WH Smiths at Railway Stations

[graham43404]

Thankfully the stations I use the most tend to have a Sainsburys in them which makes for a cheaper snack/meal/drinks than getting elsewhere. For most other things I will use my bite card and then if I am pushed for time and there is nothing better then its a Smiths for some chocolate and a drink. Thankfully they normally have a multisave on drinks.

 

[jon0844]

Yes, but often multisave on huge bottles of water I find!

 

[dk1]

Yes, but often multisave on huge bottles of water I find!

Perhaps they should have shopping trolleys

 

[graham43404]

Yes, but often multisave on huge bottles of water I find!

I think your right with that but we tend to go with Diet Coke or Pepsi Max.

One place we do like in London that is a decent price and has good food is Treats at Baker Street tube or at Embankment. A lot of the time we get our food and drinks from there before heading back to Euston or Kings Cross.

 

[dk1]

One place we do like in London that is a decent price and has good food is Treats at Baker Street tube or at Embankment. A lot of the time we get our food and drinks from there before heading back to Euston or Kings Cross.

Treats on the main Underground concourse at Liverpool Street is very good too.

 

[graham43404]

Treats on the main Underground concourse at Liverpool Street is very good too.

For some reason I always forget that one, maybe because every time we go to London the Circle, Met and Hammersmith lines from KX are closed

I have been on Treats site and they say they have a unit at Euston, but I have yet to come across it.

 

[CheekyBandit]

I am sure people do buy local, but by definition there will always be plenty of people who don't know the area well - or have a fear of venturing outside.

makes me wonder how many passing through Victoria station know about the Sainsbury's actual Victoria store or the "market" store? But now I tend to either spend more time crossing London (I think I started doing this Stelios opened internet cafés in London and I once used this extra time to attend a midweek lunchtime service at Westminster Chapel) or avoid the tube.

 

[mickey]

Newspapers and Magazines are supplied on a Sale or return agency basis (ie unsolds are sent back to the publisher and the retailer only pays them for the actual sales), where the retailer never actually owns the stock he sells and this allows the publisher to dictate the price.
It is one of the few parts of retailing where the setting of fixed prices by suppliers has not yet been banned. Interestingly and uniquely it is the same in almost all countries.

There's a shop near me that sells all newspapers half marked price. I don't know if this is publisher-sanctioned or simply a loss-leader - in which case it may or may not be against the rules. I'm not going to question it though!

(Obviously this is as opposed to those shops which are allowed to sell papers at below marked price - there's always some of these at or near universities, for example.)
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Partly more content (magazines, tv guides, bulkier), partly they invest more journalistic resources in Sunday stories as they tend to be the big investigative scoops, they consequently cost more to research.

Also some are still - technically at least - separate titles from the dailies, and therefore have some extra overheads.

The Sunday Times (and formerly the NOTW), for example, have/had editorial staff separate from The Times and Sun respectively, and although they shared some office functions, are still considered separate entities within News Intl.

 

[142094]

The store selling the paper normally gets some sort of nominal fee (for example on coupons for 50p off a newspaper the store will get 5p).

 

[Butts]

I've never seen a Tesco Express in a station or an airport (many, many of them on the streets though!), but I have seen M&S Food and Sainsburys at some larger stations.

Boots and WHSmith are always in airports though.

Wouldn't mind a firm like the CO-OP to expand into that area.

Theres a Tesco in B'ham Airport, Greggs at Newcastle Airport, Tesco just up the stairs at New Street
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Tesco Express, and even more so One Stop (which is owned by Tesco, use their colour scheme/fonts/design etc just not the name) charge more than larger branches of Tesco, regardless of location. Even M&S Food at stations charge more than M&S food at a retail park or the food hall within a big M&S.

Thats true but they are still normally cheaper than the normal "in house" retail outlets.

 

[142094]

Two Greggs in Newcastle Airport now, and a new one at Newcastle Central station. Milligans bakery at Sunderland.

 

[Butts]

I only popped in for a daily paper, what makes you think i also wanted a Cadbury's Fruit & Nut bar thats almost too big to get through the door

With respect a lot of those "giant bars" are fun sized compared to what they used to be like.

