Another High Street Rebrand

[WillPS]

The Merry Hill style seems to be a European type thing where the checkouts have the opening to the mall behind them rather than a wall / windows. Certainly I've seen branches of Real in Germany and Essenlunga in Italy that had this layout with a shopping centre attached.

I didn't know that - but what seems ever strangerer is that Sainsbury's at the other end of the mall is in the normal format, and if the Rosie & Jim Bumper Video I watched 1000 times as a child is anything to go by, it always has been.

The whole mall is extremely higeldy pigeldy, so it might be that the mall up to Sainsbury's was not there when Sainsbury's opened.

[Philip Cobbold]

The Merry Hill Asda was built as a Carrefour, so it could be that they had that layout since it opened, and Asda just carried it over when they aquired it.

[DJDave]

The Merry Hill style seems to be a European type thing where the checkouts have the opening to the mall behind them rather than a wall / windows. Certainly I've seen branches of Real in Germany and Essenlunga in Italy that had this layout with a shopping centre attached.

I didn't know that - but what seems ever strangerer is that Sainsbury's at the other end of the mall is in the normal format, and if the Rosie & Jim Bumper Video I watched 1000 times as a child is anything to go by, it always has been.

The whole mall is extremely higeldy pigeldy, so it might be that the mall up to Sainsbury's was not there when Sainsbury's opened.

That must be the video where they knock the corn flakes over?

[Nick Harvey]

Are we talking about the Dudley Merry Hill here?

[WillPS]

It possibly is a hangover from the Carrefour days, but they would definitely have had the opportunity to change it since, I suppose at the expense of their trading space though.

And yes, it is *that* video. I'm pretty sure everybody of our age saw it a few times as a child.

[stu]

The Merry Hill Asda was built as a Carrefour, so it could be that they had that layout since it opened, and Asda just carried it over when they aquired it.

It was a Gateway before it was an Asda. Footage of it being a Carrefour can be seen in the Spitting Image 1987 election special, of all places.

I'll take this moment to declare my love for the Merry Hill centre! I used to go to the Merry Hill more or less every week, and have seen it change many times. I used to be able to see it from my old house, too. (looks wistful)

That song is stuck in my head and is going on my ipod.

[wells]

Despite living in the West Midlands all my life, I'd not been to Merry Hill till this year. In fact I also went for the second and third times this year. I just regret missing the monorail by 15 years!

The Asda supermarket in the centre and the one in Breily Hill must be in a closer proximity to each other than any other two superstores in the same group, one would think.

Is the fact about it having the first drive through McDonalds and standalone Pizza Hut in the UK true?

[Beep]

What's happened to the handful of Wal-Mart stores (that pre-date the ASDA takeover)?

Minworth started life as a Carrefour and changed to a Wal-Mart in 1988 (I think), then in 1993 it was changed again to an 'ASDA * WAL*MART Supercenter' (yes, US English spelling of 'centre'), then they changed it further to 'ASDA part of the WAL*MART family SUPERCENTRE' and just recently it is now an 'ASDA Supercentre', or as the staff call it, a big ASDA.

I think most of them have the Minworth story, converted to ASDA Supercentres over the years.


EDIT:
This is a fave of mine

[Invent Meridian]

My local ASDA is currently branded as an 'ASDA Wal*Mart Supercentre' (with the proper spelling of 'centre'). There is another relatively normal ASDA nearby, I say relatively because it is built upon a hill and has two large car parks and two entrances (one of each at the top and one at the bottom of the hill). A travelator connects the bottom car park and entrance to the main floorspace.

[tvmercia]

What's happened to the handful of Wal-Mart stores (that pre-date the ASDA takeover)?

Minworth started life as a Carrefour and changed to a Wal-Mart in 1988 (I think), then in 1993 it was changed again to an 'ASDA * WAL*MART Supercenter' (yes, US English spelling of 'centre'), then they changed it further to 'ASDA part of the WAL*MART family SUPERCENTRE' and just recently it is now an 'ASDA Supercentre', or as the staff call it, a big ASDA.

I think most of them have the Minworth story, converted to ASDA Supercentres over the years.

Not sure where you've got your info from, as I'm pretty sure you're not old enough to remember any of that.

From my memory, Minworth went

- Carrefour 1977
- Gateway 1987ish
- ADSA 1989ish
- ASDA Wal-mart Supercentre early 2000s
- ASDA Supercentre 2009ish

(IIRC Minworth used the correct spelling of centre throughout)

[Beep]

I was asking others who were alive at the time, they're not supermarket freaks though, but one of those asked as adamant that Minworth certainly spelt centre wrong at some point, unless they've not really looked at the sign properly.

Just asked them and they said it was a Gateway pre-ASDA takeover, so I trust your information more than mine.

ISTR the Wal-mart branding long before the early 2000s, even if my memory from before then isn't that great.

It's Small Heath, the one you've got to watch. Not only could they not spell Birmingham correctly on their receipts, they also ended up with rat droppings in the pastries...