BUDGET German supermarket chain Lidl sold out of its popular food processor within minutes across the whole of Spain on Saturday after thousands of shoppers queued outside to get their hands on one of the 25,000 on the shelves.
At €359, the multi-functional food processor – complete with its free book of 160 recipes - comes in relatively cheap compared with similar models sold by big brand names, such as the Taurus MyCook, which retails at over €1,000.
In the last three years, Lidl has shifted over 70,000 of its own-brand food processors through its 550 branches across the country, and they have all been snapped up very soon after going on sale.
This is, however, the first time stocks have vanished within minutes of store opening time.
Lidl's branches in Spain are becoming used to frenzied shoppers and queues – five years ago, consumer organisation OCU carried out research on moisturising creams which concluded that the best one on the market – beating many designer brands costing upwards of €50 or €100 – was Lidl's Cien Q10 with its yellow label and lid.
Costing just €2.99, it sold out within half a day of the headlines breaking and the store struggled nationwide to keep up with demand as each new batch disappeared from the shelves within hours.
