLDESLEY: No, multi product Album ads similar to Virgin / HMV / Play / Amazon.co.uk etc

The best thing they've said all tournament.

― Pete (Pete), Thursday, 29 June 2006 10:43 (nineteen years ago)

The Gap used to be a record store!

― Tracey Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 29 June 2006 10:43 (nineteen years ago)

Tracer, mail me NOW mit yr digits...

See also Body Shop bags - biodegradable for all of living memory (also the only retail job I ever really liked - when I was in college I worked for them for almost three years).

― suzy (suzy), Thursday, 29 June 2006 10:44 (nineteen years ago)

My local boots used to sell TVs and VCRs, as well as computer games and records, etc.
They also used to sell Acid Drops. I miss Boot's Acid Drops.

― Greig (treefell), Thursday, 29 June 2006 10:45 (nineteen years ago)

Did Boots stock The Mighty Lemon Drops, in the 1980s?

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Thursday, 29 June 2006 10:52 (nineteen years ago)

It appears the one thing that Boots so far has never sold is boots.

― Pete (Pete), Thursday, 29 June 2006 10:52 (nineteen years ago)

Boots 1980s deal: Cassettes only £5.29

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Thursday, 29 June 2006 10:54 (nineteen years ago)

Brighton second hand record shops 2006 deal: Cassettes only £5.29

DEREK BAILEY: Boots even advertised in Sounds magazine in the 80s.
EVAN PARKER: For a drummer?
DEREK BAILEY: Don't know, I never read the fucking thing. Magazines are all right except you're left with these things called magazines. They denote an endgame whereas for me no endgame exists (cont p 94)

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 29 June 2006 10:59 (nineteen years ago)

Boots website http://www.boots.com/
still sells music, but it's outsourced these days to thehut.com

re: It appears the one thing that Boots so far has never sold is boots.

Not true, they were thinking of selling adult sex toys, but decided against this. If they went ahead with this plan, think of the branding opportunities "Kinky Boots" - and the music backdrop for an ad Kinky Love by the pale saints

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Thursday, 29 June 2006 11:00 (nineteen years ago)

Alba products are on sale on the Boots website.

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Thursday, 29 June 2006 11:07 (nineteen years ago)

AISLEYNE: Boots even advertised in Sounds magazine in the 80s.
MIKEY: For a drummer?
AISLEYNE: yeah.

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 29 June 2006 11:38 (nineteen years ago)

Greggs serve really quickly, but all the staff are 50 and surly (apart from the one 17-year-old, she's in training). Great sausage rolls

― stet (stet), Thursday, 29 June 2006 11:44 (nineteen years ago)

We have Boots stuff now in the US, but just the cosmetics and things--no meal deals. I remember kind of liking the meal deal, in a way.

I used Alba shaving cream (scented like TUBEROSE) in the shower this morning.

― i've dreamt of rubies! (Mandee), Thursday, 29 June 2006 11:54 (nineteen years ago)

I am going to buy a Meal Deal right now - I have been inspired to do so by the DelBoy/Trigger exchange upthread. I will Report Back.

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Thursday, 29 June 2006 11:55 (nineteen years ago)

I don't understand all the Boots hatred - I think it's okay, and never have trouble finding what I want in there. I don't buy sandwiches from there (or Meal Deals) very often but I don't tend to buy ready-made sandwiches much anyway.

I can't stand Superdrug. It's always so busy, packed full of teenage shoplifters.

― C J (C J), Thursday, 29 June 2006 12:07 (nineteen years ago)

Ah but you can buy an emergency shaving kit (one giant can of foam + five poorest quality disposable razors) for under a pound! Or I did a couple of years ago anyway.

― ledge (ledge), Thursday, 29 June 2006 12:18 (nineteen years ago)

Those kits cost, like, £7.50 at most hotels!

