The Unofficial Sainsbury's Thread

[scottishtv]

So, this happened at my local Local in the early hours of the morning. I doubt that in-store machine will be replaced.

[WillPS]

So, this happened at my local Local in the early hours of the morning. I doubt that in-store machine will be replaced.

Don't cash machines cover the notes in some sort of ink if you attempt to force entry to them?

Doesn't seem terribly well planned.

[Pete]

See interestingly, we've recently bought two quite pricey things at Argos whilst in Sainsbury's on the grounds that

we don't have to go to the one in the shopping centre
we're there anyhow, with the car
you don't feel you're being ripped off with last year's stock like you often did in the electrical aisle of sainsburys

[DJDave]

To be fair I bought an LP player at Christmas in a Argos inside Sainsbury's and by the time I ordered the item and paid it was waiting for me with in minutes.

None of this "order number 243 to your collection point please" so I was very impressed. I do wonder though if the big Sainsbury's near me that has an Argos nextdoor will at some point knock through etc.

[james2001]

So this weekend my high street branch of Argos closes and moves into a concession within Sainsbury's 300 yards away. I genuinely never saw this happening especially as there isn't sufficient room inside the branch for Sainsbury's, let alone Argos as well. The electricals section has gone and home has been stripped right back to basics - presumably the "can't see what you're looking for? Visit Argos instead" flags will go up in these aisles at the weekend.

That's a problem I have in my local Sainsbury's- I got a £10 gift card for my birthday and the sort of stuff I would have spent it on was in those sections and was taken away when they moved the Argos into there. All that sort of stuff is still for sale in the Argos, but I can't use the gift card there, so I've been struggling to find something to spend it on- as I don't want to spend it on bog standard groceries!

The time I have used the Argos it was very quick and efficient though, much more so than the stand alone branch that we still have (next to Tesco, ironically).

[tillyoshea]

That's a problem I have in my local Sainsbury's- I got a £10 gift card for my birthday and the sort of stuff I would have spent it on was in those sections and was taken away when they moved the Argos into there. All that sort of stuff is still for sale in the Argos, but I can't use the gift card there, so I've been struggling to find something to spend it on- as I don't want to spend it on bog standard groceries!

Buy an Argos gift card with your Sainbury's one... or any other alternative brand from Sainsbury's wide selection of branded gift cards. Or just spend it on groceries and keep the £10 in cash.

[bilky asko]

To be fair I bought an LP player at Christmas in a Argos inside Sainsbury's and by the time I ordered the item and paid it was waiting for me with in minutes.

None of this "order number 243 to your collection point please" so I was very impressed. I do wonder though if the big Sainsbury's near me that has an Argos nextdoor will at some point knock through etc.

Has anyone tried "Shatliff" or "Cornball" as their secret order codeword when using the tablets?

[Alexia]

To be fair I bought an LP player at Christmas in a Argos inside Sainsbury's and by the time I ordered the item and paid it was waiting for me with in minutes.

None of this "order number 243 to your collection point please" so I was very impressed. I do wonder though if the big Sainsbury's near me that has an Argos nextdoor will at some point knock through etc.

Has anyone tried "Shatliff" or "Cornball" as their secret order codeword when using the tablets?

Clook.

[Nick Harvey]

Clook.

Maybe.

[cwathen]

So this weekend my high street branch of Argos closes and moves into a concession within Sainsbury's 300 yards away. I genuinely never saw this happening especially as there isn't sufficient room inside the branch for Sainsbury's, let alone Argos as well.

Generally, I have been impressed with how well the Argos concessions work. They do seem relatively well stocked and service is fast, putting to shame many stand alone Argos stores, and I welcomed it expanding Argos to places that didn't have one.

Whilst it was inevitable that there would be some rationalisation of the store estate, I envisaged this more along the lines of where you've got retail parks with both an Argos and a Sainsburys on them then they might well close the Argos down. But it is clear that they are going far beyond that, and very quickly.

Next month, they are shutting a high street store in Bristol which has been there for at least 30 years and 'moving it' to a concession at an out of town Sainsbury's almost 2 miles away. If a distance within a couple of miles is deemed reasonable to relocate, I can think of numerous town centres which could potentially lose their Argos the same way, causing yet more gaps on the high street.

And whilst atm Argos seems to be working out well as a good acquisition, I can easily see a situation arising where in 5 years time they are starting to feel a bit top heavy after their Asda merger and they decide to 'refocus on [their] core retail offering' by selling off Argos, you have to wonder how much of a store estate of standalone Argos stores might be left to sell off by then.

One trick I do think they've missed is not introducing a sort of Sainsbury's concession inside out of town Argos stores (obviously except where there is a Sainsbury's on the same site). Nothing very big, no alcohol licence, no cigarettes, just a chiller unit with snack food, maybe also a small selection of newspapers and magazines, and a couple of self scans to purchase at. It would only need one person to look after all of it. When on most of out of town retail parks there is no food offering beyond maybe a Cafe in a DIY store and a greasy spoon trailer, I could see this working really well (not least of which it becoming popular with people working on the site).

[Martin Phillp]

I'd assume these Sainsbury's Argos concessions share storage space with the food store which would otherwise be not used?