Which Supermarket is Closest to your Primary Residence?

GlynD

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

Nothing within walking or more accurately, carrying distance, except for an over priced garage shop.
<snip>

See my post #34. I wonder why this is?

John_Pierpoint

In England the garage shop tends to be open 24/7 and nearly all its customers are wealthy enough to afford the use of a vehicle.
So they veer towards the cash rich but time poor - many will be spending their employer's money. They also tend to cater for those who fail to plan ahead; those of us with an eye to best value would fill up at a supermarket.
I have been to Ulster several times but not needed to do grocery type spending. I did notice, while in Eire, how little hypermarket penetration there was and the village shop tended to be the 1960 style offering.

Given that France has a bypass hypermarket adjacent to most small towns (and those let yourself in with your credit card motels) it is not just a case of Britain having advanced types of supermarket. I really cannot explain the limited penetration in Ireland, even when compared with the new Eastern Europe members of the EU.
Could it be local planning and permit legislation ?

GlynD

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

In England the garage shop tends to be open 24/7 and nearly all its customers are wealthy enough to afford the use of a vehicle.
So they veer towards the cash rich but time poor - many will be spending their employer's money. They also tend to cater for those who fail to plan ahead; those of us with an eye to best value would fill up at a supermarket.
I have been to Ulster several times but not needed to do grocery type spending. I did notice, while in Eire, how little hypermarket penetration there was and the village shop tended to be the 1960 style offering.

Given that France has a bypass hypermarket adjacent to most small towns (and those let yourself in with your credit card motels) it is not just a case of Britain having advanced types of supermarket. I really cannot explain the limited penetration in Ireland, even when compared with the new Eastern Europe members of the EU.
Could it be local planning and permit legislation ?

I note your comments John but would point out that I'm referring to Northern Ireland only. Although I'm a village dweller I've got four or five hypermarkets within a five mile drive, several are 24 hour and several have filling stations. At least two are locally owned franchises of small Irish supermarket names (Supervalu). We also have several unattended 24 hour filling stations.

So in reality we are more like England than Ireland in that respect except that some (not all) the names are different.

My recurring theme on this however is that here you have filling stations (some 24 hour) with supermarkets or shops attached in semi-rural areas or small towns where you can do a weeks shopping at cheaper prices than at some of the hypermarkets. Even the small shops at some filling stations are as cheap if not cheaper than the hypermarkets.

That's the difference.

In GB, in my experience, one would only purchase essential items overnight in a filling station because they are so much more expensive than other shops or supermarkets.

I have no real, recent experience of the ROI. I used to have it in abundance but not since the end of the Celtic Tiger.

Cherryscone

Tesco is closest to me.

camspencer

Weightrose!

dealer_wins

As the crow flies I have.. Sainsburys local, Nisa, (independent Foodmart), Shell Extra, Sainsburys supermarket.

Sainsburys supermarket is by far the cheapest, but I do most of my shopping in Sainsburys local! doh!!! lazy or what!!

John_Pierpoint

GlynD wrote: »

I note your comments John but would point out that I'm referring to Northern Ireland only. Although I'm a village dweller I've got four or five hypermarkets within a five mile drive, several are 24 hour and several have filling stations. At least two are locally owned franchises of small Irish supermarket names (Supervalu). We also have several unattended 24 hour filling stations.

So in reality we are more like England than Ireland in that respect except that some (not all) the names are different.

My recurring theme on this however is that here you have filling stations (some 24 hour) with supermarkets or shops attached in semi-rural areas or small towns where you can do a weeks shopping at cheaper prices than at some of the hypermarkets. Even the small shops at some filling stations are as cheap if not cheaper than the hypermarkets.

That's the difference.

In GB, in my experience, one would only purchase essential items overnight in a filling station because they are so much more expensive than other shops or supermarkets.

I have no real, recent experience of the ROI. I used to have it in abundance but not since the end of the Celtic Tiger.

I am no expert in retail distribution and massive downwards pressure on supermarkets' purchase prices. Historically the big 4 got a lot of criticism for operating central marshalling warehouses. "I am a farmer in (say) Somerset and my (say) carrots go all the way London and then come back to Taunton - how many food miles is that?".

I am wondering if there is not economy of scale on an Island of Ireland basis and the large [STRIKE]British[/STRIKE] English supermarkets are trying to supply Ulster with the normal juggernaut that has struggled to the Stranraer ferry at considerable time and expense?
Has German Aldi got a presence in Ulster ? It appears to be more successful than Tesco in USA.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/10412195/How-Aldi-won-the-class-war-and-became-the-fastest-growing-supermarket-in-Britain.html

Meanwhile south of your border:
http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/tesco-feels-sales-pinch-as-dunnes-pulls-in-the-customers-29709347.html
German discounters Aldi and Lidl have also fared well again. They had a combined 14.6pc share of the market in the period to October 13. But that's below the record 15.1pc combined share they had in August.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/news/waitrose-planning-to-set-up-shop-in-northern-ireland-29626244.html
35 years ago "my" Aldi was a "big" Sainsbury supermarket (before it was put out of business by Tesco taking over the Woolworths (yes really!) hypermarket.)

Meanwhile Ulster was putting investors off:

theforumking

We have a TESCO about 300 meters from our house which is really handy. Would prefer a Waitrose, but as long as it isnt a Lidl or ALDI I am happy

GlynD

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

I am no expert in retail distribution and massive downwards pressure on supermarkets' purchase prices. Historically the big 4 got a lot of criticism for operating central marshalling warehouses. "I am a farmer in (say) Somerset and my (say) carrots go all the way London and then come back to Taunton - how many food miles is that?".

I am wondering if there is not economy of scale on an Island of Ireland basis and the large [STRIKE]British[/STRIKE] English supermarkets are trying to supply Ulster with the normal juggernaut that has struggled to the Stranraer ferry at considerable time and expense?
Has German Aldi got a presence in Ulster ? It appears to be more successful than Tesco in USA.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/10412195/How-Aldi-won-the-class-war-and-became-the-fastest-growing-supermarket-in-Britain.html

Meanwhile south of your border:
http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/tesco-feels-sales-pinch-as-dunnes-pulls-in-the-customers-29709347.html
German discounters Aldi and Lidl have also fared well again. They had a combined 14.6pc share of the market in the period to October 13. But that's below the record 15.1pc combined share they had in August.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/news/waitrose-planning-to-set-up-shop-in-northern-ireland-29626244.html
35 years ago "my" Aldi was a "big" Sainsbury supermarket (before it was put out of business by Tesco taking over the Woolworths (yes really!) hypermarket.)

Meanwhile Ulster was putting investors off:

There will be some importation of foodstuffs to NI but all supermarkets of any size are constantly reminding us that they only stock NI vegetable and meat produce. Farm produce is also our biggest export I'm led to believe.

We don't have Aldi yet but we do have Lidl.

I'm afraid I have no knowledge of what happens in the ROI. There's no particular reason for that. I have no knowledge of what happens in Wales either.

We have had our rough times that's for sure and most of us are very glad it's more or less over.