Supermarkets discussion

[Fokx]

Same ownership? Be right in saying that B&M own Heron Foods?

Yes, B&M purchased Heron Foods in 2018

 

[BuhSnarf]

I really, really wish we still had a Farmfoods in our town (Loughborough). Now there isn't one local we have to rely on university visits to use them in either York or Middlesbrough - our car boot would be rammed after visiting both Farmfoods and Heron Foods (another one we don't have locally). My better half picks up the "Giga Packs" of washing machine pods - last lot was 2x 86 pod boxes for £30. In a household where 4+ washes per day is the norm, we have to look for deals like this (and it was ideal in York for a daughter bulk buying frozen mince, pasta etc!)

There's a new (very big) Farmfoods just opened in Leicester if you fancied a 'day out', it's also about a five minute drive from a Heron Foods too so you could kill two birds with one stone as it were.

The new store is much bigger than the old one (more similar to a Food Warehouse size) and we pop in most weeks as there's always some good deals to be had.

 

[eyebrook1961]

There's a new (very big) Farmfoods just opened in Leicester if you fancied a 'day out', it's also about a five minute drive from a Heron Foods too so you could kill two birds with one stone as it were.

The new store is much bigger than the old one (more similar to a Food Warehouse size) and we pop in most weeks as there's always some good deals to be had.

Thank you for that - will look at where they are. Not a supermarket in the context of this thread, but my wife likes exploring larger Polish/Eastern European food shops and we recently visited "Maxi Grosik" in Leicester for the first time (very impressed) so could combine things when we next go.

 

[Peter Sarf]

I have today noticed a few isles in my local Morrisons have different shelf edge price labels. After looking closely they maybe electronic. Today I queried the price of something after the checkout. This new fangled label did not agree with the system. So either they are having a problem with the signal OR they are not electronic. The image showing description and price just looked like quality print so maybe I am being confused ?.

 

[BuhSnarf]

Thank you for that - will look at where they are. Not a supermarket in the context of this thread, but my wife likes exploring larger Polish/Eastern European food shops and we recently visited "Maxi Grosik" in Leicester for the first time (very impressed) so could combine things when we next go.

Yes, in the old B&Q on Blackbird Road? They have some amazing things in there!

 

[sprunt]

Not a supermarket in the context of this thread, but my wife likes exploring larger Polish/Eastern European food shops and we recently visited "Maxi Grosik" in Leicester for the first time (very impressed) so could combine things when we next go.

Not sure why you'd say that, it looks big enough to qualify to me.

I love a good Polski Sklep - one of the things I miss most about London since moving away is that there aren't as many big Eastern European supermarkets round here.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Wandered to Tesco early this morning whilst it was still cool. Virtually all of the fridges and freezers broken down and emptied. Fortunately the one thing I really wanted (milk) was still working. They store was fully refurbished with new 'doored' fridges and freezers last year.

 

[BuhSnarf]

Wandered to Tesco early this morning whilst it was still cool. Virtually all of the fridges and freezers broken down and emptied. Fortunately the one thing I really wanted (milk) was still working. They store was fully refurbished with new 'doored' fridges and freezers last year.

Making equipment that works where it's always cold is easy.

Making equipment that works where it's always hot is easy.

Making equipment that works where it's sometimes hot and sometimes cold is much harder. Same reason our climate is so tough on road surfaces, building materials, etc.

 

[Peter Sarf]

Wandered to Tesco early this morning whilst it was still cool. Virtually all of the fridges and freezers broken down and emptied. Fortunately the one thing I really wanted (milk) was still working. They store was fully refurbished with new 'doored' fridges and freezers last year.

Yep. I noticed in my Morrisons about 20% of chillers had their curtains down and a sign saying please help yourself but remeber to close the curtain after (or words to that effect). Within my shopping time some curtains were left open.

I guess sales of the products behind the curtains will be down due to the stock not being easily viewable or accessible. So should be a load of reduced price stock in a few days time.

 

[eyebrook1961]

Yep. I noticed in my Morrisons about 20% of chillers had their curtains down and a sign saying please help yourself but remeber to close the curtain after (or words to that effect). Within my shopping time some curtains were left open.

