The Unofficial Sainsbury's Thread

[Martin Phillp]

I’d be interested to understand more about where Sainsbury’s problems lie. Their convenience stores are arguably the best out of the main players in terms of quality and range. I’d suspect it’s their big stores that are suffering - the one near me tends to be my supermarket of choice if I want to walk rather than drive (otherwise Morrisons obvs) but standards are noticeably slipping. Seems to be always clogged up with ugly cages of stock (it’s not a very big store) and some of the products are questionable (a huge Jewish-focused range despite there being no real Jewish community nearby, and quite a large home section which is frequently all reduced to clear). Their products are great, the prices aren’t too bad either, so to me it must be the shopping environment.

I'd agree with this. My superstore has just finished having a slight refit after squeezing Argos in. The cages are a major irritation, especially in the chilled section. There's no effort to remove them during busy periods, so shopping on a Saturday afternoon in those isles you end up having to give way to other customers with trolleys or waiting for a customer to leave the area.

They've actually made it worse since the refit. Customer Services until Saturday had a lovely large area where they could do multiple inquiries. It has merged with the kiosk instead.

[Critique]

Sainsbury's stores in general seem to be much more tired in general IMO. Locals seem to get their original fit-out and then are left as-is for a very long time - have seen plenty of old fascias knocking about (although this is true too, albeit to a lesser extent I think, for Tesco) and inside stores looking quite tired. At my nearest local they've added a coffee machine (not Costa Express) and made a nice little area with fake tiling behind it etc, but the rest of the store is unchanged and a little shabby. In contrast, even just updating the aisle signage across the Tesco estate makes the stores as a whole look much less dated.

Definitely agree also about slipping in-store standards - loss of night hours to restock and generally not seeming to care about cages on the shop-floor in the middle of the day makes things look untidy. Store perceptions won't be helped by the relatively old self-service checkouts many Sainsbury's seem lumbered with - in contrast the Tesco UI is faster anyway and more and more stores are getting new checkouts which are faster in general.

[Martin Phillp]

Another reason I think for cages being left lying around is due to shelf stackers also being till trained, as they let go of some checkout operators, so you end up during those very busy periods with staff being seconded to the tills with the cages lying around for hours at a time.

I can guarantee if I go into Sainsbury's on a Saturday afternoon or Sunday, the call for till trained staff happens with regularity.

I think we'll see more of is under utilised space being filled by concessions. My store now has Argos, Starbucks, Lloyds Pharmacy and Sushi Gourmet.

[simonipswich1]

The deal is off.

I cannot believe anybody involved really thought there was a chance that it might be allowed, without a sale of a quarter to a half of the estate (which is surely the same as blocking any such deal practically).

Leaves Sainsbury's in a hole, for sure.

I bet one of my local branches are relieved that the merger is off, the Hadleigh Road store had been earmarked to be closed and sold off.

[WillPS]

The deal is off.

I cannot believe anybody involved really thought there was a chance that it might be allowed, without a sale of a quarter to a half of the estate (which is surely the same as blocking any such deal practically).

Leaves Sainsbury's in a hole, for sure.

I bet one of my local branches are relieved that the merger is off, the Hadleigh Road store had been earmarked to be closed and sold off.

Really? I didn't realise any closure plans had been made public; the plan was supposedly to keep all the stores open. Of course we all know that would never have been allowed to happen...

[simonipswich1]

I cannot believe anybody involved really thought there was a chance that it might be allowed, without a sale of a quarter to a half of the estate (which is surely the same as blocking any such deal practically).

Leaves Sainsbury's in a hole, for sure.

I bet one of my local branches are relieved that the merger is off, the Hadleigh Road store had been earmarked to be closed and sold off.

Really? I didn't realise any closure plans had been made public; the plan was supposedly to keep all the stores open. Of course we all know that would never have been allowed to happen...

I know someone who works at the Hadleigh Road branch and they had been told if the merger went ahead it would be curtains for that store.

[WillPS]

Almost definitely just speculation then. JS hadn't acknowledged that they would even need to close any stores officially.

And of course the CMA would likely have required that relevant stores (or most of them) would need to be sold as going concerns (i.e. to a competitor, as happened post Safeway acquisition).

[Critique]

Looks like a Taste the Difference rebrand is imminent:



In my excitement at a 'scoop' I only took a photo of the logo and not the wider box...!

Looks quite nice but I do wonder if it suffers from the same issue that the old Tesco Finest packaging had, where that as everyone now uses handwriting fonts etc it doesn't look especially premium? Sainsbury's logo also seems conspicuously absent?

[bilky asko]

Looks like a Taste the Difference rebrand is imminent:



In my excitement at a 'scoop' I only took a photo of the logo and not the wider box...!

Looks quite nice but I do wonder if it suffers from the same issue that the old Tesco Finest packaging had, where that as everyone now uses handwriting fonts etc it doesn't look especially premium? Sainsbury's logo also seems conspicuously absent?

The current Taste the Difference branding doesn't stand out particularly well against the standard Sainsbury's brand for me. This new one looks a touch reminiscent of Lidl's standard range (which, looking at their website, is in the process of being changed).

I don't think it's brilliant but at least it will be distinctive.

[all new Phil]

I think it looks alright, but their own brand stuff looks pretty decent already.

Do any of the supermarkets still do value / budget ranges? I can’t picture any of them.

[bilky asko]

I think it looks alright, but their own brand stuff looks pretty decent already.

Do any of the supermarkets still do value / budget ranges? I can’t picture any of them.

Morrisons still have Savers (with the very spartan packaging), though I think the range has reduced slightly.

Tesco have splintered them off into things like Stockwell & Co. Grower's Harvest, Ms. Molly's, Tesco Basics for homeware stuff, the farm brands for the fresh items, and I think there are a few residual Everyday Value and Value branded items.

Sainsbury's Basics is definitely still about, I think it's been the same for around 5 years or so.

I'm not a regular visitor to Asda, but Smart Price still seems to be around, with significantly less green than before.