General Chat

The tectonic plates of the large supermarkets are slowly moving and grinding away in response to the need to at least maintain margins and if at all possible improve on them. This is being driven in part by brexit but much more by the clear and present danger of Amazon.

Inevitably people will see big changes less well stocked shelves being one of them.

Tesco have taken over the largest UK food distribution network, Booker , and have done a deal with Carrefour in France for joint puchasing especially for meat and dairy. Sainsbury have acquired ASDA from Walmart and intend to squeeze it as hard as possible. They will keep the ASDA branding but the products will be the same.

Low margin and slow moving products are likely to be scaled right back.

Morrison's went through a near death experience, closing their neighbourhood stores and refocussing on quality fresh food at a great price. If you live near to a Morrison you are lucky.

Even St Waitrose is scaling back.

Only the co-op and Morrison source nearly all of their fresh food from the UK. Waitrose is runner up.

There are at least three large Tesco stores which are in mothballs never having been opened. Quite a few large stores run by the Big3 are slated for selling off / closure - "theBigShop" is going the same way as the department stores.

Post brexit ( if and when it happens ) there is no significant spare chilled warehouse space in the UK. The UK food distribution network can hold 5-7 days product and that's it. Thanks to the drought and shortage of EU labour this year's harvest is going to to be well short of targets.

If there is no transition deal then under WTO rules the UK will have a choice between no checks, no tariffs all round inc US hormone treated beef, chlorinated chicken, GM crops etc or imposing the same tariffs and checks as now seeking a EU deal at some point through ongoing harmonisation.

As on many things the govt will be stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea. Shoppers will see a lot of changes most of them unpopular especially to those on a tight budget. They will also see far higher prices.

The British agri sector exports over half of its production and would find being forced to try and supply the UK market on anything like the sort of terms Tesco et al would demand impossible. With a no deal they would lose most of their export markets and go bust. Some farmers are already shifting their operations out of the UK.

Thanks to the wonders of the internet and Virgin Media I can now watch English TV (legally) in France. I have been watching an old episode of "Morse" on ITV3. No smart phones, no computers a real plot with real actors (*) and of course the most famous Jag in the world. If only we could go back to those days but we cannot.

Our desperation to do so has given rise to a massive nostalgia industry which includes food.

Sorry, I should have said that it is Sainsbury’s because that is where we shop, we haven’t been in Tesco for years and don’t intend to either.

Ann I have shopped at Tesco now for donkeys years. But over this last year I have found myself spreading my wings bit ,eg Morrisons ,Sainsbury and Aldi . Tesco I think has gone downhill . They are not doing themselves any favours. I often find half empty chilled cabinets and freezers and the same with the fresh veg. I think they might be changing suppliers for certain things. Also the quality of certain things like fruit and veg just don't seem as good these days. Morrisons for me seem to to have the best choice and good quality of meat right now and a great fresh meat butchers counter with expert advice .

I have noticed that Tesco is phasing out it's "Value" brands and replacing them by what are probably re-branded versions of the same. Or not replacing them at all.

I have noticed that the fromage frais I used to buy for the children and now "Creamfields" I think they are called now. Instead of being packaged in trays of 6 there's now 12.

The very cheap Value Strawberry Jam that I like is now labelled as "Stockwell". The ingredients and the calories etc are identical but it has a slightly different look. It's about 1p more, and is quite nice.

The Tesco Value Chocolate biscuits are now labelled as "Ms Molly's". I haven't tried them yet

:-D

We have encountered similar and when we ask why they just say it is out of stock. :-(

Anyone else finding that things they have often bought and liked have disappeared from the shelves?
Not just this week but two weeks running Tesco had absolutely no low fat sausages. We like their 'higher quality low fat but have also bought the cheaper ones, both are ok. They have had neither for two weeks and stocks of other sausages seemed to be going down.

A couple of things in the snack/crisp type things (not actual crisps, one was 'bacon rashers' that OH likes.) None in stock at all.
A lot of the shelves were empty or half empty (this is a big Tesco Extra). I said it was beginning to be like shopping in the days of rationing.

I did see somebody asked a similar question about another supermarket followed by others who more or less covered all the supermarkets. When aske the shops all said they didn't know of any shortages. Very strange. Are people stock piling pre Brexit? :-S :-S