Boycott Tesco, Stround Green Road

Ali · March 2012

Tescos have owned up to running their UK operation "too hot". Our one seems to have a lot of stock outs and empty shelves a lot more than it used to. Must be quite handy for the other small shops as they pick up me of that

miss annie · March 2012

Is 'too hot' business slang for biting off more than you can chew?

Ian · March 2012

It's certainly can't be business slang for "running all the checkouts at peak time".

Ali · March 2012

I suspect they mean costs

Idoru · March 2012

I thought they meant that most of their stock had fallen off the back of a lorry.

ashman · March 2012

i was there when the tills were not in us.they were working and there was staff around but it looked like nobody wanted to work. there was a queue to the end of the shop and people with trollies full of food including me. i refused to use the machine and had a till opened up. not everyone is capable of using a machine for example my parents, its so silly.

Ken · March 2012

Ash's grocer's is really helping me keep to my No Tesco rule. As a wishy-washy north London lefty liberal I do object to their business practices, however I'm also a massive hypocrite as I shop in Morrison's every now and again who I know are also a huge national business who squeeze their suppliers. (At least they don't plant cornershop sized shops in local areas to try to push small retailers out like Tesco and Sainsbury's.) I object far more to Tesco's poor quality goods, and with the SGR store in particular I object to its surly staff, poor levels of cleanliness, and unusable trolleys. I was very pushed for time this weekend so I popped to Tesco's Saturday morning for a super-quick shop. Two days later the bread I bought is growing mould and the peppers are wet and slimy. Learned my lesson - again.

dion · March 2012

@Ken ;http://www.retail-week.com/in-pictures-m-local-from-morrisons/5027061.article - Morrison's does it too! At least Fortnum & Mason and Selfridges Food Hall aren't multiplying everywhere putting our local delicatessens out of business

Ken · March 2012

Ah, well, there you go. I didn't know they did that. I suppose if it's good business for one it's good business for them all. I'm under no illusions about Morrison's being any better than the other big supermarkets. I am, however, quite partial to their tomato chutney.

vetski · March 2012

I met a very friendly & helpful Tesco guy last week - look for a tall man with ginger-ish hair & goatee, who understands the principles of customer service!

harpistic · March 2012

Thinking of @Ken';s comment about the poor cleanliness of Tesco, the Tesco in Covent Garden was closed yesterday evening due to poor hygiene and a rodent infestation - are there any furry friends in our local one?! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-17524235 ;

Detritus · March 2012

I was in the que today at Tesco and the woman ahead of me didn't have a club card so the lady on the till asked if I did, then she asked the woman if she minded me having the club card points, she didn't so I got them.Credit where credit is due.

checkski · March 2012

Was that neat little double entendre on purpose, Detritus? Congratulations, if yes; and all the funnier, if no!

chode · March 2012

Tesco CE is the worst place I've ever come across for wrong pricing and labelling. It really annoys me. They need to sack the manager of that place.

ChangN4N6 · March 2012

Try Liddle. They miss you. Chang

chrisn4 · March 2012

as a 7 days a week sun reader and a tesco in sg rd shopper i say... perhaps tesco could clear their shopping trolleys that block the pavement on sg rd... it is not nice for old people and disabled people to bump into these shopping trolleys scattered on the pavement outside the store... thank you very much to tesco for providing a service for local people on sg rd.some people on here dont appreciate the good work that tesco staff do for local people....i would not like it if tesco left sg rd...and i dont think some of the people on sg.org are necessarily representative of local people who use your store to save money on bargins.... some people who dont need to save money will no doubt criticise this...but they dont represent always stroud green also some of the people on here are critical of tesco staff...but for me tesco people have always been very good and helpfull when i wass shopping at tesco

chode · March 2012

@changn4n6 - don't knock LIDL. They do some good stuff, especially if you're on a tight budget.

ADGS · March 2012

For a lot of basics, Lidl isn't actually any cheaper than Tesco. They just give the impression of cheapness by spending sod-all on the decor (and, like any supermarket, having a few high-profile loss-leaders). Great trick, but it amazes me how many people fall for it.

checkski · March 2012

The fruit and veg are all, pretty much in their entirety, much cheaper than at Tesco's, which makes Lidl's worth visiting from time to time , for me.

kreuzkav · April 2012

Agreed that Lidl isn't as cheap as it looks. They do have some good German rye bread there though and as has been stated some of products there are a lot cheaper. I tend to shop a few times a week.. I usually go to Tesco and Lidl once a week. As I'm a veggie, I stock up on a lot of it at the new Stroud Green Fruit and Veg shop twice a week. Vegetables seem to be the same price as in Tesco there?

