View Full Version : Somerfield closing doors?
Hi i was wondering if anyone can shed some light on this for me? I have heard several times over the weekend that the supermarket in wick is closing its doors as it cannot compete with tesco however i do not know if this is true. Does anyone know? Any oagers work there?
The manager of Sommerfield ahd a letter in the paper, last week assuring people that it was not closing, it was just rumours.
highlander2222
12-Nov-06, 21:16
I hope not i like shopping there
footie chick
12-Nov-06, 21:18
Any oagers work there?
The staff aren't that bad Bingo1 :lol:
I hear that Somerfields in Thurso is stopping their counter service at the deli from January. It's going to be prepacked meats, rotisary, cut cheese etc.
When I spoke to my mother the other day. (she lives in Essex) she told me that the local somerfields has been taken over by Sainsburys.
pultneytooner
12-Nov-06, 23:15
I hear that Somerfields in Thurso is stopping their counter service at the deli from January. It's going to be prepacked meats, rotisary, cut cheese etc.
The deli has already been removed.
The manager of Sommerfield ahd a letter in the paper, last week assuring people that it was not closing, it was just rumours.
But his job is to manage that store............................ until the day it closes.
That entails keeping staff.
Do you expect him to tell you that it is closing in January, only to find that all his staff have walked, early?
Look at the physical evidence to make your mind up......don't attribute any credence to managerial assurances.
The Angel Of Death
13-Nov-06, 00:21
Personally i think it should shut the sooner the better !!!
Everyone thats been in there about 5:30 ish at night knows that they only got 1 or 2 tills on doesnt matter how many people are in the queue still just the 2 tills open
Its almost as if they are not interested in there customers putting money in there tills
Roll on tesco and asda i say
Actually the truth is that it's being taken over by the Seven Dwarves and Snow White will be running the Tobacco Counter!
Anybody heard a better Fairy Story? [lol]
willowbankbear
13-Nov-06, 11:16
Aye, I heard that a well known local businessman was taking over it & turning it into a nightclub/discobar because the other one in Wick was smelly & rubbish. Well you asked for a fairy story & We live in hope:confused
Aye, I heard that a well known local businessman was taking over it & turning it into a nightclub/discobar because the other one in Wick was smelly & rubbish. Well you asked for a fairy story & We live in hope:confused
Was smelly and rubbish??? you mean IS smelly and rubbish.:lol:
candyfloss
13-Nov-06, 12:32
Personally i think it should shut the sooner the better !!!
Everyone thats been in there about 5:30 ish at night knows that they only got 1 or 2 tills on doesnt matter how many people are in the queue still just the 2 tills open
Its almost as if they are not interested in there customers putting money in there tills
Roll on tesco and asda i say
I'll still shop at Somerfields when Tescos open.
I take it you would rather see all the people in Somerfields with no jobs to go to, i would'nt:~(
Don't you ever get bored of making countless Somerfield threads? :roll:
Any oagers work there?
I do. And i'm staying there.
Personally i think it should shut the sooner the better !!!
Everyone thats been in there about 5:30 ish at night knows that they only got 1 or 2 tills on doesnt matter how many people are in the queue still just the 2 tills open
Its almost as if they are not interested in there customers putting money in there tills
Roll on tesco and asda i say
Yes, and at half 5 don't you hear the staff over the tannoys shouting for "assistance to checkouts" but no-one turns up? There is no-one to go on a till and help cut the queues down. No matter what you think, we are all trying our hardest, but we can only serve one person at a time. And when people eventually get to the till, all we get is abuse :(
If I had a penny for everytime a customer had said to me "The sooner this place shuts, the better" I would be rich. Do you know how that feels to have people say that to you?
The Angel Of Death
13-Nov-06, 14:41
Yes, and at half 5 don't you hear the staff over the tannoys shouting for "assistance to checkouts" but no-one turns up? There is no-one to go on a till and help cut the queues down. No matter what you think, we are all trying our hardest, but we can only serve one person at a time. And when people eventually get to the till, all we get is abuse :(
Well the times i have been in i can say that half the time there is no tannoy announcement but to be honnest it sounds like a resourcing issue doesnt it maybe if there wasnt so many people that had there hours reduced or offered redundancy the store wouldnt be in this mess
None of the staff have had their hours reduced. Only a couple have been offered redundancy, but that was months ago. Staff from the bakery and other departments are now on checkouts. Most of the newer staff are part-time. And even then, they only do nights because they're still at school.
There have been times when I've been close to tears when working there. But I'm not leaving. It's stressful at times. And customers coming to the till and shouting abuse at us really doesn't help much. I've seen people leaving their full trolleys and walking out of the store because they can't be bothered waiting. I can only serve one person at a time. And I don't like rushing them. I don't think it's nice throwing their shopping into a bag, dumping their change in their hand and hurrying them so we can get to the next customer in line.
