Supermarket Sweep

[Gogglebox]

Tesco has been in existance for about a month now and it seems like its knocking the other supermarkets into a cocked hat

Somerfield Thurso was really quiet today and the Coop Thurso was the same yesterday. They both seem to be accepting Tesco vouchers too which is strange.
Prices in Somerfield seem to have plunged but to be fair their range is not a patch on Tesco

I think the Coop in Thurso will survive some folk just wont go past it for its quality and Divvy but i think possibly Somerfield in Thurso has its work cut out to survive

I would expect Lidls in both Wick and Thurso to put up a decent fight on prices although i have my own personal doubts about quality of some goods

My opinion would be that Wick Coop will be the one that has the most to worry about as its just slightly out the way from the rush of shops in Wick and if you are going to get in the car to shop you will go to Tesco rather than Coop if you just want a couple of things Somerfield is handy in town in Wick

So i think It will be between Wick Coop and Thurso Somerfield to be the first to feel the full impact of the arrival of Tesco and shut its doors

So What do you think
Wick Coop
Wick Lidls
Wick Somerfield
Thurso Coop
Thurso Lidls
Thurso Somerfield
Any other Independant Retailer

And will anything be left apart from Tesco and Asda if it comes this time next year. I fear not.

Although I have little sympathies for any of them - - How come they were all able to drop their prices this last month to compete but were unable to do this before.

I would speculate that there was more than 70% of our supermarket shopping £££s spent in Tesco this last month and probably not nearly 30% in all the others added together. And i think the percentage will increase after the New Year when Tesco settles in

Ceratinly a change on the face of the counties shopping habits.

[Royster1911]

Staff in Thurso co-op have been asked to reduce their hours. This also hapened a couple of year ago so perhaps it is not linked to tescos opening but personally, I`m sure it is. First nail in the coffin I wonder?:confused

[EDDIE]

The only thing that winds me up with tescos and asda is that once you learn were everything is kept they move everything around again and its an absolute pain they just do that so it will make you look at other products.
Personnelly i think lidils will be ok even if asda comes i think its the coop,sommerfield and the little shops are going to suffer and quite rightly so if it wasnt for tescos you would have seen all the other buisness offering discounts on there products tescos and asda is going to create competition in the area which is good for the customer.
I just wonder if inverness shops are going to lose out now?

[Whitewater]

It will be about March or April before things settle down. Tescos admit that anybody can beat them on price, their strength is in their Customer service.

[EDDIE]

Well heres hoping someone else can all the better for the locals

[Cattach]

I was in Tesco's on Tuesday at about 7pm. They had quite a number of gaps on the shelves and in the freeser section. They will have to keep up the standard of the first week if I am going to continue travelling to the shop. It was worth travelling a distance with the extra 5p off petrol but they were not even doing that offer this week.

Quote from above messageboard not heaven!! - I would expect Lidls in both Wick and Thurso to put up a decent fight on prices although i have my own personal doubts about quality of some goods.

I think most of Lidl's products is of very good quality and they are now sticking an even greater range of the recognised brands. Veg range is superb and cheap. We saw a good number of items in Tesco deaer than Lidl.

[johno]

Tesco was really busy today, normally i get out of the Hill Avenue junction
to go there straight away, but it took me 3 mins to get onto the main road at 3 30 pm tonight, and almost every car went into Tesco.
Thought i was in London,?? :roll:

[sweetpea]

I bumped into an old friend there today and she told me she has spent £1900 since it opened!!!

[mr do dar]

i think tesco will be the best bread winner ( take the most money ) but i think the other stores will keep ticking over . well hopefully they do cos they all do different deals and you get good savings .

[bagpuss]

Absolutely adore Tesco- but wanted to buy a carton of fruit Smoothie at the £1.49 price- special offer- and they were sold out.

met lots and lots of Thurso people there- not so many Wickers though.

[DarkAngel]

I was in the coop shopping today and it was really busy, Good to see the business is picking up there again :)

[zappster]

coop in wick is still fairly busy its somerfields wick thats gonna go down the pan 1st in my opinion

[maidencaithness]

It will be about March or April before things settle down. Tescos admit that anybody can beat them on price, their strength is in their Customer service.

hahahahah, good joke that last bit. Tesco service SUCKS but not quite as bad as Somerfields in Thurso which takes the award for my least favourite shop in Scotland. Last time in was standing in queue at kiosk when the useless woman at first till (she's always on the first till) threw a wine carrier to her colleague narrowly missing me. Neither bothered to say a word so let's hope their first on the redundancy list! Haven't been back since and no intention of.

Was in Tesco's Thursday night about 9 and only 2 tills open and a woman trying to get people to use the scan yerself tills. Certainly wasn't busy and Co-op in Thurso yesterday morning was heaving. The Post Office in the Co-op will mean always a good number of people in the shop.

[concerned resident]

Popped into Somerfields Thurso this afternoon, picked up green basket inside the door way, and they were all wet, made a change from the old bits of fruit and veg that i usually find. Went to where the potatoes were, could not see any bags of potatoes, then after a good look, i removed two empty plastic boxs, to reveal plenty of bags of potatoes. This is more fun than moving the items around on the shelves, they are now hiding the items.

[bagpuss]

Haven't been back to Somerfield since I got a parking ticket there for having done my shopping in the other stores in the centre- and was parked for more than 2 hours.

