Let’s be real, Rootes Grocery Store is utter shit

If you have ever been to Warwick University campus, then you will know what Rootes Grocery Store is. Whether you're a student here or you've just visited, you would have inevitably found yourself in this shambolic establishment and one point or another. It's pretty hard to miss. And if you've been to it, you'll know that it's utter shit.

Don't get me wrong, it's great to have a shop on campus. For freshers in halls, it's easy and convenient to go to Rootes before pres to stock up on drinks, for a small snack, or when you've run out of cheese but your pasta is almost ready.

For second and third years commuting to campus, it's easy to get lunch there if you forget to bring something. It's very convenient. In fact, it's great, so kudos to whoever came up with the idea of a supermarket on central campus. But there's no denying that Rootes Grocery Store is absolute shit. And here's why.

It's WAY too expensive

£1.89 for Doritos?! Really?!

Now, where do I start? Ah yes, THE PRICES. I mean, where else can you start? Rootes sells a lot of things, but the vast majority is extremely overpriced.

I remember going down there at the start of first year wanting to buy some tinned tuna, a core component of any good student meal. Except, when I got there, it was over double as expensive as Tesco's. Over double as expensive! It's almost as if they don't want my custom. (Note to the reader: I did buy the tuna but I was not happy about it and that's what matters.)

Being on a university campus, their target market is – no guessing here- students. You don't need a fancy WBS degree to work that out. So you'd think they'd accommodate for us students who are already living in our overdrafts.

If there's one thing that unites most students (other than the library all-nighters and your purple-stained POP! outfit) it's that we're not the richest demographic in society. Most students want to budget, but Rootes clearly doesn't care about that. My capitalist mind is telling me to congratulate them, because it's very good business, but it's impractical, and really it just pisses me off.

The food in Rootes is kinda bland

Roughly two-thirds of the student population don't live on campus and don't have access to cooking facilities during the day. And every now and again, you might forget your packed lunch. Problem? Yes, because the likelihood of you being able to buy tasty, palatable food in Rootes is very slim.

The lunch food just isn't very good. Making this a fair article, I thought I would try a plethora of the foods readily available in Rootes- a tuna pasta salad, a sushi pack, a veggie burger and an egg sandwich. My response – meh.

Look, I wasn't expecting Michelin star, Gordon Ramsey-esque lunches, but a little bit of flavour here or there would be nice. Rootes obviously doesn't think the same.

Everything in the shop always seems to be broken

This is a minor gripe, but nonetheless a relevant one. It seemed like for the whole of last term, the fridges were "temporarily unavailable." Now, I don't run a supermarket, but the fridges seem pretty important to me for its functioning. Furthermore, walking around the store is like a round of Total Wipeout, hurdling so-called "bargain" buckets and ducking around stock trolleys, when all you want is a bottle of vodka. Not exactly the regular supermarket experience.

No one actually knows what Rootes Grocery Store is

It might just look like a shitty supermarket, but Rootes is a Costcutters in disguise. Who knew? Not sure which "costs" they're "cutting" there though. Also apparently it's colloquially called "Grootes" and sometimes even, wait for it, "Rrocery." I, for one, am not buying any of it.

Look, don't get me wrong, Rootes is very convenient and very easy. The staff there are lovely and I suppose it fits the bill, but it's just one of those things that annoys me, and I bet you found yourself nodding along at one point or other.

I'll probably end up being in there in the next few days to buy something so please resist the temptation to laugh at my hypocrisy. It's shit and I don't like it, but I guess you just can't shake Rootes.