Tesco buying Woolies

[jazzactivist]

I heard on the radio yesterday that Tesco is now planning to buy out Woolies. It really made my blood boil, as that is such a low thing to do - to wait until a shop has gone into receivership and closed and then buy it very cheap instead of stepping in and taking it over with good grace and a good price when it is struggling to keep going. This is especially important in rural towns where Woolworths has often been the main big shop in the town centre, and where there has often been a campaign to fight off a new Tesco store and save their high street. It doesn't improve my general view of Tesco at all, as I think that it is a very aggressive company that doesn't care what and who it manipulates and steps on to make its huge profits. I must admit to also thinking that people who shop there must also be tainted with this same attitude, as they know what Tesco is like but still support it. What do you think? Is this attitude 'just business', or a cause of some of society's problems?

[eleanor2]

i dont like tescos at all.even tho they supply a lot more and do bargains.which i like a bargain.but i dont shop there.i can see what you are saying jazz.they seem to move in and shove everyone else out.because they can supplyeverything at a cheaper price.on the radio however some-one was talking about the tesco manager being a brilliant business man.

[Clunkshift]

Jazz,

Don't blame Tesco for waiting until now; if anyone had bought Woollies before they were wound up, they wound have bought a £350 million debt. Any sensible buyer would wait until the receiver came in, then make an offer for the best high street sites.

If they did that in my local town it would be good as Woolies bought their site from Waitrose (who had earlier ousted the Co-op), who had to scale down and move up the road. Waitrose then sold out to Somerfield but they were then put out of business by a new big Sainsbugs that no-one local really wanted. So with Tesco in the high street with attached car park, Sainsbugs in a back road and M&S Food in the old Somerfield shops, we might have some decent competition.

[Crocus]

I'm trying to look at a positive side of this, but won't this perhaps secure some jobs again? Will Woolworths be carrying on with business as usual or is there some other plan Tesco has with buying Woolworths? xx

[keepersdaughter]

I heard some time ago about Tesco buying a huge piece of land somewhere outside London, south of the river I think, where they were planning on building a whole community of sorts; houses, etc with a big Tesco at the centre. I don't know if this ever went ahead. Do Tesco now have their fingers in pies other than supermarkets (no pun intended:rolleyes:)

In my Mum's small town she has no option to shop anywhere other than Tesco. All the small shops including greengrocers, wet fish, bakers have closed down to be replaced by several charity shops and small restaurants.
It has ruined what was once a nice, very small market town. The butcher is the only remaining hangon. He's (the shop) been there for nearly 100 years.
Just recently a small Marks foodshop has opened, it's very popular, but I think it caters more for prepared type foods.

[eleanor2]

just little things we could think of.i never buy newspapers or magazines from any big store.i always give my local newsagents the trade.

[jazzactivist]

Don't you think that Tesco is responsible for the demise of the the small shops in the high street, though? I don't think that a Tesco, Sainsburys, and M&S is good competition, clunk. I see it as big shops ousting the small ones that should rightfully be there. I think that if Tesco was going to buy Woolies then they should have done so earlier and taken on the 35 million debt, which they can very easily afford, thus making sure that Woolworths' creditors weren't out of pocket either. Maybe more jobs will be created, but they probably won't be for the Woolworths staff who have just lost theirs. I shiver with horror at the thought of a Tescotown, keepersdaughter. Imagine your whole life governed by a company that values cheap above all else!

[Clunkshift]

Our local town was destroyed by the district council that allowed Waitrose, and later Sainsbugs to build there. In my addled memory it wiped out 2butchers shops, 2 greengrocers and 1 bakers shop - all of which were in the high street.

Fortunately there is small town slightly further away that is saved by its "historic" image and no big supermarket has been allowed anywhere near. So small shops survive very nicely.

Our village is large and athwart a main road. It is a dormitory village for middle management and the self employed but maintains a butcher, baker, greengrocer, fish & chip shop, filling station with convenience store, Indian restaurant and Chinese takeaway (oh and the post office was shut and taken over by Tesco). I think that by determindly shopping locally and only branching out to local farm shops, the big boys are limited to delivering our heavy, frozen or bulk buys and the local Tesco has to deliver newspapers or they would lose their regular customers too.

Losing Woolies is a shame in some ways, but I think that the local sweet shops and hardware shops will benefit in the long run.

[keepersdaughter]

I couldn't find any info regarding the proposed development I had heard about, but I came across this in the online Daily Telegraph today. I hadn't realised just how large Tesco was becoming or indeed, how they are developing more in the housing industry.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2937801/Size-matters.html

[jazzactivist]

Thanks for the link to the article, keepers. Disgusting!. I don't think that the government should allow such major expansion, or companies to enter into areas of business in which they have little expertise. I was especially surprised that in the article it states that nationally £1 in every £8 is spent in Tesco, and in Inverness 51p in every £1 is spent there. Inverness is a large town with quite a reasonable range of local shops, so if everyone shops in Tesco that will mean that the town will turn into the exact thing that the locals all complain about - a tourist town full of tourist gift shops! Likewise, local authorities should not be allowed to sell land to big businesses where there is likely to be any adverse impact on the existing local business infrastructure. LAs are supposed to carry out a needs assessment regarding this but, in my experience, this usually consists of asking a few people in the street whether they would like a wider range of shops in their area and, of course, people who only think about their own immediate needs say "yes". Grrr! I really dislike Tesco style corporate behaviour and hope that we don't all end up slaves to Tesco in my lifetime...

[Clunkshift]

Stop Press!

Our local Woolies is one of 51 that have been bought up by Iceland (the frozen food chain, not the country), so Tesco are being kept out of our highstreet for a while longer.

Clunk x

[jazzactivist]

That's a bit of better news, clunk, although I'm not sure if Iceland are any better than Tesco when it comes down to it. Nonetheless, I guess that it is all better than having great big empty shops right in the middle of towns, which makes palces look very unkempt and depressing. Our nearest Woolies in Kendal is being taken over by Bargain Homes, and the one in Ulverston is going to become a Tesco Extra! What a pity Councils don't have the foresight to turn the prime Woolies shop sites into mini markets where local, small traders who can't afford their own retail shop could rent a section each...

[Clunkshift]

Jazz,

there has been another benefit, the town council is doubling the street/farmers markets to twice a month and seriously considering a weekly saturday market. I would welcome this as being a good outlet for farmers and small traders in the town centre.