dpb

How can they possibly be allowed to expand in the way they are ..!
FFs one of them isnt even a British company anymore.
In another couple of years the only thing youll be able to buy on the highstreet is a latte a buger or a pint of lager....

paul-s

Theyre in the business like all the others to be the biggest, and continue growing.

Would you expect them to say - ok were going to stop now and give the highstreet a chance. That would just let their competitors gain ground.

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

So I take it that by your ranting you never shop at a supermarket and think they are a waste of time??

It is like a news item I saw the other day about a tesco express opening up in a one horse hick village somewhere, the people were up in arms because they did not have planning permission to install a cash point machine, but there were no shortage of people queueing to use either the shop or the machine.

Some people will whinge at anything and if there is nothing to whinge about they will go and find something. WTF is wrong with you people??? To much time on your hands obviously.

dpb

What im saying is that they are now without a doubt too powerfull and stifling free enterprise.!

paul-s

Theres no law against being too powerful or big yet

watto52

if the prices are going to drop i dont really care what happens. If bigger means cheaper, then so be it

Dream Weaver

He's right though, big supermarkets are destroying humble village/town shops but there's nothing we can do about it.

They are convenient and usually cheaper, hence why we all go there. I'd like to boycott them, and shop locally but that would be like voting for the Lib dems - nice idea, but it wont affect the final outcome at all

Just a shame they are so ruthless in the way they do business, though I doubt many people know about that - Tesco are the worst as well, they may have a fluffy image to the punters, but they aren't like that underneath

Kuohu

As a shopper at Tesco, I have made the choice NOT to walk around half a dozen different high street shops (butcher, baker, grocerer, fishmonger) and a fruit and veg market in order to buy my weekly food. I do accept that people who do are probably getting better produce, and it is honourable that they are also supporting local businesses and farmers in the process. But it just isn't for me. I just want to wander into a huge superstore, buy a trolley-full in half an hour, and put it all on one bill.

I guess it is a lifestyle choice.

watto52

and you can fill up on cheap fuel aswell. and get a fresh hot roasted chicken. lol

catalunya199again

you cant knock the cheap 99 ron fuel

Gav

The chicken is **** in Tesco's etc etc. Full of aweful stuff!

I much prefer to buy clothing etc from small individual shops because of the personal service etc. I dont care if i can buy a similar shirt at Tesco's for twenty quid less!

Gav..

dpb

fundamentally disagree

Scooby Soon!

I cant wait until 5 years time!

High streets will be empty, There will not be any "local" shops anymore there wont even be the chain stores either, the old saying you dont know what youv'e got until its gone is so true!

GaryCat

And it's free parking.

paul-s

Take a look at the US, same theory - they dont have high streets, just huuuuge walmarts. Its successful so thats the way it looks like heading.



DEY TOOKOURRRJEEEEERRRRBBBBBSSSSS

Scooby Soon!

Its successful for who

dpb

Can hardly wait - will we all get hummers to get to said 'store'.?...

AudiLover

Absoulutely agree with this 100%.

jfrf

they may be powerful but they are also cheap so im not complaianing

also the reason they are so big and growing is that 99% of people choose to shop there

anyway dont worry about the highstreet. tesco metro are expanding there now, so problem solved for you

fatherpierre

The thing is, supermarkets are not cheaper.

I get my veg at around half the price, meat from Smithfield Market which is less than half the price of the supermarkets and fish from a local bloke which is usually 25% less than anywhere else.

And it's always better quality than any supermarket.

People are just condiutioned into buying the ****e supermarkets churn out.

ChrisB

I do shop at the big supermarkets - for a can of beans and other basic staples they are great.

However, the quality of some products and product knowledge is, erm, passable.

I enjoy shopping at farm shops and farmers markets. Being able to talk to somebody who knows and is passionate about the product they are selling shows through IMHO. The quality of meat from a couple of my local farm shops is superb. For example, the butchers know the beef needs to be hung and they can offer advice on a particular cut or joint. Trying asking the spotty oik in Tesco for similar information. Yes, it's a little more expensive than a supermarket but the end taste is worth every penny.

I don't think there's a lot you can do to reverse how things have changed in this country but I do think more people are using local producers, markets and the like which can only be a good thing IMHO.

There's also the whole issue of "food miles". As energy resources become more expensive, is shipping strawberries hundreds of miles just so they can be on the shelf in December a good use of fuel?

dpb

These supermarkets have got to where they are by peoples bone-idolness/ conditioning into believing theyre receiving value for money along of course with the whole experience of a trip to the 'shops'....

CAT2

iTrader: (3)

Eat organic, shop local, keep your cat or get a high flow one. Don't shop at Tesco et al and you can help just a bit. I'm not a hippy by the way, I love my Scoob and I love a bargain, but did you know that ONE IN EVERY EIGHT POUNDS SPENT IN BRITAIN NOW GOES TO TESCO? This can ultimately be good for no one except people involved with them. I want to continue to have choice.

Edited to say - And do you know how those "excellent" buy-one-get-one-free offers work? Big supermarkets are changing the way people farm and this is dangerous for consumer choice, ultimately in every area.

Sits back and waits for a slagging off.

Scooby Soon!

You must be joking? OR your extremely thick and naive!

Sosbanite

Tesco et all may be cheap now but we will all be held to ransom in a few years time when they have put all the small traders/independents out of business and we will have nowhere else to shop. Watch the price of your weekly shop rocket skywards then!!!

AudiLover

Tesco is expensive compared to other supermarkets. Morrisons sell pure ****e aswell.

Asda is the best and most balanced I reckon.

fast bloke

I can see the case for shopping at supermarkets if you are on the breadline. They offer cheap produce. It is just that - cheap.... not inexpensive or value.... just cheap. - I can get inexpensive quality products from small businesses. The butcher I use grows his own - fair enough - he has a farm over 1000 acres and employs 7 other butchers to work for him, but his meat and dairy produce is unbeatable. I buy tinned baked beans from Tesco. It is difficult to fek up tinned baked beans. Fish, fruit, veg, meat, dairy and chicken are all bought from someone who knows how to enjoy it.

p.s. - Cat2 - £1.00 in £8.00 goes to Tesco?????? blather!!

cookstar

iTrader: (6)

I thought there where laws which provented certain chains developing too mauch of a monopoly, there was a case recently, didnt Tesco buy or try to buy another chain, and it was stopped?


Also another vote for smaller shop food.

Example, how many of you have been eating a meal not prepared by yourself, and you comment on how nice it is. The cook has then said something like "got the meat fresh from the butchers today"

Says it all really

OllyK

Bollocks to that - buy it online, you don't have to breath the same air as the Chavs then!

Joking aside, we use a mix of both. The tinned stuff and general dry goods we tend to get from a supermarket, the fresh we try to use the local green grocer, the trouble is he is over priced and the quality of his produce isn't brilliant, the same goes for the local butcher. Maybe we're just unlucky in that respect. Anyway - planning on sorting the vegtable plot out this year so we'll be growing our own and both Tesco / Morrisons AND the local shop will be losing out!

OllyK

Or read Panic Nation and realise it's just a con!