Metropol

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60208462

The seven sites which will be closed are in Hull, St Helen's, Walton, Castle Bromwich, Middlewich, Barnsley and Liverpool North.

The sites which will be transferred to large Tesco stores are in Chatteris, Immingham, Edgehill, Rubery, Sheffield and Wakefield.

The demise of Jack's reminds me of the failure of the Bunnings stores under Homebase's previous ownership.

In both cases, only a dozen or so stores were converted to the new brand name and format, and there was no nationwide ad campaign to promote the brand (because the small number of stores didn't justify the cost).

You can't just dabble around in such a nervous, half-hearted fashion if you seriously want to become a rival to Aldi or B&Q.

Looks like more changes have been announced today.

Tesco puts 1,600 jobs at risk as it ends overnight restocking
Tesco has warned 1,600 jobs are at risk as it ends overnight restocking at some stores and converts some petrol sites to pay-at-pump during the night.
<snip>
Overnight restocking will switch to the daytime in 36 big stores and 49 convenience stores.

The chain also plans to convert petrol stations in 36 stores to pay-at-pump only during overnight hours.

Full article: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60213085

Martin Phillp wrote: Mon 31 Jan, 2022 17.36 Tesco are axing the meat, fish and deli counters and closing Jack's.

I get the feeling stuff like this will go round in a circle. In the early 90s you had a deli, no fish, meat, chicken, bakery etc, then they were introduced, now they are being axed

Give it 10 years and someone will come up with the idea of having manned counters again

But at the moment why keep them when customers only focus is on price.

Regarding Jacks, the only one I was aware of was one in Rawtenstall, and it seemed to get recoverted back to a Tesco very quickly, years ago. I’m sure it barely lasted a year.

rdobbie wrote: Tue 01 Feb, 2022 05.50 The demise of Jack's reminds me of the failure of the Bunnings stores under Homebase's previous ownership.

In both cases, only a dozen or so stores were converted to the new brand name and format, and there was no nationwide ad campaign to promote the brand (because the small number of stores didn't justify the cost).

You can't just dabble around in such a nervous, half-hearted fashion if you seriously want to become a rival to Aldi or B&Q.

I think that's perhaps unfair. There was never an intention to replace Tesco but augment their standard offering. It's quite normal for big companies to do things like this when shut them all having "learned valuable lessons".

See for example the Greggs Moment coffee shop / posh cakes / no pasties chain that was in the north east. All closed down but the parts of the coffee offering that worked and elements from their interiors were then rolled out to the new style Greggs with the higher spec seating areas.

Andrew wrote: Tue 01 Feb, 2022 22.22

Martin Phillp wrote: Mon 31 Jan, 2022 17.36 Tesco are axing the meat, fish and deli counters and closing Jack's.

I get the feeling stuff like this will go round in a circle. In the early 90s you had a deli, no fish, meat, chicken, bakery etc, then they were introduced, now they are being axed

Give it 10 years and someone will come up with the idea of having manned counters again

But at the moment why keep them when customers only focus is on price.

On the one hand I think it's a pity these counters appear to being axed from all stores, rather than being retained at the larger Tesco Extra stores. On the other hand I can't remember the last time I used them, and if needed I could visit the local butchers in town or I imagine Waitrose in town still has its counters.

On a different subject whilst Tesco has their handheld scanners it's slightly surprising they haven't launched an Apple/Android mobile app equivalent as an alternative option. Their rivals Sainsbury's opted for the mobile app route, and from browsing the app store I believe Jacks also had one.

I rather get the feeling Tesco were getting ready to pull the plug on Jacks a couple of years before the event occurred; the optics of closing a supermarket when they were needed more than ever would have been poor.

I've barely used a counter because so often they're just serving the same that's in the fridge. There's already 800 size packs of cathedral city in the aisle, why do I need it cut, surely it should be specialist cheese.

I used to get canadian cheddar from Tesco and Sainsburys but turns out that Brexit has killed this off as we no longer get a customs refund being outside the EU so its not profitable to import cheese from Canada anymore. Wonderful. (This was literally confirmed by the distributor of the particular cheese, in case anyone doubts me blaming brexit)

The Pizza counter at sainsburys is great though, and I wonder if my local Tesco had something similar to the Morrisons hot food counter offering I've seen in Tyneside if I'd use it. Maybe this is the way forward to complete with deliveroo etc

Pizza counters annoy me. Every time I try to use one, they scribble down what I want and tell me it’ll be ready in half an hour. Why can’t they just bloody do it there and then? Surely that’s the point of them?

Before it closed, the butcher counter at my local Sainsbury's would package up steaks, chops, chicken breasts etc, label them and put them in a fridge in the chilled aisle. A totally pointless exercise that looked rather desperate.

Waitrose are axing the free daily newspaper offer with the MyWaitrose card from the 22nd February.