FELIXSTOWE: Not so many years ago supermarkets were for buying bread, milk, tea and coffee, and vegetables.

There were no shelves with books, DVDs, CDs, mobile phones and electrical goods.

Nowadays the range of items, especially at the larger stores, is staggering – and it’s not just cornflakes that come in a box, you can even pick up a suit in one!

Lidl, with stores in Ipswich, Felixstowe and Stowmarket, is selling suits off the shelf for just �19.99 – you never got that in Liptons or Downsway.

Because it comes in a box, there is an element of chance about buying a jacket and trousers like this.

Unable to try it on – and being a man – I had no idea of my chest size and was completely baffled as to whether I was a GB40 or a Euro50.

Worse, there was nothing on the box in any language to give me an idea of whether my silky long legs would fit in the trousers or whether I would be wearing them half-mast.

As it turned out, according to my wife Rachel, I am a 38-inch chest – why do wives always know these things? – and to give myself a little leeway in case the cut was not overly generous and hopefully a longer leg, I plumped for a GB40.

The next decision was whether to have a black pin-stripe or a black pin-stripe. Not much choice, I am afraid.

I was destined to end up looking like a solicitor or a trainee bank clerk.

Not having owned a suit since the day I married 25 years ago, wearing it was a novel experience.

Quality wasn’t great, the legs could have been a little longer, but it fitted OK and for less than �20 was perfectly adequate if you needed a suit in a hurry – an unexpected job interview, wedding invitation or such like.

Last year my son needed a suit for his school prom and he got his at Tesco for less than �25, able to try it on, not bad quality and cheaper than hiring one.

? What unexpected items have you found in a shop?

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