I just read in the Guardian financial pages that Somerfield is up for sale. Sainsburys, Asda, Waitrose and Morrisons are all interested in buying some of the stores, apparently.
Fingers crossed for Waitrose in Sydenham!
Liz
Somerfield up for sale
Given that Morrisons sold the site to Somerfield, there is a Sainbury’s within walking distance and Waitrose is only a 5 min drive away – I guess that would make Asda the favourite.
Last edited by kster on 18 Jan 2008 15:27, edited 1 time in total.
Well according to The Times, Waitrose have expressed an interest in buying some of the Somerfield stores rather than the business as a whole:
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/b ... 207294.ece
Whilst I love Waitrose and would welcome them here with open arms, I rather suspect that they won't be buying up the Sydenham site. There must be many other Somerfield stores in more attractive areas and they would probably prefer a much larger site. But happy to be proved wrong!
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/b ... 207294.ece
Whilst I love Waitrose and would welcome them here with open arms, I rather suspect that they won't be buying up the Sydenham site. There must be many other Somerfield stores in more attractive areas and they would probably prefer a much larger site. But happy to be proved wrong!
Thanks for the article Thomas - very interesting. We shop in Somerfield all the time and noticed that the Sydenham store has improved tremendously over the last few months - I'm not surprised that overall their Christmas takings were up. Given that Morrisons pulled out of Sydenham I don't think they are likely to come back - and I think that Asda is generally looking for much larger stores. Aldi is ruled out because we have a Lidl, and the area is knee-deep in Sainsburys... that probably leaves M&S and Waitrose... or, as Lizzie says, the Coop - which I too would welcome - they've improved massively and have lots of organic and fair trade lines - including Fair Trade wines. Ironically there was a Coop when we first moved here - in the 'Sydenham Hypermarket' premises.
-
annabel mclaren
- Posts: 115
- Joined: 1 Oct 2004 19:55
- Location: thorpes
-
georgemichael
- Posts: 51
- Joined: 28 Aug 2007 20:15
- Location: sydenham
I think Waitrose would much rather spread out throughout the country, especially the SouthWest (there are none west of Okehampton) and towards Scotland.
Website which speculates where Waitrose will open stores:
http://www.ukbusinesspark.co.uk/waitrose.htm
Website which speculates where Waitrose will open stores:
http://www.ukbusinesspark.co.uk/waitrose.htm
As a store it's too small for asda, they wouldn't be interested. It's a bit big for a Tesco Metro or Saisbury's Local. But its good for a Waitrose, M&S rr an Argos.
As a business Tesco and Asda can't buy it due to the Monopolies commission, they wont be allowed. Morrisons sold it in the first place so probably aren't interested. So that leaves Iceland, Netto or Waitrose or M&S.
It makes the most sense for Waitrose and M&S due to the changing demographic, plus the fact that Somerfield is a similar pricepoint to Waitrose for a weekly shop (fact, believe it or not it's true).
I vote for Waitrose over all of them. There are plenty of places for our cheap stuff in the high street, but what if we want to treat ourselves?
WAITROSE PLEASE.
As a business Tesco and Asda can't buy it due to the Monopolies commission, they wont be allowed. Morrisons sold it in the first place so probably aren't interested. So that leaves Iceland, Netto or Waitrose or M&S.
It makes the most sense for Waitrose and M&S due to the changing demographic, plus the fact that Somerfield is a similar pricepoint to Waitrose for a weekly shop (fact, believe it or not it's true).
I vote for Waitrose over all of them. There are plenty of places for our cheap stuff in the high street, but what if we want to treat ourselves?
WAITROSE PLEASE.
Perhaps people should email Waitrose - interest from Sydenham might just make them buy the Syd Rd store rather than another... both the Guardian and Times articles say that they are interested in some shops, not all. I would have thought that Iceland and Netto would not be interested because of Lidl.
I TOO VOTE FOR WAITROSE
I TOO VOTE FOR WAITROSE
Somerfield
I wrote in a previous posting that I heard over xmas on a business programme that Iceland was interested in Somerfield, so I am glad they have not been mentioned in this article as I never ever shop at Iceland and never intend to. I find Somerfield really useful and use it at least twice a week. Maybe their sales are up because some people like myself are trying to shop more locally as they tend to have small high street shops. I emailed Waitrose recently to ask them if they would be interested in Sydenham. I said this part of London was pretty short of high quality supermarkets (does anyone know where the nearest one is after Beckenham?) spurred on by someone else emailing Simply Food (I would prefer Waitrose presonally) and they just said they were looking to expand but sites they were considering had to be kept confidential. Fingers crossed! Co-op would be fine too though.
