Woman tried to go shopping at TV set with fake store listed on Google Maps

Google Maps had to remove a fake store based on a TV set after a woman turned up and tried to go shopping on the set.

With a wide range of navigation apps on offer these days, you want something reliable and up to date so that you actually get where you need to go.

Google Maps is the go-to option for millions but, sometimes, the destinations aren’t quite up to date. However, in one particular case in Ireland, a woman’s destination was actually part of a TV set that, somehow, had been listed as a real store.

According to RTE, a woman turned up on the set of their show, Fair City, looking to do her shopping at Lidl after it was listed on Google Maps. The store, which is just outside Dublin, however, is only part of product placement and isn’t real. 

Lidl store on TV set confuses would-be shopper

The woman in question was eventually met by one of RTE’s editors, who told her that the store was fake and shouldn’t have been listed on Maps.

“Met a lady outside RTÉ trying to get in to do her shopping in the Lidl on the Fair City set this evening. It’s listed on Google Maps. I gave her directions to Tesco,” RTE’s David Murphy posted on X (formerly Twitter).

The funny moment has gone viral on social media, with a number of people poking fun at the woman’s mishap. 

“Only in Ireland,” one said. “You have to be joking,” another said. “Thought she was getting a trolley, ended up in a storyline…,” the Lidl account responded. 

The fake Lidl outlet has since been removed from Google Maps, and to stop any future confusion, shoppers have been urged to report incorrect listings on the navigation app.