I remember a half pound bar of chocolate (227g)

A lot of the so called large bars are down to 100g or 150g
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Two Greggs in Newcastle Airport now, and a new one at Newcastle Central station. Milligans bakery at Sunderland.

Upper Crust and the rest are going to have to revise their price structures or lose a lot of business.

The cheapest Coffee at Birmingham Airport is at a Spar Shop £1.29 - used to be £1.09 not long ago

 

[142094]

Upper Crust and the rest are going to have to revise their price structures or lose a lot of business.

The cheapest Coffee at Birmingham Airport is at a Spar Shop £1.29 - used to be £1.09 not long ago

I wouldn't mind seeing a Greggs at more stations as the price is just about the same as at the normal High Street ones, and they have a much better range. Handy if you just want a cake, which would be double the price at a Pumpkin/Costa etc.

 

[jon0844]

The Sainsbury's £3 meal deal is pretty good. You can pick some finest sandwiches that are £3 on their own, but I found myself eventually buying what I actually fancied eating, even though it wasn't as big a saving overall!

 

[wintonian]

I wouldn't mind seeing a Greggs at more stations as the price is just about the same as at the normal High Street ones, and they have a much better range. Handy if you just want a cake, which would be double the price at a Pumpkin/Costa etc.

That’s interesting as they are different prices in different parts of the country as well, for instance I have noticed that they are approx. 10p cheaper in Sheffield than they are in my area.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

The W H Smith outlet at Manchester Victoria station always reminds me of the type of building you would expect to find in a rough and ready gathering of premises that were erected in the 1849 Gold Rush.

 

[AlterEgo]

The W H Smith outlet at Manchester Victoria station always reminds me of the type of building you would expect to find in a rough and ready gathering of premises that were erected in the 1849 Gold Rush.

Except there was probably less gun crime in the 1849 Gold Rush!

 

[route:oxford]

I only pay 35p a day for my copy of "The Times", 50p for a copy of it on a Saturday.

Think the Indie is 40p...

The joys of living in a University city.

 

[WestCoast]

Theres a Tesco in B'ham Airport, Greggs at Newcastle Airport, Tesco just up the stairs at New Street

There is a Tesco in Birmingham Airport's terminal?? I've seen Spar in airports, but never Tesco!

I don't really class shops just outside as on-station/airport outlets, they may serve the station but they can't be strictly classed as that. The Tesco Express at New Street is in the Pallasades Shopping Centre (very close, up the stairs as you say), but they don't generate revenue for Network Rail.

 

[DJ737]

G'day

Melbourne Airport now has WHSmith in international departures, I think Sydney has one as well, I think they are following me around the world.
http://www.melbourneairport.com.au/Shopping-Eating/news-books/WH-Smith-

Cheers
DJ737
Melbourne, Australia

 

[Butts]

G'day

Melbourne Airport now has WHSmith in international departures, I think Sydney has one as well, I think they are following me around the world.
http://www.melbourneairport.com.au/Shopping-Eating/news-books/WH-Smith-

Cheers
DJ737
Melbourne, Australia

Are the prices similarly inflated "down under"

 

[DJ737]

Most probably as with everything else at Melbourne Airport. :roll:

Never been in there as they don't sell booze, you will normally find me in the Emirates or Air New Zealand lounge.

 

[WatcherZero]

I only pay 35p a day for my copy of "The Times", 50p for a copy of it on a Saturday.

Think the Indie is 40p...

The joys of living in a University city.

Was a similar offer at my Uni, I wanted it delivered but they wouldnt deliver to Halls.

 

[cointreau_rove]

Hmm

WH Smith have been criticised many times and this included their moving onto hospitals too (dated link mind)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ing-vulnerable-patients-hospital-outlets.html

Again the NHS authorities were quite happy to have their cut of the profits...

Simple issue is that rental space is dearer on railway stations (in days of old a friend of mine had a spot on a couple of stations for his photo developing franchises and the rentals even then were very much higher that what I would say was fair) so when buying on the station I would simply say that your spend is heading off to many pockets.

As has been mentioned above, people should prepare for journeys or just accept that they will be ripped off on the platform (let alone the train itself).