I popped into Somerfield today it has improved to some extent, but the service is still not very good.There is not much choice in the salad section or in the cold meat section.It would be lovely to have a decent supermarket! all we seem to have round here is Sainsbury, they have the monopoly in this area.
Hmmm... Dunno. That supermarket, even when Safeways, was always run on a shoestring IMO. They did a refit a little while ago. Presumably the turnover/profits they need just can't be made?
Mind you, I've seen a lot of peeps who simply give up re queues at the odd checkout that happens to be staffed. Sure, staff might not arrive (sick, resigned and replacement awaited etc), but the manager is meant to be running a supermarket where the intention is to sell things.
Short of a complete rebuild (massive investment), I'm not sure why a takeover company thinks it will fare any better?
In Feng shui, a shop luckily enough to have a corner site will fare better. Given Somerfield is on the junction with Girton Road, where car-park peeps would arrive from, perhaps change the entrance, whichever company? At the moment, the exit towards the car park is always closed, presumably to avoid pilferage (fair enough). As implied above, the desired "welcome" wow-factor is deffo missing and the current frontage probs says the reverse to me. Just thinking out loud.
Mind you, I've seen a lot of peeps who simply give up re queues at the odd checkout that happens to be staffed. Sure, staff might not arrive (sick, resigned and replacement awaited etc), but the manager is meant to be running a supermarket where the intention is to sell things.
Short of a complete rebuild (massive investment), I'm not sure why a takeover company thinks it will fare any better?
In Feng shui, a shop luckily enough to have a corner site will fare better. Given Somerfield is on the junction with Girton Road, where car-park peeps would arrive from, perhaps change the entrance, whichever company? At the moment, the exit towards the car park is always closed, presumably to avoid pilferage (fair enough). As implied above, the desired "welcome" wow-factor is deffo missing and the current frontage probs says the reverse to me. Just thinking out loud.
Re the exit that is always closed in Somerfield, apparently you can still use it as I heard an assistant saying to a customer the other day they would just have to push the door open.
I also think Somerfield has improved over the past few months although I only pop in every now and again and it is more expensive than Sainsbury's. However, a Waitrose would be great (again pricey though!) or a Co-op.
I also think Somerfield has improved over the past few months although I only pop in every now and again and it is more expensive than Sainsbury's. However, a Waitrose would be great (again pricey though!) or a Co-op.
My view is that Somerfield is way more expensive than just about anywhere else, including local shops and even "metros", presumably to support their Bogofs - though they are good value of course... Don't see how you can make profits in Sydenham if your main customer base is for Bogofs though. Still, I'm not complaining.
Price point means how much they charge, its marketin speak that I have (unfortunately) picked up from working with some of these supermarket sin the past).
Somerfield is roughly the same amount of money per week as Waitrose for a full basket of shopping. Various consumer groups do buying tests with set items. They buy the cheapest available version (own brand if possible) os each item on the list.
ASda is normally cheapest, second is Tesco, third is Sainsburys, fouth morrisons. Waitrose and Somerfield swap places and are very similar, but waitrose don't have value lines, done so many offers and have far better quality and far more ethical food than probably all the supermarkets. I work with Tesco designing their packaging and they regard standard own brand waitrose lines the same as their Tesco finest products. IN comparison, for top range products, Waitrose are actually cheaper.
ASDA are so off the scale when it comes to ethics I would never shop there is at all possible.
I worked with Waitrose in the past and they were great to work for, its a totally different company compared to the other supermarkets.
Somerfield is roughly the same amount of money per week as Waitrose for a full basket of shopping. Various consumer groups do buying tests with set items. They buy the cheapest available version (own brand if possible) os each item on the list.
ASda is normally cheapest, second is Tesco, third is Sainsburys, fouth morrisons. Waitrose and Somerfield swap places and are very similar, but waitrose don't have value lines, done so many offers and have far better quality and far more ethical food than probably all the supermarkets. I work with Tesco designing their packaging and they regard standard own brand waitrose lines the same as their Tesco finest products. IN comparison, for top range products, Waitrose are actually cheaper.
ASDA are so off the scale when it comes to ethics I would never shop there is at all possible.
I worked with Waitrose in the past and they were great to work for, its a totally different company compared to the other supermarkets.
Somerfield
Kster - it takes me longer than five minutes to drive to Beckenham's Waitrose - more like ten. I agree with lee about Waitrose being more ethical - that is one of the reasons I would support them above Simply Food.