I guess sales of the products behind the curtains will be down due to the stock not being easily viewable or accessible. So should be a load of reduced price stock in a few days time.

Loughborough Morrisons, which in recent years has strived to get the "poorest maintained supermarket in Loughborough" award, surely must get the title this year - the floor between the chilled units resembling the english channel and whole swathes of the freezer units emptied and out of action. Sign on the freezer units stating that engineers were on site . . . (but obviously hidden well)

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 May 2026 ==

Yes, in the old B&Q on Blackbird Road? They have some amazing things in there!

Yes - that's the one. My wife was scratching her head wondering what the place used to be . . . .

Since our university runs centered on York and Middlesbrough we came across a supermarket in Boro that was actually called "Polski Sklep" - on Parliament Street. In York there's a nice family run shop by the roundabout on Crichton Street that's a bit like Narnia, you go in the shop which is bit small and pokey, but then walk through into the back and it (sort of) doubles the size of the shop. We've not really come across a substantially sized place to Maxi Grosik.

 

[Strathclyder]

It surprises me that farm foods has never made this thread, then to be very inexpensive with their offers, currently milk 2 litre £1.50 Two bottles £2.50 or three for £3

Butter 200g packs of country life 99p admittedly supermarket packs are 250g but usually priced a £1.70, if you have a big freezer the savings can be bit, also currently sending out flyers with money off vouchers , spend £50, get £6 off.

They have 340 stores nationwide so are not that smaller an operator.

There used to be a Farmfoods in Clydebank Shopping Centre, but it closed a good few years ago now and now one of the closest branches geographically is in Yoker, a nearly a half hour bus ride away from my house (I don't drive). Otherwise, I'd be shopping there daily.

 

[jon81uk]

Yep. I noticed in my Morrisons about 20% of chillers had their curtains down and a sign saying please help yourself but remeber to close the curtain after (or words to that effect). Within my shopping time some curtains were left open.

I guess sales of the products behind the curtains will be down due to the stock not being easily viewable or accessible. So should be a load of reduced price stock in a few days time.

My local Sainsbury's had a lot of the blinds down on chillers too. I'd expect more and more stores to add doors to chillers as they get refurbished now.

 

[SuspectUsual]

Making equipment that works where it's always cold is easy.

Making equipment that works where it's always hot is easy.

Making equipment that works where it's sometimes hot and sometimes cold is much harder. Same reason our climate is so tough on road surfaces, building materials, etc.

The other consideration is that commercial refrigeration has a design maximum ambient temperature for it to remain effective, and the higher that temperature the more expensive the fridge.

Climate class 4, which most food retailers use, has a design maximum ambient temperature of 30c

 

[Waterlooville]

Exact same situation at Lambeth last week, all cold aisles in Tescos fully broken and stripped.

 

[johntea]

Went to the Morrisons at Leeds Merrion earlier and they had the fancy expensive booze cabinets with a notice stuck over or above the 'press for assistance buttons' with 'doors are open just take what you want and pay at the checkout' so that idea obviously ended up a bit of a waste of time!

 

[Peter Sarf]

Went to the Morrisons at Leeds Merrion earlier and they had the fancy expensive booze cabinets with a notice stuck over or above the 'press for assistance buttons' with 'doors are open just take what you want and pay at the checkout' so that idea obviously ended up a bit of a waste of time!

Had those doors for a while in the booze shelves in Morrisons in Croydon (getting them so soon says something about Croydon I am afraid). They tend to open when I try them but I suppose it has a deterrent effect because it is a whole door in the way and it lines you up nicely with the myriad of small cameras (that might be fake). Sadly I think it puts genuine buyers off. Another thing I suppose is that the door moving is more clearly showing someone dipping into the shelf on the main CCTV.

Subject to memory. Had similar doors on the fod chillers at Lidl central Croydon - to keep cold in. But the doors have gone again. Obviously put shoppers off too much.

New thing in the small J Sainsburys in Croydon. Shelves with coffee jars on I noticed this on. There are little rigid plastic shields hanging down from the shelf above, small (about the size of a coffee jar). Sign on them says move sideways to get access. I moved one sideways and it is obviously on a track with teeth on it. Rather head turning ratcheting sound - shocked me and I suppose alerts staff/security if anyone is getting a higher value item of the shelf.

