Analysis of the demographics of food shopping in recent times shows a growing trend towards consumers choosing discount stores at the expense of the more expensive premium outlets.

In other words, customers are turning their backs on M&S to give it laldy at Lidl and Aldi. As budgets become tighter, the low-cost German retailers continue to increase their share of the UK grocery market.

Business was certainly brisk in the Lidl supermarket in Maryhill on Friday afternoon.

Discerning West End shoppers have always been aware of the bargains to be had in this low-rent location.

Ken McCluskey, rock star of Bluebells fame, paused from filling his trolley to comment: "I first came to Lidl to buy a cheap telly. The TV sets were sold but I noticed how good and cheap the food was and ended up with a cauliflower.

"I came here today mainly to buy the half-price veg, but I also got a complete angling kit for my son Eugene for only £14.95. Lidl is that kind of shop.

"There are always interesting special offers like motorbike gear, cool ladies' wellies, camping equipment - all sorts of stuff at low prices."

McCluskey, who also works as a lecturer in the music and creative industries department at Stow College, says that while much of the family shopping is done in small local shops, Lidl is the supermarket of choice.

"We come here for such staples as honey and Fairy Liquid because the prices are much lower than elsewhere. The Lidl range keeps expanding and in our basket you will find Polish sausage, aubergines, corn-on-the-cob and, of course, the occasional bottle of Rioja.

"I don't know about the clientele at Lidl getting more middle-class, but I have always been impressed by how cosmopolitan the place is.

"A lot of the customers are immigrants and you can see from their trolleys that they know how to shop for healthy food."

A study (or a wee nosey, as they say in Maryhill) of the food passing through the Lidl check-outs showed that a fair amount of fizzy drinks, biscuits and processed foods is still on a lot of people's shopping lists.

However, the quantities of such products as olive oil, smoked salmon, crème fraiche, baby spinach, rocket, prosecco and chablis that are also being purchased here would indicate that a lot of people are moving on from those Marks & Spencer seductive-but-expensive ready meals to home-made but, arguably, equally luxurious alternatives.

One customer, who declined to be identified, testified to the versatility of shopping at Lidl stores: "I come here mainly for the organic vegetables. But while I was looking for the vine tomatoes, I saw the special offers on DIY tools. I bought a saw, a steel rule, and various other tools I need to do up my croft on North Uist.

"I also see they have got Leffe beer at only £1.60 for a big bottle."

In an interview with Retail Week magazine, Martin Bailie, Lidl UK director, said that the company's European dimension and its economies of scale meant it could "source anything".

Bailie also said that quality is a big factor, citing pasta as an example: "Our pasta range comes from Italy because we believe the best pasta comes from there."

Lidl also claims the shopping environment in its stores has been improved, with more user-friendly shelving and fewer items stacked ceiling-high in boxes.

Commercial property experts are predicting an increasing gentrification of stores such as Lidl and Aldi as they move into higher-rent locations and compete with the mainstream supermarket chains.

In my search for recession shopping, I was directed by the crofter from North Uist with the vine tomatoes, DIY tools and the Leffe beer, to the store adjacent to the Maryhill Lidl. "It's a freezer shop where you can get scallops and tuna steaks quite cheap," he said.

The shop is Iceland, where you can find these items and others - including a dozen langoustines ready-cooked in garlic and parsley butter at £4 and salmon fillets with Mediterranean vegetables at £3.

Shoppers who have a slight aversion to the name Iceland after having their savings frozen in that country's failing bank system might prefer to head to Farmfoods. It has scallops at £3.75 for a 450g bag and a half-kilo of oak-smoked haddock at £2.95, with chips at £1 for 1.8kg.

That should keep the wolf from the door until Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling can get investors a refund from the gnomes of Reykjavik.