Have the big supermarkets had their day ???

maman

I'm amused that Sainsbury's are building one of their small local shops directly opposite our Aldi and not two miles from one of their own large stores. It's as if they're saying 'we recognise people do a small top up after Aldi so come and do it here'!

I think the huge success of Aldi and Lidl is partly because of those on the lowest incomes desperate to buy cheaply but also better off people who refuse to be ripped off. You only have to look at the cars in the car park to notice that. When you've worked hard to earn your pennies you don't want to just give it away.

So to answer the question, no they haven't had their day but they'll struggle unless they get their act together.

GreyQueen

Jackie0, in my colourful neighbourhood it's easier to buy adult "toys" than a pint of milk. Heck, it's easier to buy drugs than a loaf of bread round here; could shop for drugs without leaving the block, if I was that way inclined.

I'd much rather shop in a smallish supermarket than a bigger one. I simply don't need the plethora of choices nor the melee of exploding nuclear families rowing over what they're having for their tea. I still shudder at the time I mistakenly wandered into an Asda mid-Saturday afternoon. Never again!

We do have a farmer's market come into the city but I have to say I find them beyond ridiculous. £7 for a loaf of bread? Really? Nearly a fiver for a pot of jam? I don't care how artisanal and lovely they are, they can't have my custom at those prices. Judging by how un-mobbed they are, I guess a lot of people are in the same price bracket as myself.

Just come back from the Magic Greengrocer and have some slightly-dented bargains (£1 in total); bag satsuma, bag cooking apples, a cabbage and a stalk of sprouts. And spent another £1 in a c.s. getting a top and a bedsheet. Local indy greengrocer, local c.s. chain.

Magpye

If there were no supermarkets in my rural town, then not only would several hundred people be out of a job and claiming benefits, as there is very little industry left, but it would also push my shopping bill up, as I would have to travel to the next town for gluten-free food - there is no specialty store catering to dietary needs here, nor will there ever be due to the high rates in the town centre. So I would be forced into an hour and a half round trip to buy GF stuff, or forced to order it online. And of course, that's a relatively rural town too - if I had to go into the nearest city (heaven forfend) then it's closer to a four-hour round trip, not including shopping time. I do love L!dl but they don't do dietary requirements.

Also local shops are not always cheaper, nor better quality - my local butcher charged us £2 for the tiniest, scrappiest pot of lamb's liver you could imagine, and I can get near half a kilo of British lamb's liver from the supermarket counter for the same price and know it's been freshly trimmed and cut in store by butchers trained to City & Guilds standards.

However being rural my idea of a supermarket is more than likely urban folks' idea of a local supermarket or convenience store, so :shrug: But I love being able to just go into a shop and buy some tahini or nam pla, which was unthinkable even three years ago.

SAHM2014

Tesco were charging £1 for one Iceberg lettuce in both the big superstore and their little local store but Aldi were 45p for one. Other veg was also much cheaper.

I'm on a budget like everyone else these days so wherever is cheapest is where I will shop and so far, that seems to be Aldi.

I don't believe a huge company like Tesco can't buy in cheaply enough to enable them to sell a lettuce below £1 so their profit margins must be huge.

I think big supermarkets still have their place but I don't think people just blindly shop there without thinking any more as they perhaps might have done previously.

Nelski

JackieO wrote: »

reading through the posts it seems that folk shop for all sorts ofthings in the big supermarkets and I don't blame them.It would be sad to see the 'corner shop' go under though as it too has its uses.I am very lucky where I live as I am in short walking distance of a small precinct with a tesco metro (horrible place thats just been refurbished with everything in cold cabinets ) an Iceland ,which is just the right size for the area,there are quite a few older folk who use it,me included,and a big Wilkinsons.This brought a lot of trade in locally as its easier to park than going three miles down the road to Chatham.
There is also a G/grocers,Greggs,Boots and in Station Road a wet-fish shop.I can shop locally for almost anything apart from maybe clothes which doesn't bother me much anyway.

I would love to have a high street in walking distance but the nearest I am to a fishmongers,butchers or greengrocer is about 4 miles and the "all under one roof" shop is less than a mile. Mind you I do go to a fantastic butchers near my parents house and stock the freezer up I have to confess to quite a lot of online shopping too.

maman wrote: »

I'm amused that Sainsbury's are building one of their small local shops directly opposite our Aldi and not two miles from one of their own large stores. It's as if they're saying 'we recognise people do a small top up after Aldi so come and do it here'!