THE FUTURE OF SUPERMARKETS :-

Will we reach the stage one day where a supermarket is lots of counters with staff serving you from a huge warehouse out back !. Self service has become too easy/common for stealing. I suppose the click and collect brigade are sort of shuffling that concept along. After all if it is economical to order online, some one collect the order together and then someone delivers it to you then it must be not too uneconomical for someone to walk in with their order and have someone collect it together while you wait. In that case shoppers are no longer bumping into items they really did not need so a lost bit of profit there vs the stock losses due to theft. On the internet I suppose things a shopper did not need are still paraded at them vie the browser and possibly more targeted (you log in and the computer knows what you fall for).

Is the future supermarket going to be click and collect with those choosing to walk in having to pay a "service fee" and get served from a counter ?.
Shock horror price of progress - but then we had that in the past with the good old corner shop. Shoplifting is just too common these days I fear.

 

[Bald Rick]

Had those doors for a while in the booze shelves in Morrisons in Croydon (getting them so soon says something about Croydon I am afraid).

Not sure about that - we had them in Sainsbury’s at St Albans a few years back. (A trial I gather). The curious thing was that they were only used for a very select group of drinks - Jack Daniels, Moet & Chandon, and a couple of types of Brandy. Evidently booze shoplifters are a picky bunch, and also don’t like proper whisky (all the single single malts left on the normal shelves!)

New thing in the small J Sainsburys in Croydon. Shelves with coffee jars on I noticed this on. There are little rigid plastic shields hanging down from the shelf above, small (about the sige of a coffee jar). Sign on them says move sideways to get access. I moved one sideways and it is obviously on a track with teeth on it.

Yes we’ve had that in the Tesco Metro in town for about 6 months. Also for the posher chocolates.

 

[Peter Sarf]

Not sure about that - we had them in Sainsbury’s at St Albans a few years back. (A trial I gather). The curious thing was that they were only used for a very select group of drinks - Jack Daniels, Moet & Chandon, and a couple of types of Brandy. Evidently booze shoplifters are a picky bunch, and also don’t like proper whisky (all the single single malts left on the normal shelves!)




Yes we’ve had that in the Tesco Metro in town for about 6 months. Also for the posher chocolates.

The security will be on anything a shoplifter can easily sell I suppose. So popular high value products that the average consumer (on the black market) gets through. Notice very little of it will be essentials that a person really needs - like food !.

I have more than once seen someone running away with a box of beer or two slabs of cans. Another "essential" not. I got knocked aside once by a running booze snatcher so got involved - hung on to the two slabs of cans till he let go !. Pity they weren't ale !.

 

[SuspectUsual]

The security will be on anything a shoplifter can easily sell I suppose. So popular high value products that the average consumer (on the black market) gets through. Notice very little of it will be essentials that a person really needs - like food !.

Razor blades are a lot more popular to thieves than customers. Small, valuable, light, easily fenced

 

[Gloster]

The security will be on anything a shoplifter can easily sell I suppose. So popular high value products that the average consumer (on the black market) gets through. Notice very little of it will be essentials that a person really needs - like food !.

I have more than once seen someone running away with a box of beer or two slabs of cans. Another "essential" not. I got knocked aside once by a running booze snatcher so got involved - hung on to the two slabs of cans till he let go !. Pity they weren't ale !.

I think that a quite a few thieves steal almost to order and then sell the goods on to pubs and restaurants that they know will buy. Alcohol and expensive meat products seem to be amongst the favourites: I have been nearly knocked over by someone racing out of the Co-op in Ryde with a basket containing half-a-dozen trays of meat. I presume that within a few minutes they were round the back of a business that would give them a few pounds.

Ryde Co-op has locked doors on all the spirt, champagne, top quality (or what passes for top quality) wine shelves. Morrisons in Newport seems to rely on the fact that the barriers, which are near the alcohol section, are set to only allow people in: it doesn’t work as they just wait until somebody starts to come in and then race through.

