Why does anyone shop at 'rip-off' Budgens ?

sirmarcus

Hi all,

Last year, my local Somerfield shop was 'taken over' by Budgens. There is a Tescos Express store next to it and been there for a few years.

Somerfields used to be fairly busy. Whenever I went in ths store, there was always people shopping and queuing at the counters.

However, whenever (which is rarely due thier rip-off prices) I go to Budgens, it is almost deserted. Tescos express is awlays busy with people queuing at their counters. As an exmaple, I went into Budgens today and saw that they were 'doing a deal' (their words) selling 500g with 100% free of new potatoes for £1-59 (i.e. 1Kg for £1-59). Went next door to Tescos and found that they were selling 1kg for £1-39 at their normal price. Guess where I bought the potatoes from ?

I could give many more examples of their rip-off prices and advertising. I really do not understand why anyone shops at 'rip-off' Budgens ? If anyone disagress, please could you enlighten me.:)

DCFC79

Maybe because its convenient, maybe they get a few things on the way home plus they get petrol there

no idea why people would choose budges though, we have a budgens thats also close to a big sainsburys with a PFS and a tesco 10 minutes also with a PFS, theres always someone buying petrol but i cant say ive seen them buying other stuff as well,

jenniewb

Maybe the fact you said it was empty answers your question

Clowance

Sounds like Broadstone - used to go there occasionally when Somerfields (not particularly local) to get good offers. Went once since its been Budgens and not back since. This also means I don't shop in the other shops in Broadstone, so must have hit them too. Its bigger than Tesco Express and probably has more choice, and a lot of people in Broadstone are elderly and less mobile. So its got a bit of a captive audience. Also Somerfield used to be very expensive for non offer items, so not so much of a shock I imagine.

paulwf

I've only seen Budgens before in city centre locations where people grab stuff as it is convenient, they may have to change their pricing now if they are taking over Somerfield locations.

One thing to remember though - using your example of potatoes Budgens are probably making double the profit of Tesco so if they sell half as much as Tesco they are still making the same money. Basically being the cheapest doesn't always make sense from a store perspective.

punksluck

I use them purely for convenience even though they charge more than my big Tesco store which is about 2 miles away. It's the same thing for Tesco though, a tin of beans is more expensive at my local Tesco express than it is in the Tesco Extra 2 miles away!

sandiep

Is it still more expensive when you factor in the cost of your time? the fuel and wear and tear on your car? or the bus/tube fare?

My local shop sold out of broccoli once and I went up to the next town just to get a piece of broccoli. It was a 16 mile round trip, I had 2 little kids with me and took me just over half an hour. I work from home and base my time on an £30 hour rate. And the IR pays 40p a mile, So, all in, I reckon that piece of broccoli cost me £21.40 + broccoli costs. (I never did it again )

I would gladly have gone to budgens!!

punksluck

sandiep wrote: »

Is it still more expensive when you factor in the cost of your time? the fuel and wear and tear on your car? or the bus/tube fare?

My local shop sold out of broccoli once and I went up to the next town just to get a piece of broccoli. It was a 16 mile round trip, I had 2 little kids with me and took me just over half an hour. I work from home and base my time on an £30 hour rate. And the IR pays 40p a mile, So, all in, I reckon that piece of broccoli cost me £21.40 + broccoli costs. (I never did it again )

I would gladly have gone to budgens!!

Good point. That's why Budgens strategically try to place most of their stores in areas where there is no big supermarket chain within a 2 mile radius so they can exploit the the local demographic who don't own cars.

pennymakespounds

have to get on my soap box & stand up for Budgens .. even though there's none in the north near me .. but i do know about them .

They are predominately convenience stores ...supplied by the same company who supply Londis.

At the end of the day ... if you want more than the big 5 names to shop at .. then you have to support the small guys !!

The big 5 now account for over 80% of the grocery trade . They continue to trample over the small guys .... who at least offer something differrent... and tend to concentrate more on ... opening hours ... local products .. customer service.


The dilemma is the big 5 just railroad along .. all now struggling to get new stores ... so all now looking at smaller stores ... and the viscious circle starts.... whatever money they throw at it to open up new stores is just small change .... their wagons are driving past everywhere all the time anyway .. all their head office costs are already covered .. so instantly their new smaller stores are profitable .

Yet another example last month ... Asda spend a mere £700 million buying 195 Netto stores to give them an instant start of having a "convenience store division"

.... there goes another 195 opportunities where Mr or Mrs Bloggs , independant people , won't be opening up a new grocery shop !!
and again Asda will be straight to their suppliers .. " we've got 195 extra stores tomorrow .. we want a better price on all our purchases" ... and so it goes on .

But watch as time goes on though .. they will steadily widen the gap in the retail prices between big stores and small stores .. wouldn't you !!

Conversely .. as the "independant / convenience " store retailers get nibbled away at .. their operating costs just go up ... and the suppliers already increasingly charge the smaller guys higher prices .. because they have to make their money somehow and the big 5 won't let them .

Similar situation in the "white goods / electrical" business .. DSG ( dixon/currys/pcworld) and Comet rule the land .. only going to get worse with the American "best buy" developing over here .. again their owners can throw ££££millions at it .

So .. if your family .. or mine ... wanted to open a grocery shop .. or electrical shop ... what chance have we got !!!!!! .. only the few can survive .. and they need to try and be "differrent" .. and that probably means more expensive.

It's down to us if .. in 10+ years time .. there's only a dozen names left on the high street.

DCFC79

punksluck wrote: »

I use them purely for convenience even though they charge more than my big Tesco store which is about 2 miles away. It's the same thing for Tesco though, a tin of beans is more expensive at my local Tesco express than it is in the Tesco Extra 2 miles away!

thats because the overheads for tesco express stores are higher than the extras

Helix

Didn't realise Budgens were still going, not had any around here since Lidl took over the local one.