krappyrubsnif · April 2012

It looks like the much-trumpeted billion-pound Tesco makeover has reached Tesco Metro in Stroud Green Road. With predictable results. They've re-arranged the store again, so you can't find anything, a development which is sure to please the customers no end and have them flocking through the door in their thousands. They've also cocked up as usual. I went to buy some honey. Nobody could find it - or jam. It seems they just forgot to put it back anywhere, so honey and jam are off the menu. *Sigh*

Brodiej · April 2012

Over the last year or so i have developed a borderline hatred of supermarkets. I think the crux of it is in dishonesty and their now theoretical stranglehold over our purchasing. 1. They are gradually destroying the supply chain. I do not know any supplier that considers themselves to have a good relationship with a supermarket. Suppliers can't live without them because of the volumes, but can't live with them because they destroy the brands that they work so hard to mean something. Don't get me started on how the farmers get treated. 2. Their agressiveness and greed has destroyed independent business accross the country and on doorsteps. Their brand is meant to deliver consistency and value but all we have is pockets of corporate facelessness on every street corner. The money you spend in a supermarket convenience store does not go back into the local community, it goes back to HQ to invest in more stores and extract more ££££ from your wallet. 3. The perception of supermarket value is not true. Loss leaders and varying promotions disguise the true cost of a weekly shop. What you save in one area is recouped in others. Benchmark the price of items that you hadn't planned on buying on your next visit and you'll see what i mean. 4. Promotions are now cynical, designed to capitalise on our inability to benchmark what provides good value. Short term price increases to make a BOGOF look good, 2 for's where you save 1%, selling in price per kg when the most common recognised unit is quantity. I challenge anyone to decipher the best value washing detergent on their next visit. We are walking around a supermarket dazed and confused relying on the endless value adverts on TV and the radio that indeed we are in the shop that is giving us the best value possible. Not true. Its true that they provide fantastic employment and convenience but it worries me that its not going to be long far away where we don't have much choice about where we buy our groceries and non-food items from. They have far too much power, having now eaten into fuel, financial services, clothing etc. Enjoy your low prices while they're here because they will be able to charge what they want at some point.

krappyrubsnif · April 2012

Agree with everything you say Brodiej.

miss annie · April 2012

Me too. Because my budget is quite tight I look at the tiny print price per Kilo on every label and decide based on that. I never impulse buy in the supermarket but I do in Ash's greengrocers - particularly olives which are massively cheaper and a hundred times tastier than Tesco's.

barnesbq · April 2012

I have worked with one particular supermarket (designing their packaging), as well as with some of their suppliers and they have an excellent relationship with a lot of them. Infact this particular supermarket is involved with the very farmers who rear/grow their meat/fruit/veg produce and some of the farms have a relationship that has been established for decades. They work with the farmers very closely and have ultimately been supportive of them. Most fresh produce on sale can be traced back to a British farm with only one middle man in between the growing/rearing and it ending up on the supermarket shelf. The supermarket in question is Morrisons. I have worked with many suppliers over the years and the worst one, according to suppliers is Marks and Spencer, followed by Tesco. M&S have a model of agreeing with a supplier to buy many many units of their product - way beyond what that supplier can make at their factor (ie cakes). So, in order to keep a lucrative contract, they invest in more machinery and staff to meet the demand. M&S then put the products on sale, and if they don't meet very strict, high targets of sales figures, they are pulled immediately and the supplier is dropped. Many businesses have gone bankrupt this way. They have an appalling reputation, much worse then Tesco. So think twice before you boycott Tesco and go to M&S, people!

Ali · April 2012

Agree on the M&S model as I have experinced it with supplying Strawberries to them Hard to make money

miss annie · April 2012

I like Morrison's, always get the impression that they give a least a bit of consideration to what their customers want. That's more important than a snazzy shopfit.

Idoru · April 2012

Their prices, in my experience, tend to be genuinely lower too (than other supermarkets). For those interested, Tescopoly is a very good read. I don't necessarily agree with its demonising of Tesco, as I think most supermarkets are just as bad, but as a denunciation of chain stores it's certainly interesting.

Brodiej · April 2012

@Barnesbq. Was Waitrose the goodun? Edit. No its not, its morrisons because you told us. Doh. :-)

krappyrubsnif · April 2012

You have to keep a close eye on the 'farm-gate-to-plate' type claims that all supermarkets routinely trot out. Supermarkets are only interested in profits, nothing else. Tesco has long claimed to 'work with farmers' to produce, for example, top quality produce for its meat counters. I was once invited to visit Tesco's immense meat processing plant in Cornwall and was shown a chiller room where the 'top quality' meat was hung - if I remember rightly, for about a week. Ask any butcher, and I believe the correct time to hang meat for best quality is much, much longer (and there are all sorts of other factors to take into account as well). My impression was that Tesco wanted it both ways - to move that meat, while at the same time making it sound like it was an artisan butcher's shop! Small shops and specialist merchants every time for me these days, where reasonably possible.

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