Yet another Morrisons thread

[JAS84]

Some of the 10 stores Morrisons are closing are actually former Safeway stores which Somerfield acquired then Co-op divested. That'll make it the second time Morrisons close/sell these stores inside 10 years.

Conversely, the former Netto stores may well still be owned by Dansk, in which case I reckon they'll probably return to being Nettos once more.

I don't think Dansk would own any of them - they were either rented or they would now be owned by the new occupants. Besides, it's not Dansk themselves bringing the Netto brand back to the UK, it's Sainsbury's.

The branch I mentioned is a former Netto, but it's owned by the operators of North Point Shopping Centre, to whom they pay a rent. I went there this morning, and asked the cashier if she knew when they were closing. Eight weeks from now apparently. Of course that might just be when the lease is up for renewal, so other branches may not be closing on the same date.

10 branches are closing, including the one nearest to me.
http://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/Morrison ... story.html

I always intended to visit that branch of Morrisons when I was in Hull, but the bus there also stopped at the Holderness Road branch, so I always went there instead (incidentally, I believe that Morrisons is an ex-Tesco - it looks quite dated from the outside).

It's an ex-Co-operative Pioneer, not a Tesco. Before the big Tesco Extra at St Stephens and all those little Tesco Express convenience stores opened, the only Tesco in Hull was the one on Hall Road, which is still there.

[bilky asko]

It's an ex-Co-operative Pioneer, not a Tesco. Before the big Tesco Extra at St Stephens and all those little Tesco Express convenience stores opened, the only Tesco in Hull was the one on Hall Road, which is still there.

Oh, I didn't realise that. It looked a lot like some older Tesco branches I'd seen so I presumed that's what it was. Perhaps it explains the Co-operative Travel concession (and the presence of concessions at all).

I've been to the Tesco on Hall Road (not long after it had been done up) - it was a lot better store than I expected.

I can't say I really spotted the plethora of Tesco Expresses though, considering the 20 or so Sainsbury's Locals (meaning their one full-size store isn't that good, unless you happen to be at Evans Halshaw), most - if not all - being ex-Jackson's.

[WillPS]

I've long harped on about the many opportunities Sir Ken wasted through sheer arrogance with the Safeway takeover; but I think every passing year for Morrisons highlights what a colossal fuck up it really was.

Examples?

Branding - Safeway had a clean, modern brand image which had evolved with time. Around half their chain had the new branding; the other half having the 90s logo (which itself wasn't too bad). By almost every measure, Safeway was the bigger brand, with more stores than Morrisons and far greater brand awareness, especially south of the Midlands. Morrisons essentially deleted every element of Safeway's brand (except for "The Best" which I don't really think was the best, ho ho). Given the massive cost just in new signage for the more-than-doubled Morrisons chain, it could have been an opportunity to revise the inferior Morrisons brand, but instead the same awful logo was used, which looks like something a flyer designer might have created c.1977 - only to then be changed 4 years later. How much was wasted in that particular exercise?

Convenience stores - Safeway had an enviable portfolio of typical Co-op to Aldi sized stores which were all flogged off. Sir Ken said there was no future for that type of store. Safeway had the locations, if not the right format for the smaller of those locations. 10 years later Morrisons is deperately trying to play catch up to get a convenience foothold; having to massively overpay to get prime locations.

Automated systems of any sort - Safeway was behind only Tesco in terms of their setup; they had invested heavily in the IT infrastructure in the 90s and by the early 00s. Availability was well respected. Sir Ken thought it was load of rubbish and scrapped it all. Now Morrisons are crippled by their lack of automation and all the insights and savings it can bring. An act of sheer luddism. Safeway were seriously ahead of the game in terms of technology; and lightyears ahead of where Morrisons are even now.

I don't think Dansk would own any of them - they were either rented or they would now be owned by the new occupants. Besides, it's not Dansk themselves bringing the Netto brand back to the UK, it's Sainsbury's.

The branch I mentioned is a former Netto, but it's owned by the operators of North Point Shopping Centre, to whom they pay a rent. I went there this morning, and asked the cashier if she knew when they were closing. Eight weeks from now apparently. Of course that might just be when the lease is up for renewal, so other branches may not be closing on the same date.

10 branches are closing, including the one nearest to me.

At least some of the former Netto sites which didn't become Asda stores are still owned by Dansk. I remember reading that a worker in one of the stores taken over by that Haldane crook and briefly traded as Ugo reported a lawyer/representative of Dansk visiting in the dying days of the chain to serve papers and whatnot. The usual scenario for retail units like those is that they're taken on a 10-year or so lease; it's entirely possible that what you say is true or the unit could be sublet via Dansk or anyone else.

[jonathan]

What sort of things are not automated at Morrisons that are at other supermarkets?

