Hallowe'en was the focus for our special purchase of a pumpkin. The majority were labelled as small but sizes varied from store to store. Small pumpkins at Asda were enormous and they were the best buy at 98p, while those at Safeway, Diss, were a lot smaller. Tesco had only whoppers on sale, for £2.99. Somerfield did not stock them but each branch assured our shopper they would be in store next week. The multiple did redeem itself, however, by having lots of ideas for celebrating Hallowe'en in its free magazine, plus a generous helping of free offers such as 12 Penguin bars for the price of eight and McCain's Home Fries with 25% extra free. Only three full baskets were checked in this week, and Safeway, Eastwood, was the cheapest with a till receipt of £39.19. The start of the half-term holiday was said to be the reason for the busy shops and low stocks. Morrisons had all 23 checkouts open and managed to cope, while queues grew at Safeway, in Eastwood. This store had deep cuts on Penguin eight-packs, sausages and Jacob's Creek wine, whereas the Safeway at Diss only had the 76p off Jacob's Creek wine offer. However, checkout staff here more than made up for the lack of offers by friendliness and helpfulness. {{GROCER 33 }}

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