These days if you wnat to go into the middle of the town you have to walk- and carrying heavy shopping means that from now on I'll be only using the retail parks

[bagpuss]

Co-op in Wick's full of assistants who only want to serve one another and pack each other's shopping- and there's never enough tills open The cash machine never works either!

Tesco's service is excellent- they pack for you- and grumpy person- they did that at 11.45pm for me the other night. And you have the option of going in at 6am or very late, so folk who have to commute can actually fit shopping in round their other activities.

[DarkAngel]

Just to let you know that the Cash Machine at the coop in wick has nothing to do with the coop itself. Its rented from the coop to the cash machine company!

[katarina]

Somerfields in thurso is better than somerfields in wick, the co-op in Wick is better than the co-op in thurso. Lidls is still the cheapest place to shop.
Hint; if you are just needing a few groceries don't go to Tescos. I nipped up for milk (it being my corner shop) and came back an hour later with a full trolly. Well, you do don't you.....

[emb123]

I think the most important 'problem' with supermarkets is their diversity.

Their primary reason to exist is to sell food. The main reason for objecting to them (unless you're Cllr. Graham Smith and has some reason to object to the 'visual impact') is that they put small shops out of business - sooner or later. Butchers & bakers, confectioners, newsagents and often even cafes are especially in for a rough ride.

If supermarkets could be restricted either indefinitely or for a fixed period to not selling anything OTHER than foodstuffs, then as long as the building looks ok and the road layout around it is adjusted to compensate for increased traffic, then most of the objections seem pretty groundless to me.

It's when they sell clothes, shoes, spectacles, prescription medicines, toys, garden products, electrical goods, housewares, etc etc that they become a threat to the existence of every living business in the area.

It seems crazy that the Thurso ASDA plan fell through btw, is that still on the cards or has it been sunk without a trace ?

A couple of others that would be beneficial if they would set their eyes northwards would be Netto and Aldi (in the discounter business - to give Lidl a tougher time) and old perennial Sainsburys. Competition is of course excellent news for customers :)

[DarkAngel]

Shame that the little business are suffering, Someone told me that Harrolds the butchers were feeling the impact of tesco and also woolies! I dont think the bakeries have anything to worry about though as i love Fresh scones and bread from the bakers. Mmmm...Mmmm:lol:

[emb123]

Shame that the little business are suffering, Someone told me that Harrolds the butchers were feeling the impact of tesco and also woolies! I dont think the bakeries have anything to worry about though as i love Fresh scones and bread from the bakers. Mmmm...Mmmm:lol:
Know EXACTLY what you mean!

These days I mostly bake my own eihter by hand or in the breadmaker (best invention since sliced bread) - but search as I may I cannot find a plain scone recipe as good as the ASDA one. Probably just more butter than usual. not as healthy, but Mmmmm!

[bagpuss]

The butcher I used to go to now works in tesco- he used to be in Somerfield.
Neveer allowed to eat stuff like bread and cakes- got a wheat allergy so nevere go near a baker.

And Tesco's make great jeans, sell great designer framed glasses, and their CD's aren't bad either.

Idea for a new town- build a Big Tesco somewhere in the middle of nowhere, add 10,000 starter homes, a primary school and a samll secondary- and hey presto (or should it be tesco) instant community- why has no-one tried it before?

[Dreamweaver]

I was in Wick Tesco yesterday at around 6.30 pm and they had no milk left!! [evil] So back to Lidls I went :lol:

[Woolie]

Shame that the little business are suffering, Someone told me that Harrolds the butchers were feeling the impact of tesco and also woolies! I dont think the bakeries have anything to worry about though as i love Fresh scones and bread from the bakers. Mmmm...Mmmm:lol:Yes to some extent woolies r feeling it but not that bad woolies will always tick over cause of their prices and the staff ofcause lol

[DarkAngel]

I dont find woolies that cheap for things!

[bagpuss]

Sorry to say I haven't been to Woolies at all for several months- actually Argos pulled the plug for me then.

As to milk- Tesco run out of the main section quite fast- but they do organic and filtered- just look on the shelf above. Prefer Lidl's though.

I get the feeling that Boots have taken a knock as have Superdrug- neither has had the normal volume of shoppers going in.

What are our local traders in Wick saying about the situation? I heard one say that the supermarkets haven't hit his trade but the traffic warden has- and as one has to pay a steep fine for being longer than 2 hours in the car park at Somerfield- or along the river bank- it's well nigh impossible to find a parking spot in the car park beside the dentist surgery.

[Fran]

I love Tesco and the staff are very helpful. If they havent got what you want they will go their store room for it for you. I wanted an electrical item but it was out of stock. they took my number and called me when new stock was in. I think Tesco is very cheap and has such variety but i still go to co-op too but I have only been back to Somerfields once.
I didnt know there was a parking restriction in Somerfields car park. surely that is out of the traffic wardens area. How do lorries and coaches manage to stay there all day or all night. People leave their cars there when they go by bus to Inverness. Is this a new regulation?

[macscotland]

Dont post much but thought I would try and be helpful for a change. I have noticed a few threads now regarding Tescos lack of milk lately. Instead of the hassle of driving to other shops you should try the Tesos garage/shop on the way out it has always had plenty of the LARGER bottles of milk in their fridges anytime I have been in. Hope this helps.
PS. Dont all go at once incase you leave them short for me.

[bagpuss]

There's a 2 hour max parking sign up outside Somerfields- and the warden's patch appears to be expanding. When he's in Thurso, he gets called up to do points duty on Ormlie Road when the schools and college come out- perhaps he should ahve to do that in Wick too?