[Pete]

What sort of things are not automated at Morrisons that are at other supermarkets?

Stock ordering. In most supermarkets the database gets a delivery of 100 items, and once 85 or so have been scanned at the till it orders in another 100 so the shelf is full again.

In morrisons, this was done using pen and paper.

[Philip Cobbold]

What sort of things are not automated at Morrisons that are at other supermarkets?

In morrisons, this was done using pen and paper.

Is this still the practice?

I believe the pen and paper has been replaced by a tablet, but all the stock ordering is still put into the tablet by a person looking at the shelf.

[rdobbie]

I've long harped on about the many opportunities Sir Ken wasted through sheer arrogance with the Safeway takeover; but I think every passing year for Morrisons highlights what a colossal fuck up it really was.

Examples?

To add a few more to Will's examples above:

• Safeway's Pay@Pump system was crudely decommissioned by glueing sheets of plastic over the payment terminals on the pumps.

• Safeway tills had phones enabling the cashier to contact the till supervisor, or someone from (e.g.) the in-store bakery, thus expediting any issues arising at the till. It seems that even this concept was considered too radical by Morrisons, so the phones were ripped out and replaced with flashing lights which relied on the supervisor noticing that the light was flashing and then walking over to the till.

• The Safeway own-brand product range was totally erased, without any consideration to (a) the possibility that some of it was actually very good, or (b) the issue of regional preferences and customer demographics in the more affluent/cosmopolitan Safeway store locations. E.g. the replacement of all Safeway's hot pizza ovens with Morrisons' hot pie ovens.

• Safeway's modern and comfortable uniform, consisting of polo shirts and fleece jackets, was replaced with something out of a museum of 1930s working class Britain. It actually looked like fancy dress, and I felt it was humiliating for the staff.

[WillPS]

What sort of things are not automated at Morrisons that are at other supermarkets?

Stock management is the main one; but even stuff like staff/till planning is all done manually. It's mental, really.

But yeah, basically everything Safeway was was destroyed by Sir Ken Morrison who basically saw it as a chance to open 370ish supermarkets at once; and that nothing about Morrisons should change.

Compare and contrast that with how Wal-mart (you know, the biggest retailer in the world bar none both then and now) took over Asda (then joint third place supermarket in Britain) actually absorbed key parts of Asda's offer in to their international offer, and you begin to get a sense of how arrogant and small minded the board of Morrisons really were.

[JAS84]

It's an ex-Co-operative Pioneer, not a Tesco. Before the big Tesco Extra at St Stephens and all those little Tesco Express convenience stores opened, the only Tesco in Hull was the one on Hall Road, which is still there.

Oh, I didn't realise that. It looked a lot like some older Tesco branches I'd seen so I presumed that's what it was. Perhaps it explains the Co-operative Travel concession (and the presence of concessions at all).

I've been to the Tesco on Hall Road (not long after it had been done up) - it was a lot better store than I expected.

I can't say I really spotted the plethora of Tesco Expresses though, considering the 20 or so Sainsbury's Locals (meaning their one full-size store isn't that good, unless you happen to be at Evans Halshaw), most - if not all - being ex-Jackson's.

There's certainly less Tesco Expresses here than there are Sainsbury's Locals, but there are quite a few. One in the city centre that opened last year is a former Argos. I think a few others may be former Kwik Saves.

[tillyoshea]

What sort of things are not automated at Morrisons that are at other supermarkets?

Stock management is the main one; but even stuff like staff/till planning is all done manually. It's mental, really.

But yeah, basically everything Safeway was was destroyed by Sir Ken Morrison who basically saw it as a chance to open 370ish supermarkets at once; and that nothing about Morrisons should change.

Compare and contrast that with how Wal-mart (you know, the biggest retailer in the world bar none both then and now) took over Asda (then joint third place supermarket in Britain) actually absorbed key parts of Asda's offer in to their international offer, and you begin to get a sense of how arrogant and small minded the board of Morrisons really were.

I remember that stock planning at Safeway had a poor reputation among customers because of their weekly loss-leaders (promoted through letterbox leaflets) which often sold out very quickly, leaving customers disappointed. Clearly, any proper look at the systems in place would have recognised that stock control on everything else was presumably quite good—but I've always wondered whether the public perception played into that particular crazy management decision.

[scottishtv]

I believe the pen and paper has been replaced by a tablet, but all the stock ordering is still put into the tablet by a person looking at the shelf.

Indeed, looking at the client case study for the tablet roll out, it is remarked that up until mid-2013:
"Each day, five to six Morrisons employees were dedicated to re-ordering stock. The staff would print product documents up to 800 pages long, and work to meet tight deadlines. If they failed to meet the deadline, the stock wouldn't arrive in store for the next day."