Manchester shoppers are taking advantage of the Pesach price war among the major supermarket chains.
Tesco offers the greatest choice of Passover goods and at its Prestwich branch, newly married Ari Spitzer — who will be making his first Passover with his wife — said the community appreciated the efforts of supermarkets to cater for Jewish consumers.
“But I do mainly come for the offers, and there appear to be even more this year,” he added, before asking a Tesco employee to check on the availabilty of a grape juice offer.
At Sainsbury’s in Heaton Park, mother Dallia Shalks was impressed by some of the special offers from the Pesach range while fellow shopper Jacquie Bland was stocking up on loss leader products to take to her brother in Seville, Spain, who has limited access to Passover products.
Under an eight-foot Passover sign, shoppers in Morrisons in Whitefield were perusing the Passover shelves, which had been lined with paper on the advice of the manager’s Jewish friends.
One customer said that it was a local convenience for Whitefield families who had to travel to neighbouring Prestwich to buy most Passover goods. “The kosher shops do have everything all in one place, a larger range and I can get my kosher meat at the same time, which isn’t available at supermarkets,” she pointed out.
Morrisons Whitefield manager Ian Thorpe, who grew up locally with Jewish friends, said the chain had Passover ranges in 20 stores this year, a vast increase on 2012.
“We’ve moved out of buying from suppliers, getting products centrally from manufacturers in some cases,” Mr Thorpe said. “We are quite new at it and are learning a lot from the other supermarkets. We have driven the kosher business for Morrisons from Whitefield because I have a good local knowledge.”