Tesco - the supermarket that's eating Britain

http://www.channel4.com/news/dispatches/article.jsp?id=1266

Did anyone see this? I went off Tesco a while ago for a variety of reasons, but this was really interesting.

Damnit. I meant to watch that but I completely forgot! They filmed part of it in our town - Tesco has destroyed our high street. They tried to build a store on a tunnel over the railroad tracks (not enough land in Britain? Just create your own!) The tunnel colapsed and now we are stuck with the steel shell of a Tesco on top of a half-colapsed tunnel smack in the middle of the high street.

I hate them with a passion.

Not to mention every time I've ever bought sweet potatoes there they've rotted within two days.

HATE Tesco. Hate them hate them hate them.

Yes, I saw it.  However, I still shop at Tesco & don't plan on stopping anytime soon.  Those shows are full of bias scare-tactics and they could probably make a similar one about every supermarket chain in Britain.

And the end of the day, Tesco is a business, trying to make money.  No business is ever 100% honest & pure, because then they wouldn't turn heavy profits.  Tesco wins my business because it provides AFFORDABLE groceries in a day when a lot of prices for consumer goods are getting entirely out of hand.

That said, I shop at whatever's closest to where I am living.  At my old UK residence, I shopped at Sainsbury's, because it was cheap & close (well, cheap compared to the big Waitrose also close by).  Now I shop at Tesco because it's cheap & close.  Until I can afford to be choosy with my shopping (and many people simply can't), then I have to live big business.

Wal-mart gets the same flak in the US.  It's a never-ending battle in capitalist culture.

Hmmm. I think Tesco is way worse than the other supermarkets here. I don't think Dispatches is known for scare tactics TBH but I could be wrong. But even though I'm on a tight budget, I am actively looking to put my food pounds where it counts - as locally and as fairly as possible.

Those shows are full of bias scare-tactics and they could probably make a similar one about every supermarket chain in Britain.

While I totally agree that many have to shop at these chains for many reasons, whether it's convenience or cost, I can attest that at least part of that programme was not made up of scare-tactics. They've honestly destroyed our high street. You should see it. Maybe I'll take pictures one of these days. And it's been like that for a couple of years now - the tunnel collapsed 2 summers ago and still the now rusted shell is there. And what is even more aggravating is that many small shops closed in the months before the construction was meant to finish because they knew they wouldn't be able to compete. So now we have empty storefronts and have lost several family owned shops (including the only green grocer) and yet the flippin' Tesco still hasn't been completed.

I shop at Sainsburys, Fresh & Wild, and a small health food store in town, and occasionally Waitrose.  I always hated Tesco from the very first time I shopped there.

I saw some of it, the bit about what happened in Cardiff. It was very interesting. Shopping where we live (Inverness) is dominated by Tesco. There is a huge Tesco extra in one retail park and a slightly smaller one in another and I believe there are 2 other Tesco stores somewhere.  Aside from that we have a Morrisons in the town centre and a Lidl in one suburb but I haven't been there so not sure how big/good it is.  I do shop at Tesco because there's no choice really! On the plus side, the Extra store does have almost everything we would need, including some hard to find ingredients. On the downside, I am not impressed by some of the quality of their fruit & veg and there is no greengrocer around here.  There are still a few butchers & fishmongers and a monthly farmers market so we buy from those most weeks.

I also ended up going to Tesco opticians because it was easier than making a special trip into town for that. I wasn't very impressed, I think I'll go somewhere else next time.   

There is a rumour Sainsburys is going to open a branch here at some point ... can't wait.  Tesco is also the only one that does home delivery here. Since we moved here I sometimes feel my life is being taken over by flipping Tesco!!!!

Yes, I saw it.  However, I still shop at Tesco & don't plan on stopping anytime soon.  Those shows are full of bias scare-tactics and they could probably make a similar one about every supermarket chain in Britain.

I don't think so, because the stats they quoted showed Tesco has 50% of the market cornered.

Hmmm... maybe after he conquers cable, Richard Branson will take a look at the big grocery chains - Virgin Groceries, anyone?

Every supermarket is 'eating Britain'.  With perhaps Waitrose as an exception, supermarkets care not one jot for the environment, for carbon footprinting or ethical treatment of animals, for the economic wellbeing of their suppliers, or for the health of their consumers.  If they say they do, well, they're lying, and it is all a PR stunt. 

Unfortunately, while many of us would like to shop at Waitrose, Fresh and Wild and farmer's markets all the time, the supermarkets have us by the short and curlies, as they have this great advantage over ethical traders.  They're cheap.  And while the comfortable middle classes can afford to only buy locally sourced, organic, fair trade and community focused goods, most people don't have the time or the money to be so picky. How many of us have time to read local planning applications each week to get our objections in? 

It will take a lot for the trend to be reversed.

Vicky

Hmmm... maybe after he conquers cable, Richard Branson will take a look at the big grocery chains - Virgin Groceries, anyone?

I thought the same thing!!

*awaits Tesco delivery for tonight----especially the cheese(mature) and crackers(Jacobs)!!*

Wal-mart gets the same flak in the US.  It's a never-ending battle in capitalist culture.

Yes but aren't capitalism and free market economic strategy supposed to lead to greater competition? Tesco is buying up so many supermarket sites that their competitors can't get a look in.

Apparently Tesco has been trying to get its claws into Bath for quite sometime. I believe another proposal was put in, just for a Tesco Extra, and it was denied. Right now we only have a Sainsburys, Morrisons, small Waitrose, a Sainsbury's Local and a Co-op. I don't really have the money to shop at specialty stores, but I don't have the money to throw away quickly rotting Sainsbury's produce either. So I spend a little more and go to the greengrocer.

I boycott Wal-Mart at home and I'd probably do the same with Tesco. I try to use local businesses as much as possible. But to be honest, if I boycotted every company due to unethical behavior, I wouldn't have anywhere left to eat or shop!

Tesco is buying up so many supermarket sites that their competitors can't get a look in.

And they've been under investigation by the Competition Commission for quite some time!

Every supermarket is 'eating Britain'.

You're absolutely right. Tesco is the biggest and so is an easy target, but it's no worse than the other mega-monsters (even Fresh & Wild) when it comes to destroying small business on the high street.

I hate Tesco, but have no other option. For those of us living out in the country, it's tough. I do get my fruit and veg at a small greengrocer, and try to buy my fish in the local market, but small village shops are sadly a thing of the past.