A MUM claims she has been barred from Lidl after trying to buy cucumbers.
Lisa Fearns, 49, was left shocked when a manager stopped her from buying 100 of the vegetables for her juice business.
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The entrepreneur needs dozens of the green veg for her juices – and has been purchasing them from the local shop for three years.
But she was shocked when she was confronted by a manager who “came running” to tell her she was buying too much.
It comes as some supermarkets have started rationing fruit and vegetables due to shortages of fresh produce, although Lidl said it currently has no plans to introduce limits.
Shortages have been caused by recent cold weather in Spain and Morocco.
Since Lidl is a retail store, not a wholesaler, it is not out of the ordinary for a manager to stop a customer emptying a whole shelf of vegetables.
Lisa, from Kirby, Merseyside, said: “I’ve been going every week on a Sunday for three years.
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“I get there at 10am because I need the cucumbers to be fresh then I make juices in the day.
“I get funny looks when I’m in the supermarket, people look at me like ‘what are you doing?’
“I needed 100 cucumbers. The manager came running out of the back saying I’m buying too much fruit and veg and I can’t purchase that much.”
She added: “They didn’t want my custom so I said I’d take my custom to Aldi.
“I had to go Asda, another Lidl and another Aldi. I’m like a secret shopper. It now takes me about two hours to get all the shopping rather than 15 to 20 minutes.
“In Aldi there was a limit of three per person so I picked up six and they didn’t say anything.
“I’m stressed about what I’m going to do every week. I’m going to have to find a pleasant, happy, fruit and vegetable store that would like to take my business.
“There’s going to be a battle in the shops.”
Lisa has been running her juicing business since the start of the first lockdown three years ago.
She said that the cost of fruit and vegetables has soared, with her average spend on cucumbers now approaching £70.
Lisa said: “I ran a ladies only gym and I was going to set up a juice bar but then lockdown happened so I started juicing from home.
“On Sunday it was more expensive because I had to go to different shops. I remember cucumbers were only about 40p and now they’re 70p, they’ve more or less doubled in price. It’s stressful.”
Lidl said: “As a supermarket we want to ensure that all of our customers have access to the products they need, and we are therefore unfortunately not able to facilitate wholesale purchases.
“We thank shoppers for their understanding and consideration of other customers.”
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