I think the huge success of Aldi and Lidl is partly because of those on the lowest incomes desperate to buy cheaply but also better off people who refuse to be ripped off. You only have to look at the cars in the car park to notice that. When you've worked hard to earn your pennies you don't want to just give it away.

So to answer the question, no they haven't had their day but they'll struggle unless they get their act together.

They also don't stock a lot of things that Sainsburys will so maybe people like me would choose the shop which provides the choice.

peachyprice

TBH, I don't think it has anything to do with supermarkets wanting to provide an old fashioned shpooing experience, they all just want to buy out all the smaller high street properties to stop their competitors doing the same. They all have portfolios of properties that sit empty that they've bought to stop the others doing so.

I really, really dislike these small 'Locals', they sell the same goods at inflated prices because they know that people are using them out of necessity and convenience and take advantage of that.

thriftwizard

Hmmm - I confess to avoiding supermarkets whenever I can, and shopping local wherever possible, but I'm well aware that I do have the luxury of choice although it wasn't easily come by. To be honest, much though I hate them, (because I find shopping in them an intensely alienating experience, and because I want to keep my money circulating in our local community rather than send it off to anonymous shareholders or people who are quite rich enough already) I think the big hypermarkets are here to stay, for now at least. So many people have no access to reasonable alternatives, and a fair number aren't even aware that there are any alternatives.

I'm speaking as someone who until recently needed stuff in vast quantities; our local street market has been the mainstay of our diet for over 20 years, providing the quantities that I needed at a price I could afford, when supermarket packs were usually far too small! Often of good fresh local produce, too, and also things that many people would assume are gourmet treats like venison (sometimes cheaper than beef) and pheasant.

Supermarkets, like them or loathe them, will keep going until fuel becomes too expensive to take stuff from all over to a central depot then truck it all over the country. Then we'll see; I have visions of them gradually turning into huge covered markets selling mostly local produce! But only the ones that people can get to easily...

LV_Sue

I would love to have a small local supermarket near me. My nearest, about 2 miles away, is a very overpriced Co-op. If I'm driving there I may as well go a mile further on to Asda and the money I save more than pays for the extra petrol.

Where my son and my younger daughter live there are, in one road about a mile long, a McColls mini supermarket, next door to that Tesco's are converting a pub into a mini supermarket, 100 yards further on there are houses & flats being built over a new Co-op mini store, and at the end of the road a new Aldi is being built opposite a refurbished Co-op. Also in this road are 2 mini convenience stores (one at each end of the road) and a petrol station with a shop! A short car ride away there is a Sainsburys Central in one direction and a Tesco Local in the other! Just how many shops does a community need?

Callie22

thriftwizard wrote: »

Supermarkets, like them or loathe them, will keep going until fuel becomes too expensive to take stuff from all over to a central depot then truck it all over the country. Then we'll see; I have visions of them gradually turning into huge covered markets selling mostly local produce! But only the ones that people can get to easily...

That is something I wonder about. The town I live in has become a complete 'doughnut' - practically nothing left in the town centre as the the council has allowed an incredible amount of development on out of town shopping centres. If you don't drive, then it's practically impossible to visit one of the big supermarkets, and you're forced to use the smaller, and more expensive 'local' shops. I can't help but wonder what's going to happen when people reach breaking point with fuel prices - mind you it's the same with jobs, people can't afford to live near where they work anymore. Interesting times ahead.

Mind you, our local town Council is clueless. There's a real clamour in the town for a real market which the Council steadfastly refuses to allow. However, they recently decided to allow a town centre farmer's market, which ran from ten until two on a Thursday. And now it's been cancelled because nobody was going to it, so they've decided that there's no demand for a market. There is, it's just that working people kind of need these things to happen at the weekend ...

ash28

SAHM2014 wrote: »

Tesco were charging £1 for one Iceberg lettuce in both the big superstore and their little local store but Aldi were 45p for one. Other veg was also much cheaper.

I'm on a budget like everyone else these days so wherever is cheapest is where I will shop and so far, that seems to be Aldi.

I don't believe a huge company like Tesco can't buy in cheaply enough to enable them to sell a lettuce below £1 so their profit margins must be huge.

I think big supermarkets still have their place but I don't think people just blindly shop there without thinking any more as they perhaps might have done previously.

Tesco are the second largest food retailer in the world behind Walmart, Lidl is 6th biggest and Aldi are 8th........so Tesco and Aldi are among the biggest food retailers globally, I'm sure if Aldi can sell a lettuce for 45p then so can Tesco - they choose not to.

However I'm pretty sure Aldi is still family run without shareholders as such - it was started by 2 brothers after ww2 -