 

[GusB]

https://corporate.asda.com/newsroom/2026/29/05/asda-partners-with-ocado-group-to-enhance-online-grocery-service

Asda today announced a partnership with Ocado Group to further improve the grocery home shopping experience for the millions of customers who shop online

The supermarket, which fulfils more than 700,000 online grocery orders per week, will rollout Ocado’s Smart Platform technology solutions across its website & mobile app, in-store picking and home delivery service.

The partnership will begin in 2027 with an upgrade to Asda’s website and online shopping experience. This will provide a more stable platform for the millions of customers who use it each year, with improved search, more relevant product recommendations and a simpler checkout process.

This will be followed by new in-store picking and last-mile delivery solutions. These will help stores manage orders more efficiently, improve on-time deliveries and increase available slots by making better use of the existing fleet.

Ocado’s in-store fulfilment solutions are already used in more than 1,000 grocery stores worldwide, with the wider Ocado smart platform supporting around 70 million orders each year.

Let's hope this improves the Asda experience. I've been let down on three out of the last four occasions that I've ordered from them (there wouldn't have been a fourth occasion, but I had a £50 gift card to spend). My fear is that no matter how good the system is, it won't change what appears to be a "don't care" culture.

 

[SuspectUsual]

https://corporate.asda.com/newsroom/2026/29/05/asda-partners-with-ocado-group-to-enhance-online-grocery-service

Let's hope this improves the Asda experience. I've been let down on three out of the last four occasions that I've ordered from them (there wouldn't have been a fourth occasion, but I had a £50 gift card to spend). My fear is that no matter how good the system is, it won't change what appears to be a "don't care" culture.

Asda have just spent hundreds of millions of pounds implementing SAP as their future ERP as part of the split from Walmart.

Ocado's ERP is Oracle

Asda's current online is a combination of Sapient and Salesforce, which is widely perceived to be poorly performing, but they are going to have to do a heck of a lot of integration and testing to sit the Ocado web platform on top of SAP which will remain as the underlying system managing supply chain, inventory and vendor ordering, and Manhattan Active which they use to run their warehouses

And yes, you then have the people issue which is now endemic in Asda. Every store I've been in recently has just felt grubby and uncared for, and the standards are dreadful

 

[londonbridge]

I think that a quite a few thieves steal almost to order and then sell the goods on to pubs and restaurants that they know will buy. Alcohol and expensive meat products seem to be amongst the favourites: I have been nearly knocked over by someone racing out of the Co-op in Ryde with a basket containing half-a-dozen trays of meat. I presume that within a few minutes they were round the back of a business that would give them a few pounds.

Alcohol, meat, coffee, washing powders and liquids, chocolate, cheese. Don’t know about other supermarkets but Sainsburys also tag cans of red bull with security lids that the cashier or checkout runner remove when you pay. My nearby Sainsburys local had regular thieves who would just pick up and walk out with whole cases of Mars, Snickers, Bounty etc.

I often remember a “Secrets Of The Shoplifters” programme in which a woman said along the lines of “I couldn’t live without my shoplifters, they bring me my washing powder much cheaper than the supermarkets sell it”. My take on that is that she admitted on camera to receiving and handling stolen goods so why didn’t the police just go and arrest her?

 

[Jon_jpwh]

https://corporate.asda.com/newsroom/2026/29/05/asda-partners-with-ocado-group-to-enhance-online-grocery-service

Let's hope this improves the Asda experience. I've been let down on three out of the last four occasions that I've ordered from them (there wouldn't have been a fourth occasion, but I had a £50 gift card to spend). My fear is that no matter how good the system is, it won't change what appears to be a "don't care" culture.

That's interesting. I stopped using Asda for supermarket deliveries about 2 years ago because I wasn't happy with their service and switched to Ocado. Ocado aren't perfect but are definitely an improvement on Asda.

 

[Hadders]

Alcohol, meat, coffee, washing powders and liquids, chocolate, cheese. Don’t know about other supermarkets but Sainsburys also tag cans of red bull with security lids that the cashier or checkout runner remove when you pay. My nearby Sainsburys local had regular thieves who would just pick up and walk out with whole cases of Mars, Snickers, Bounty etc.