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Thursday, 29 June 2006 12:22 (nineteen years ago)

And Boots sandwiches are easily the best pre-packed ones on the High Street. M&S take the dukes when it comes to salads though.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Thursday, 29 June 2006 12:23 (nineteen years ago)

I think it's disgraceful that Boots are encouraging people to have random casual sex on a weeknight.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Thursday, 29 June 2006 12:24 (nineteen years ago)

It is nearly impossible to buy a cleaning brush for one's electric shaver in and of itself in Boots or Superdrug! I lost mine over the weekend (don't ask) and have been reduced to using Johnson's cotton buds which do the job equally but far more slowly and awkwardly, but I'm buggered if I'm going to throw away thirty quid on a new shaver just for the brush!

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 29 June 2006 12:24 (nineteen years ago)

Buy the cheapest toothbrush they sell, that should have the requisite pokey stiffness.

― Pete (Pete), Thursday, 29 June 2006 12:31 (nineteen years ago)

Can't you use an old toothbrush to do that?

Or a new one.

xpost

― C J (C J), Thursday, 29 June 2006 12:32 (nineteen years ago)

I have bought: Avocado Salad sandwich (with "1/2-price eye test" sticker), Quaker Seasons Crispbread snack (lime & coriander flavour), Vanilla Bean & Honey Smoothie. I didn't bother with the free "Living With Diabetes" info pack at the pharmacy counter.

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Thursday, 29 June 2006 12:32 (nineteen years ago)

pokey stiffness, C or D?

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 29 June 2006 12:33 (nineteen years ago)

I am going to the 99p shop in Reading this weekend, they sell packs of a dozen Macleans toothbrushes for 99p!

― C J (C J), Thursday, 29 June 2006 12:34 (nineteen years ago)

Avocado salad was tasteless apart from a strange egginess. Smoothie was like Pepto-Bismol. Crispbread snack was just like any other maize-heavy snack - sticks to the teeth, tastes of dust.

Still - £3.30, eh?

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Thursday, 29 June 2006 12:52 (nineteen years ago)

Should have gone to Specsavers.

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 29 June 2006 12:55 (nineteen years ago)

It's £2.99 in Glasgow!

― Alba (Alba), Thursday, 29 June 2006 12:59 (nineteen years ago)

Tasteless sandwiches = they know their target market

― Tracey Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 29 June 2006 13:03 (nineteen years ago)

Is Andrew WK really only 99p in Woolworths?

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Thursday, 29 June 2006 13:16 (nineteen years ago)

75p in Glasgow.

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Thursday, 29 June 2006 13:17 (nineteen years ago)

It was last time I looked (the big red bargain bin in the Clapham Common branch a couple of weeks ago).

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 29 June 2006 13:18 (nineteen years ago)

Was this for I Get Wet or the highly ambitious (i.e. including songs without PARTY in the titles) The Wolf?

(sorry for derail. My kids love Andrew WK, particularly 'Ready To Die' which had my son going to nursery and drawing himself as a long haired rock star singing "this is what I look like when I die!" - oh how the teachers ~~called social services~~ laughed. See "leashes" and "wheelie bins" threads for other top parenting tips from daddyonimo)

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Thursday, 29 June 2006 13:24 (nineteen years ago)

It was I Get Wet.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 29 June 2006 13:33 (nineteen years ago)

Cheers.

Oh, in answer to the original. Definite classic, though in St Enoch's the perfume is a floor above the food so I queue skip to the pharmacy counter instead.

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Thursday, 29 June 2006 13:39 (nineteen years ago)

It's double classic if you take yr meal deal to a quieter floor / perfume counter.

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 29 June 2006 13:46 (nineteen years ago)

whats involved in an avocado salad?

― i've dreamt of rubies! (Mandee), Thursday, 29 June 2006 14:04 (nineteen years ago)

tastiness

― Tracey Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 29 June 2006 14:06 (nineteen years ago)

in theory

― Tracey Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 29 June 2006 14:06 (nineteen years ago)

meal.

― Alba (Alba), Thursday, 29 June 2006 14:06 (nineteen years ago)

i think it should be called avocado loaf instead

― i've dreamt of rubies! (Mandee), Thursday, 29 June 2006 14:09 (nineteen years ago)

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