None of the staff have had their hours reduced. Only a couple have been offered redundancy, but that was months ago. Staff from the bakery and other departments are now on checkouts. Most of the newer staff are part-time. And even then, they only do nights because they're still at school.
There have been times when I've been close to tears when working there. But I'm not leaving. It's stressful at times. And customers coming to the till and shouting abuse at us really doesn't help much. I've seen people leaving their full trolleys and walking out of the store because they can't be bothered waiting. I can only serve one person at a time. And I don't like rushing them. I don't think it's nice throwing their shopping into a bag, dumping their change in their hand and hurrying them so we can get to the next customer in line.
Most people have a bus to catch and few miss that bus whilst waiting in a queue to be served. There is no need to shout abuse at the checkout operater, Just leave your trolley load of shopping and walk out quietly.
zippy, it is not your fault that the shop is understaffed.. and no they should not hurl abuse at you as it is not your fault the service is bad.
but the fact is.. that the quality of service is not very good.
as there are not enough staff to do the work.
the fault lies in the store and not the people employed to do the work.. that should be divided into more people.
and i think that is why the hurrah for tescos is so great.
more choice. more service.
and if somerfield is not willing to take on more staff.. then that is their perogative.
and perhaps will take a bit of your burden off.. as there seems to be a def. need when the shop can not keep up with the demand
candyfloss
13-Nov-06, 16:19
I feel really sorry for the girls and boys on the checkouts,they seem to have a pretty hard time of it :(
Praetorian
13-Nov-06, 17:50
Was in Tescos in Inverness yesterday - petrol pumps had queues up to the roundabout (people trying to get the last 5p off a litre deal) so went to morrisons instead (wasnt that sommerfields). Tescos is no better than any superstore there will always be queues simple economics why pay people to serve two or three people each. I was in a Queue yesterday in Tescos which had 6 people in it!. The best thing that can happen to Sommerfield is Tescos to open so people can see the grass on the other side.
One thing about Lidls is that the checkout people are fast and I'm afraid if I'm in a hurry I find it very annoying to see whoever is serving chatting to a customer while helping them pack. Having said that it's also annoying to be behind someone who waits until they have packed everything before getting their purse out, which doesn't help checkout staff at all. I have asked in the past if they are short-staffed because the stock on the shelves is not checked often enough and I'm always told they're not but actually I don't believe it. If there are long queues they should be able to call on staff to open other checkouts. Is it Tesco that promises to open another till if there are more than 5 people in front of you? Can't remember but someone does. I did walk out of Wick Co-op the other day because I only had a few items and there were long queues everywhere, including the cigarette/lotto till, even putting the items back but felt sorry for the staff. I'd have just left a trolley load though.
Bother - just lost an auction on ebay writing this. Outbid in the last seconds [disgust]
The Angel Of Death
13-Nov-06, 18:18
Tescos is no better than any superstore there will always be queues simple economics why pay people to serve two or three people each. I was in a Queue yesterday in Tescos which had 6 people in it!.
Yea that is very true but ateast with tesco's in inverness the tills are full with people on them serving what really annoys me is a line of people with up to 6 tills closed I dont mind waiting in a queue but there is nothing more annoying when there are 6 tills waiting to be used and people queueing.
Having been in Somerfields today I did notice that there were very few staff on the tills. I think they have lost a lot of their staff to Tescos. In fact as i was being served two checkout girls were discussing the fact that one of them was leaving. I heard her say "Well I got a better offer" I dont know if she meant Tescos or not but she has worked there a long time. I havent even seen the regular girls there anymore and today I spotted a couple of new shelf fillers....the main one being the MANAGER.
pultneytooner
13-Nov-06, 22:12
None of the staff have had their hours reduced. Only a couple have been offered redundancy, but that was months ago. Staff from the bakery and other departments are now on checkouts. Most of the newer staff are part-time. And even then, they only do nights because they're still at school.
There have been times when I've been close to tears when working there. But I'm not leaving. It's stressful at times. And customers coming to the till and shouting abuse at us really doesn't help much. I've seen people leaving their full trolleys and walking out of the store because they can't be bothered waiting. I can only serve one person at a time. And I don't like rushing them. I don't think it's nice throwing their shopping into a bag, dumping their change in their hand and hurrying them so we can get to the next customer in line.
Well said, if you just hurried them through with not the slightest bit of conversation they would just go and write another thread on c.org slagging the somerfield workers.
All this talk of 'the sooner it shuts the better', is okay for them to say but they forget that people such as yourself would be out of a job.
I hope things work out okay for you and all the other somerfield staff.
misty woman
14-Nov-06, 13:58
Well said, if you just hurried them through with not the slightest bit of conversation they would just go and write another thread on c.org slagging the somerfield workers.
