Motorway "Rip-off" stations...

Money-Saving-King

fionajbanana wrote: »

You can say the same with railway stations. £2.79 for a bag of sweetsin a railway owned shop like WHSmiths. With thanks to supermarkets opening local stores, I bought the same packet of sweets in the Sainsburys Local inside Leeds train station for a quid!

Plus the supermarkets' lunch deals are better quality and variety than Upper Crust etc.

But then these places have to pay at least twice the rent (up to as much a five times high street rates) & half the time are as dead as a graveyard, what do you expect, they can't make money out of thin air!!!

CKhalvashi

Money-Saving-King wrote: »

But then these places have to pay at least twice the rent (up to as much a five times high street rates) & half the time are as dead as a graveyard, what do you expect, they can't make money out of thin air!!!

This is a fair point.

Someone asked me last time I went taxiing why it's £2 more expensive from the station, to the town centre (5 minutes walk); the bottom line on this being that we pay £30000 a year to rent the forecourt, and then this needs to be passed on to the drivers at £750+VAT/yr each (split between 90ish drivers).

They have to make this money back from somewhere.

CK

ThumbRemote

fionajbanana wrote: »

You can say the same with railway stations. £2.79 for a bag of sweetsin a railway owned shop like WHSmiths. With thanks to supermarkets opening local stores, I bought the same packet of sweets in the Sainsburys Local inside Leeds train station for a quid!

Money-Saving-King wrote: »

But then these places have to pay at least twice the rent (up to as much a five times high street rates) & half the time are as dead as a graveyard, what do you expect, they can't make money out of thin air!!!

Do you think the Sainburys gets discounted rent compared to WH Smith? Both stores were inside the railway station.

Money-Saving-King

ThumbRemote wrote: »

Do you think the Sainburys gets discounted rent compared to WH Smith? Both stores were inside the railway station.

Sainburys is still more expensive than it's main shops. It has a LOT more buying power than WHS. Sainsburys has a strong high street business to support the higher overheads, WHS high street business has been stuffed since buying off the internet started (Amazon etc) and the fact Supermarkets would sell their goods as loss leaders to get in footfall.

So no I don't think they get discounted rent, I just know how these things actually work!!

PDC

With the recent warm weather I've noticed how 'normal' Petrol Station drink prices are following this trend. Whilst they might have been more expenisve that supermarket prices in the past some of the main chain stations are now two or three times the price.

knightstyle

Another site to try http://www.placesontheway.com/ haven't used it yet so report back please.
We use Baldock on the A1(M) regularly and it is generally clean and prices only slightly higher than the high street. Hate the canned music though!

Money-Saving-King

PDC wrote: »

With the recent warm weather I've noticed how 'normal' Petrol Station drink prices are following this trend. Whilst they might have been more expenisve that supermarket prices in the past some of the main chain stations are now two or three times the price.

Which ones?

Not seen any change the prices just because of the weather! I think you've imagined or dreamt this up to be honest.

Frugalboy

knightstyle wrote: »

Another site to try placesontheway haven't used it yet so report back please...

placesontheway only seems to cover chains, not independents. It is a pity the motorway service stations are not willing to give concessions to small independent operators - they could hardly do worse than the big boys. I am embarrassed that visitors to UK might think we actually like the catering in service stations.

keyser666

We have a Tesco Extra near us that is as you would expect absolutely massive. The petrol station is a Tesco one and serves Tesco branded sandwiches, wraps, crisps etc but these are all at least 30% more than if you walked 2 mins across the car park. Cant see that being down to lease/rent or rates etc

Money-Saving-King

keyser666 wrote: »

We have a Tesco Extra near us that is as you would expect absolutely massive. The petrol station is a Tesco one and serves Tesco branded sandwiches, wraps, crisps etc but these are all at least 30% more than if you walked 2 mins across the car park.

What is this? Tesco have no Motorway service stations. Is this a Tesco branded Garage within a Motorway service station?

What are you comparing the prices to? The shops in the service station or the prices in the catering outlets? If this is just a Tesco Garage just near a Motorway then you can't compare it's not the same comparison at all as the land it lies on is probably private.