High Street chain collapse sweepstake

[Zimba]

Almost wondering how long before Asda ends up in here, with the total mess it's ending up under the Issa brothers.

It does beg the question, are the big four too big to fail? The repercussions of Asda going bust would be seismic for the UK and would lead to areas without proper food provision. Could the other three really expand that fast to pick up the slack?

Wouldn't be too surprised if it was the Big 2 as Morrisons is just as bad, if not worse.

It's just not reported as much. The race to the bottom isn't working. Sainsbury's isn't exactly a million miles away either.

[WillPS]

Sainsburys is going from strength to strength presently.

Morrisons is recovering a little but is still quite bad.

Asda could well be terminal. I wonder what Wal Mart make of what's going on? They still have a share in the business.

[Blewatter]

Almost wondering how long before Asda ends up in here, with the total mess it's ending up under the Issa brothers.

It does beg the question, are the big four too big to fail? The repercussions of Asda going bust would be seismic for the UK and would lead to areas without proper food provision. Could the other three really expand that fast to pick up the slack?

I suppose it depends on where you live. In my area of the UK, I live between 2 towns, I live within 2 miles of two big supermarkets- A Tesco Extra (which is closer, but only by a half mile), and an ASDA. There is also an Aldi near our motorway junction. In that sense, we're rather lucky, in the sense that if one of those supermarkets hypothetically closed, we would be fine.

Conversely, where my Girlfriend lives, there's two big supermarkets, and they're both ASDAs. They do have a Lidl and an Aldi nearby, but the superstores are both ASDA, so if they closed, then there would be an issue.

[Zimba]

Sainsburys is going from strength to strength presently.

Morrisons is recovering a little but is still quite bad.

Asda could well be terminal. I wonder what Wal Mart make of what's going on? They still have a share in the business.

I don't know but I kind of want to say Morrison's in a worse place than ASDA.

ASDA is going through a blip but at least their estate is in order. Morrison's cost cutting is really getting noticeable recently especially when they're at the stage that they're not turning the heating and lights on to save money, there's no trolleys and there's always broken fridges and freezers - god only knows what it's like behind the scenes.

The Morrisons Reddit is rather interesting on how broken everything is behind the scenes though, the staff on there really aren't bothered about sharing stuff which probably shouldn't be out in the public.

[cwathen]

Almost wondering how long before Asda ends up in here, with the total mess it's ending up under the Issa brothers.

It does beg the question, are the big four too big to fail? The repercussions of Asda going bust would be seismic for the UK and would lead to areas without proper food provision. Could the other three really expand that fast to pick up the slack?

Worth thinking about, but aside from the odd edge case, are there really areas large enough to make a full format supermarket from one of the big 4 viable, but not large enough to have more than one? I can think of even relatively small towns with limited surrounding catchment that still have at least 2 of the big 4, on top of at least one of the challengers and co-op too.

But if there are and the operator collapsed, would one of the remaining 3 not want to quickly snap it up in order to cash in on the monopoly?

That said, I would be very concerned if Tesco or Sainsbury's ever looked to be in trouble since they have ended up with huge estates of small format stores which are often heavily relied upon as the only source of (vaguely) well ranged and affordable food for people who don't have a car.

[all new Phil]

I don't know but I kind of want to say Morrison's in a worse place than ASDA.

ASDA is going through a blip but at least their estate is in order. Morrison's cost cutting is really getting noticeable recently especially when they're at the stage that they're not turning the heating and lights on to save money, there's no trolleys and there's always broken fridges and freezers - god only knows what it's like behind the scenes.

Yeah but at least you can now take a seat next to the deli counter in Morrisons.

I’ve noticed an odd selection of trolleys and baskets in my local Morrisons has appeared lately. As well as the traditional deep trolleys, shallow trolleys and wire baskets, we now have weird half length plastic trolleys and ones like in Lidl that you drag behind you.

The strategy in Morrisons these days appears to be to pander to the old people who’ll moan at whatever they do anyway, rather than try to appeal to anyone under 60 with - you know - nice quality products. See also the horrible “bargain” deals section that look like a jumble sale.

