Talk:Supermarkets in the United Kingdom

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The article says there are no regional supermarkets though I'm not sure about this. Co-op is mainly a northern only thing and Waitrose is definatly confined to the south east. Also the one Sainsburys (or did it take over Sainsburys...Or maybe it was Somerfield...) took over last year was northern only and this should be mentioned.

There are Co-ops in all four places in the south where I have lived: Bedford, Oxford, Bristol and London. Waitrose has stores in all four Southern regions (London, SE, SW, East of England) and a few in the Midlands and the North (Wolverhampton and Sheffield are two unlikely sounding locations). If you're thinking of the Sainsbury's takeover of Bells that is a convenience store, not a supermarket. I'll have a look at the wording to see if it can be made clearer.
"The Co-op" is not a single entity. The national Co-operative Group has stores throughout the UK. There are other non-northern societies operating in their specific regional areas such as the Plymouth & South Western Co-op, West Midlands Co-op, Oxford, Swindon & Gloucester Co-op and the Ipswich and Norwich society to name but four.
Waitrose used to be confined to the Midlands and South East. Since Morrison's take over, and subsequent sell-off, of certain stores of the Safeway brand, Waitrose has expanded to more of England.
There, had my two-penneth worth now. R.carroll 20:53, 19 August 2005 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] UK Supermarket Competition Essay

I am doing an essay for my degree about competition in the UK supermarket industry. I am looking for people to comment on my work and help me find sources of information i.e. books and websites (would prefer websites) I need to some up in 2000 words what the competition in the last 20 and then 5 years of the industry was then what made it change etc. If any one has any help they can give at all please email me below (even if it just to recommend a good website)

Email: woodhousescotty@hotmail.co.uk

Thanks

[edit] Are Alldays Defunct?

I know they are now owned by the CO-OP I don't dispute this, but the one near me is still branded Alldays.

I believe there are plans to re-brand or close all Alldays stores in the next couple of years (if not sooner), but these things move slowly. Mtiedemann 19:12, 16 April 2006 (UTC)
We used to have several Alldays here in Thatcham, they've all been rebranded Co-op welcome now. CR7 15:10, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] adding 's' is a mistake?

Can someone please clarify if/why it is "A common mistake" to add an 's' to the end of the name of a supermarket? Is this not just a common english language construction or usage?
thanks, clara 11:31, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

It seems rather a pompous comment anyway, and inaccurate. You wouldn't add an s to the name Waitrose. I think the 'why' is that it is a posessive s - you are saying you went to Mr Sainsbury's shop. It probably stems from a time when the shop you went to was usually named after the person who owned it. 221.66.22.33 23:57, 8 April 2007 (UTC)
I agree with the last comment. It doesn't mean Tescos - it means Tesco's. It's not really a mistake and if it is presumed so, the claim should have citations/references. CR7 15:09, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Some possible additions

I have not attempted to add these to the main Wikipedia article because I have little information - perhaps others can add.

An addition to current supermarkets - Nisa / Nisa-Todays, appears to be a voluntary chain.

Some possible additions to defunct supermarkets: VIVO - I believe this was a voluntary chain, it was possibly taken over by SPAR, all of the VIVO shops I remember as a child became SPAR shops at around the same time. MACE - I believe this was also a voluntary chain, I have no idea what happened to them. MAID MARION - Another voluntary chain, again I have no idea what happened to them.

WAVY LINE - this was a voluntary chain that seemed to operate in the South East only, several people from Sussex I have spoken to remember them but since moving to the midlands no one I have asked has ever heard of them. I have clear memories of the The Wavy Line branded products, they were often bought by my family from our local shop. There was a large shop called Gazzels I think, in Woodingdean, Brighton. I have never been able to find any information about the Wavy Line group on the internet except some photos on a Flikr page:

  http://www.flickr.com/photos/dgbalancesrocks/162661662/in/photostream/


[edit] Lennon's

This was an early supermarket or supermarket group I suspect in the Merseyside area? Any more information on them?

Soarhead77 (talk) 14:10, 19 March 2008 (UTC)