In the case of WH Smith I have taken a personal stance and stopped putting any cash their way at all. Due to the scalping level of price hikes on the stations, and experiencing their hospital shop at St Thomas's in London, I also boycott their high street locations too. That is my choice and I do not berate others who do shop on the station. I have also stopped using Pumpkins that now have WH Smith presence in their units (Salisbury, Platform 4 at Reading etc.), again I will never use them for anything and so I always have whatever I need ready before I depart (when the journey is over a couple of hours). For my commute to London form Bath Spa there is a very handy Sainsburys Local on the opposite frontage to the station opposite the new bus station, open before 7am and with a plethora of choice but simply put a coffee and a Danish works out half the price of the Pumpkin offering (though the London bound Pumpkins has been closed a long time now as is the booking hall Upper Crust - long may that stay that way.

Supply and demand sets prices and so IF everyone did boycott the station retail units then both the retailers and the landlords would have to look at what they were charging. In my own way I do not see the time arriving as the "captive marks" will always dash in. What throws me though is the times when I hear people talking about how cheap they were able to get their ticket for and for them to start eating the over-priced pastries or burgers or whatever from the concourse at (in my case Paddington).

So the backward and forwards of what WH Smith is responsible for or not the baseline starts with what they are expected to pay their landlords for the choice units per square metre(how WHS on Reading Platform 5 is still there boggles me - I don't remember anyone in there but I am sure someone will correct me). From that point on their business model is the dictator of product price.

Back to choice - captive or not - if you want to change something, do not use it - simples. They may pack up their caravan and leave but at least the temptation gets removed. Now how did Travellers Fayre get away with striping the passenger for so many years?

C

 

[dk1]

Now how did Travellers Fayre get away with striping the passenger for so many years?

In the case of Travellers Fare they had various agreements in place where as no other vender was allowed to sell sandwiches or cooked food on many UK stations.

 

[lincolnshire]

Another example of W.H.Smiths inflated prices is on pints of milk, think it was 65 or 75p a pint at St Pancras Staion at the north end, next door is M & S which charge 45p for a pint of milk, I think theres will be fresher than W.H.Smiths at there prices.
An istant saving to make by walking in the right shop.

 

[Greenback]

In the case of WH Smith I have taken a personal stance and stopped putting any cash their way at all. Due to the scalping level of price hikes on the stations, and experiencing their hospital shop at St Thomas's in London, I also boycott their high street locations too. That is my choice and I do not berate others who do shop on the station.

WH Smith closed their town centre store in Llanelli and relocated to Trsotre Retail Park. The new unit was about half the size of the old one, and consequently stocks a far more limited range of books and magazines. As a result, I use them far less than previously!

I do find that some WH Smith's on stations are better than others, price wise. I expect that is to do with the rental levels. I don't know whether it is perception, but the oens that used to be JohnMenzies seem to be most reasonable.

Supply and demand sets prices and so IF everyone did boycott the station retail units then both the retailers and the landlords would have to look at what they were charging.

Ultimately, that is the only way to try and change things.

 

[wintonian]

WH Smith closed their town centre store in Llanelli and relocated to Trsotre Retail Park. The new unit was about half the size of the old one, and consequently stocks a far more limited range of books and magazines. As a result, I use them far less than previously!

I do find that some WH Smith's on stations are better than others, price wise. I expect that is to do with the rental levels. I don't know whether it is perception, but the oens that used to be JohnMenzies seem to be most reasonable.



Ultimately, that is the only way to try and change things.

Or maybe they grade outlets, for example any at Waterloo might be grade 1 and Southampton might be grade 2, reflecting the pricing structure, possibly related how lucrative they expect the location to be?

 

[shinkansen1966]

Has anyone noticed the price WH Smith charge for cigarettes at Railway Stations and Airports -over £8 for 20 Benson & Hedges - at least £1 over the top even compared to a "corner shop".

If the price at WHSmiths is too expensive, you can always go without. What's the worse than can happen ?

 

[Greenback]

Or maybe they grade outlets, for example any at Waterloo might be grade 1 and Southampton might be grade 2, reflecting the pricing structure, possibly related how lucrative they expect the location to be?

Exactly. I imagien the rental would be higher for a station with higher footfall, and most rents would be more expensive in London!