[WillPS]

Almost wondering how long before Asda ends up in here, with the total mess it's ending up under the Issa brothers.

It does beg the question, are the big four too big to fail? The repercussions of Asda going bust would be seismic for the UK and would lead to areas without proper food provision. Could the other three really expand that fast to pick up the slack?

Worth thinking about, but aside from the odd edge case, are there really areas large enough to make a full format supermarket from one of the big 4 viable, but not large enough to have more than one? I can think of even relatively small towns with limited surrounding catchment that still have at least 2 of the big 4, on top of at least one of the challengers and co-op too.

But if there are and the operator collapsed, would one of the remaining 3 not want to quickly snap it up in order to cash in on the monopoly?

That said, I would be very concerned if Tesco or Sainsbury's ever looked to be in trouble since they have ended up with huge estates of small format stores which are often heavily relied upon as the only source of (vaguely) well ranged and affordable food for people who don't have a car.

Pwllheli has only an Asda nearby, and a long drive to the next place with any provision (Porthmadog?), but that's the only Asda dependent town I can think of. Quite a few have only a Sainsburys or a Tesco in Norfolk.

Actually, just checked and apparently an Aldi opened in Pwllheli literally yesterday. Not big 4 but would certainly ease the closure if it were ever to happen.

I'd find it quite hard to live off just a Co-op, even a bigger one, but Aldi/Lidl would be perfectly easy I think.

[Zimba]

I don't know but I kind of want to say Morrison's in a worse place than ASDA.

ASDA is going through a blip but at least their estate is in order. Morrison's cost cutting is really getting noticeable recently especially when they're at the stage that they're not turning the heating and lights on to save money, there's no trolleys and there's always broken fridges and freezers - god only knows what it's like behind the scenes.

Yeah but at least you can now take a seat next to the deli counter in Morrisons.

I’ve noticed an odd selection of trolleys and baskets in my local Morrisons has appeared lately. As well as the traditional deep trolleys, shallow trolleys and wire baskets, we now have weird half length plastic trolleys and ones like in Lidl that you drag behind you.

The strategy in Morrisons these days appears to be to pander to the old people who’ll moan at whatever they do anyway, rather than try to appeal to anyone under 60 with - you know - nice quality products. See also the horrible “bargain” deals section that look like a jumble sale.

You're lucky with the trolleys. There's numerous stores around here which must be close to single figures of trolleys, at all, lately. It's really not a good impression having to hunt around a car park for a trolley before you can go shopping. Blyth, Byker and West Denton all being particularly bad.

Yeah I don't get that junk sale stuff either guess it fills the gap where the party zone used to be with the chair you mentioned.

It's going down hill fast I know that, mind it even seems the OAP's have moved on now as you can't get parked at Sainsbury's for them lately whereas it used to be pretty quiet really. Rather ironic because I never stepped in the place either until quite recently after getting sick of how crap ASDA and Morrisons are (used to do the shop between them). All Aldis fault though...

[Charlie Wells]

With regards to Morrisons one thing has improved in the past year. The cafe now has an '8 item breakfast' option, where you can select what you want. No more having to order the standard breakfast and pay extra for items you want, even if you'd asked to remove a different item.

Also, at my nearest store the 4 'self service' conveyor belt trolley tills have been removed. These used to be incredibly frustrating, not least as the scanning and bagging area were temperamental. In its place is an expanded self-service area, with the more familiar (and reliable) style of checkouts, some of which have wider baskets for bigger shops.

[all new Phil]

With regards to Morrisons one thing has improved in the past year. The cafe now has an '8 item breakfast' option, where you can select what you want. No more having to order the standard breakfast and pay extra for items you want, even if you'd asked to remove a different item.

Big fan of this. In fact this was my lunch today.

[Pete]

With regards to Morrisons one thing has improved in the past year. The cafe now has an '8 item breakfast' option, where you can select what you want. No more having to order the standard breakfast and pay extra for items you want, even if you'd asked to remove a different item.

Big fan of this. In fact this was my lunch today.

Morrisons pre-buttered toast has always been an outlier in... erm... the world