All this talk of 'the sooner it shuts the better', is okay for them to say but they forget that people such as yourself would be out of a job.
I hope things work out okay for you and all the other somerfield staff.Well said,pultneytooner,i also work in a supermarket and the comments and bad language i have had too put up with the last few weeks have been unbelievable,i would never dream of rushing my customers through the checkouts, i just wish people would be a bit more patient and realise at the end of the day we checkout operators have feelings aswell and we are doing our best.
None of the staff have had their hours reduced. Only a couple have been offered redundancy, but that was months ago. Staff from the bakery and other departments are now on checkouts. Most of the newer staff are part-time. And even then, they only do nights because they're still at school.
There have been times when I've been close to tears when working there. But I'm not leaving. It's stressful at times. And customers coming to the till and shouting abuse at us really doesn't help much. I've seen people leaving their full trolleys and walking out of the store because they can't be bothered waiting. I can only serve one person at a time. And I don't like rushing them. I don't think it's nice throwing their shopping into a bag, dumping their change in their hand and hurrying them so we can get to the next customer in line.
Was it not the case all full time staff had thier hours cut from 39 to 38?
Was it not 8 staff made redundant not just a couple?
Has somerfield heard of temporary contracts?
Has the checkout girls ever highlighted/complained to senior management?
I agree customers should not be rude, but they should just do as I did two weeks ago at 5.20pm when I was in a queue with 12 other people, 2 tills on, leave thier basket and walk out.
Surely Somerfield should be trying everything to keep thier customers, great customer service, great offers etc, it seems they want most of thier customers to go to Tesco to take the pressure of them.
Praetorian
14-Nov-06, 18:50
Lets all shop on-line - Then we can pay the staff off in both Tescos and Sommerfields - No queues then only restriction is the broadband speed. I bet the remaining Sommerfields staff love these threads constantly having to defend themselves if there are queues, being rude etc etc.
Was it not the case all full time staff had thier hours cut from 39 to 38?
Was it not 8 staff made redundant not just a couple?
Has somerfield heard of temporary contracts?
Has the checkout girls ever highlighted/complained to senior management?
I agree customers should not be rude, but they should just do as I did two weeks ago at 5.20pm when I was in a queue with 12 other people, 2 tills on, leave thier basket and walk out.
Surely Somerfield should be trying everything to keep thier customers, great customer service, great offers etc, it seems they want most of thier customers to go to Tesco to take the pressure of them.
There's no need to take it out on me.
None of the staff have had their hours reduced. Only a couple have been offered redundancy, but that was months ago. Staff from the bakery and other departments are now on checkouts. Most of the newer staff are part-time. And even then, they only do nights because they're still at school.
There have been times when I've been close to tears when working there. But I'm not leaving. It's stressful at times. And customers coming to the till and shouting abuse at us really doesn't help much. I've seen people leaving their full trolleys and walking out of the store because they can't be bothered waiting. I can only serve one person at a time. And I don't like rushing them. I don't think it's nice throwing their shopping into a bag, dumping their change in their hand and hurrying them so we can get to the next customer in line.
It's totally unfair of customers to take it out on the staff - it's not their fault.
I too think its unfair to take things out on the staff just because they are short staffed, BUT when I was in Somerfield in Thurso the other day, I was only one at the checkout and the person serving me didn't say one word and couldn't have looked more uninterested if she tried. Personally, it would put me off going in again.
I'm with you Zippy - politeness costs nothing, either way!
newlabeluk
15-Nov-06, 12:22
I agree people need to see the grass isn't that greener on the other side. i have a 24hr ASDA and a 24hr Tesco less than 8 miles away but the little old Safeway/morrison gives better service.
As for the Deli counter going pre-packed ASDA has already done that in most of it's stores.
I've only recently (last 4 months) moved from Thurso to Aberdeen.
A massive revolution is coming your way guys... Online shopping.
It is just a fantastic service. For £4, someone spends an hour walking through some supermarket miles away and puts up with all the screaming bairns, queues and rubbish muzak. Then the pack everything superbly and send it in a refridgerated van in a 2 hour slot of your choice any time after 24 hours.
If there is something on your lis they don't have, they replace it with an item of equal or greater value and charge you the original price and you can choose to reject these 'substitutes' if you want. Neither me nor my girlfriend drive but even if we did, I still wouldn't be going to the supermarket.
This is going to change the way you guys shop...
I don't think Tesco has planning approval for the home delivery service yet.
I used to work on the tills in a supermaket and hated it mainly because of the rude and obnoxious customers. It's not the staff's fault if there's not enough resources to open all the tills, or if there's not enough food on the shelfs, or if the customer is in a rush etc.
After that job I vowed never to be rude to the staff, and if I ever had a complaint to make then I would make to to the manager.
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