I often remember a “Secrets Of The Shoplifters” programme in which a woman said along the lines of “I couldn’t live without my shoplifters, they bring me my washing powder much cheaper than the supermarkets sell it”. My take on that is that she admitted on camera to receiving and handling stolen goods so why didn’t the police just go and arrest her?

Most shoplifting these days (by value anyway) is organised crime. I've been aware of cars being spotted one day at a shop in Plymouth and a couple of days later the same car and people being clocked in Newcastle upon Tyne. Huge volumes get stolen, main categories that suffer loss are the ones that are easy to sell on:

Heath and Beauty - especially razor blades, skincare products
Confectionery - have you seen the price of chocolate recently?
General merchandise - eg Britta filters, Pokemon cards, secnted candles, batteries and whatever is 'on trend' (football stickers are a biggie atm)
Meat and cheese (have you seen the price of cheese recently?)
Spirits - but this has dropped in recent years
Soap powder, dishwasher tablets, nappies

This isn't something that retailers alone can sort. It's not the job of store staff or even security guards to stop these sorts of people without proper back-up. In recent years the police haven't seen retail crime as a priority (to be fair to the police they have to deal with a lot of stuff we don't see), but today's low level retail crime becomes tomorrows much larger crime issue.

A properly funded police and criminal justice system is needed if serious inroads are going to be made.

 

[Steddenm]

Tesco Extra in Gateshead has had the trolley and basket weighing devices removed from the scan as you shop area. I don't think the trial was a success.

 

[Russel]

Tesco Extra in Gateshead has had the trolley and basket weighing devices removed from the scan as you shop area. I don't think the trial was a success.

Thought that was down south somewhere?

Was it trialed in multiple locations?

 

[Steddenm]

Thought that was down south somewhere?

Was it trialed in multiple locations?

Not sure. I only ever saw it in Gateshead and was a BBC News story about it too:

BBC News - Tesco trials giant trolley scales in Gateshead - BBC News

Tesco trials giant trolley scales in Gateshead

Trolleys are weighed before checkout to identify any items customers might have missed or scanned twice.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[jon0844]

Most shoplifting these days (by value anyway) is organised crime. I've been aware of cars being spotted one day at a shop in Plymouth and a couple of days later the same car and people being clocked in Newcastle upon Tyne. Huge volumes get stolen, main categories that suffer loss are the ones that are easy to sell on:

Heath and Beauty - especially razor blades, skincare products
Confectionery - have you seen the price of chocolate recently?
General merchandise - eg Britta filters, Pokemon cards, secnted candles, batteries and whatever is 'on trend' (football stickers are a biggie atm)
Meat and cheese (have you seen the price of cheese recently?)
Spirits - but this has dropped in recent years
Soap powder, dishwasher tablets, nappies

This isn't something that retailers alone can sort. It's not the job of store staff or even security guards to stop these sorts of people without proper back-up. In recent years the police haven't seen retail crime as a priority (to be fair to the police they have to deal with a lot of stuff we don't see), but today's low level retail crime becomes tomorrows much larger crime issue.

A properly funded police and criminal justice system is needed if serious inroads are going to be made.

Tesco is about to try selling Pokemon cards in selected stores from (I think) June 12th, and I wonder how they're going to protect the stock from being stolen.

They will also have a limit of 2 packs per person, but have told staff that they are not to refuse sales of more to anyone that refuses to adhere to the, effectively suggested-only, limit (which makes me think they already expect some issues) so if they aren't stolen, they're all going to be purchased by scalpers!

 

[Trackman]

Not sure. I only ever saw it in Gateshead and was a BBC News story about it too:

BBC News - Tesco trials giant trolley scales in Gateshead - BBC News

They should sort out the current scale bugs first

Tesco is about to try selling Pokemon cards in selected stores from (I think) June 12th, and I wonder how they're going to protect the stock from being stolen.

They will also have a limit of 2 packs per person, but have told staff that they are not to refuse sales of more to anyone that refuses to adhere to the, effectively suggested-only, limit (which makes me think they already expect some issues) so if they aren't stolen, they're all going to be purchased by scalpers!

What's the attraction with this? are some cards worth a lot of money?