RIP Safeway: 1962-2005 - Morrisons have finally done it

[Square Eyes]

I see what cwathen and co mean. Driving past what used to be my local Safeway today, I just couldn't believe my eyes what they'd done to it, surely this takes the biscuit ?

[nwtv2003]

here is a snap of happier days from my safeway scrap book. its a shame you cant see the fruit and veg signage on the frontage though isnt it. i doubt sir ken would approve of the woman on the left wearing male attire, its not the kind of thing that is done in yorkshire.

I'm sure Sir Ken would probably approve of this one more....



Our Morrisons' isn't too bad really, due to the fact that it was built in 1994, so it isn't that outdated. I've been past that shoddy one in Leeds and I just couldn't believe how busy it was when I went past it a couple of years ago, despite the fact it looks like a 1970's hellhole.

[Andrew]

with mock tudor beams and artex cladding in the leeds branch AND their banana display system, morrisons really are thinking outside of the box aren't they. it almost seems they are aiming themselves at ironic customers, people who want to shop there because its so odd.

Oh yes, the store in the Leeds Merrion Centre, not to be missed, untouched since the 70's. Legend has it that the retro M O R R I S O N S facade is in fact covering a modern sign featuring fruit and vegetables.

Post your Morrison photos here.

The whole of the Merrion Centre is like that though. There's a Woolworths just opposite that is stuck in the 70s as well.

[Gavin Scott]

I see what cwathen and co mean. Driving past what used to be my local Safeway today, I just couldn't believe my eyes what they'd done to it, surely this takes the biscuit ?

Oh my goodness. That is on Leith Walk in Edinburgh, about 10 mins from my flat.

Is there something you want to tell me, Squarey?

[Pete]

why are there two policewomen on that photo?

[Square Eyes]

Oh my goodness. That is on Leith Walk in Edinburgh, about 10 mins from my flat.

Is there something you want to tell me, Squarey?

I'm stalking you Gavin. I lie in wait in those wheely bins outside the Leith Walk branch of Morrisons.

I notice the store chose to take the revolutionary green banana cage idea to a whole new level and make it a feature of its shop frontage. That's the Scots for you.

[Square Eyes]

why are there two policewomen on that photo?

The woman in the white blouse and shades in the foreground looks to be gripping something, shouldn't there be something in her hand ? Or is she actually holding a balloon in the shape of a womans face ?

I can't work it out.

Are Morrisons staff all quite so 'zany' ?

[nwtv2003]

The whole of the Merrion Centre is like that though. There's a Woolworths just opposite that is stuck in the 70s as well.

Who is it then that decides which towns get regular store revamps and which don't. When I was at uni I noted that Bexleyheath for example has an M&S with 70s signage and the same goes for its Superdrug, whereas stores where I live in Sussex get revamped whenever the coroporate logo dictates.

The Marks & Spencer in Warrington's Golden Square Shopping Centre was built in 1976 and it's exterior's are still the same as they were in 1976, still with the tacky M A R K S & S P E N C E R on both sides, with still the same doors and most of the interior. Even the WHSmith's next door changed it's logo, as late as 1999/2000 they were still using the WHS cube logo. What's more bizzare is that the other M&S in Warrington, which was built in 1994 has changed it's logo whenever M&S does.

[nidave]

To be fair they seem to be trying to update the branding without changing the logo.
The layout of the TV ads with the resonably small logo on the bottom corner and the updated font is not bad.
The logo can look quite smart if its not huge and overstated.

[stu]

why are there two policewomen on that photo?

The woman in the white blouse and shades in the foreground looks to be gripping something, shouldn't there be something in her hand ? Or is she actually holding a balloon in the shape of a womans face ?

I can't work it out.

Are Morrisons staff all quite so 'zany' ?

The member of staff at my local Morrisons wasn't so zany when my bottle of shandy burst (oo err missus) all over the conveyor belt, splashing and fizzing over her and everything else. I was half expecting Beadle to appear.

But enough of this frivolity, what about Somerfield's selling of Kwik Save?

[Pete]

The Kwik Save in Kelso that they shut down still lies empty. Although at least they've finally gone and turned off the alarm that was sounding none stop for 3 months.