Supermarkets in Shetland - prices, ethics and experiences

[paulb]

OK salmon with your obvious business accumen please explain how a country grocers can evolve in the face of tesco's undercutting, or world foods with the limited customer base that is a fact of life in Shetland.

Please enlighten us oh great one.

And please explain how tesco selling petrol at mainland prices would not be unfair to local garages seeing as local garages pay 9p/litre more for their petrol wholesale than you pay at the forecourt in aberdeen.

then there supplier will have to reduce there over charging to compete. or they go bust. why should we pay an irish company more than the rest of the uk.

[Guest Anonymous]

the irish company supplying fuel to shetland wont go bust paul they will just stop supplying shetland with fuel then we will all have to get our fuel from tesco and low and behold the price will rise to the current 16p/litre more than the mainland once again but this time it will be tesco doing the screwing.

 

but seeing how salmon is the voice of tesco on Shetlink then i would like him to answer this one

[paulb]

why do you think they will pull out its a very good earner. so its either be shafted by tesco or them. nah they will compete. if not then a local supply system would be set up. tesco would be supplied by tanker on the ferry. so whats to stop the country stores doing the same.

[Ghostrider]

^^ Locals very likely couldn't import by tanker load to compete with Tesco, as Tesco is buying in such volume on the mainland that they can bung an occasional tanker load up here and sell it at some level of profit cheaper than an independent could get a tanker load to Aberdeen docks.

 

Unless the local independents club together an form a buying co-op, buy the North Ness depot and bring in their own buy dedicated ship, they really have very few options. But who's gonna go for that with the moving of the North Ness depot on so many wishlists.

 

Either Tesco screws the local filling stations and the existing monopoly wholesaler, or they negotiate with the wholesaler who in turn screws the local stations. Chances are we'll end up with two main filling stations, Tesco's and the current wholesaler's (ex-Leask's), and they'll agree to tolerate each other much as Tesco and the Coop do just now over groceries etc.

[daveh]

Quite often, in the 2 years that Tesco has been open, they were giving out 5p off per litre vouchers to get fuel with. Totally useless here, of course, but it would be great to be able to use them in Shetland at last.

[Keedle]

When Tescos were giving out 5p off litre vouchers I sent them to my son in Aberdeen who profited from them !!!

[engineer21]

i have found (as i live 50% of my time in aberdeen) that on some occasions Tesco fuel (where i normally fill up south due to clubcard points) is sometimes more expensive than shell (generally held as being better quaility fuel) many differnt opionions on that).

so the 5p off would bring them just under or inline with other stations. so be aware that just cos you get 5 p off dosent make it cheapest always.

 

tesco are not cheapest at everything the internet can be much cheaper but it pays to shop around (even in lerwick) lets face it we care about no 1 you know the money you earn and who you have to support i.e your family so you can decide if you have enough to support local shops and pay an inflated price in some cases or buy south. for me its the fact that you have the choice! just becasue tescos is here does not mean you must ues it no one forces you. but if 80% of ppl in shetland want to use it then better its here as it supports a lot of jobs (as opposed to not having tescos and people buying from south) because iam sorry to say i will never buy electrical equipment (tvs - Dvd player) from bolts its all top of range sony etc and much more expensive than south with an aftercare service that isnt worth £500 extra.

 

Choice is a very very good thing!!!

[Billy/T22]

i think tesco is a good supermarket for the cheap and well priced food etc.. but i feel as there new clothes they have put in are poor quality.

tesco has bad ethnic problems and it is not fair that they are going to interupt other companies in shetland and put them out of business... they are the traditional and very good quality companies. We have benifited from many of them... the Co-op was here before tesco and it will go down the drain if we all keep shopping at tesco.. i agree the Co_op should get a better range of foods in to help itself and maybe reduce the prices but to be honest we should stick with the companies that need us the most!

[Salmon]

OK salmon with your obvious business accumen please explain how a country grocers can

evolve in the face of tesco's undercutting, or world foods with the that is a fact of life in Shetland.

Please enlighten us oh great one.

And please explain how tesco selling petrol at mainland prices would not be unfair to local garages

seeing as local garages pay 9p/litre more for their petrol wholesale than you pay at the forecourt in aberdeen.

 

I repeat...Tesco will treat the North Sea as nothing more than a motorway,

it will no longer be the big divide or excuse for people to rip off the folk in Shetland.

 

...............

 

country grocers , limited customer base

The motor car has become a part of life and a means of gathering (no need to hunt any more).

 

.................

 

How much more expensive is Shetland Seafood on the mainland than Scottish farmed or net caught.........

it has to be the same price or cheaper (forget better quality as a sales pitch it don't wash on the market)

to compete...who suffers the Shetland connections, staff and owners.

 

Tesco create a level playing field for sales and service in reverse

 

boy, you need to go to business school

 

Local garages should shift there focus to providing a fair and reasonable service to vehicular sale, repair and service.

 

 

 

.

[Salmon]

i think tesco is a good supermarket for the cheap and well priced food etc.. but i feel as there new clothes they have put in are poor quality.

tesco has bad ethnic problems and it is not fair that they are going to interupt other companies in shetland and put them out of business... they are the traditional and very good quality companies. We have benifited from many of them... the Co-op was here before tesco and it will go down the drain if we all keep shopping at tesco.. i agree the Co_op should get a better range of foods in to help itself and maybe reduce the prices but to be honest we should stick with the companies that need us the most!

 

Billy i was just off to bed when i saw your post.....come on when did you first see buy one get one free at the COOP ?

i'll tell you...the day after Safeway opened in Shetland, these offers had been on the Mainland for years.....the COOP has done Shetland no favours.

 

As far as ethnic problems are concerned ....don't judge another country by your own standards.........

 

In India some children collect cow dung in the street to provide for their family.....do we say that's not right, give these kids skipping ropes so as they have a normal upbringing.

 

Guess so that's another story?

 

 

.

[Guest Anonymous]

lots of bovine waste and no answer to the question salmon

[Roachmill]

And let us not forget how tesco sold millions of gallons short to their beloved customers down south not that long ago Salmon. Tesco are not god in case you need reminding once more

[shetlandpeat]

The trouble with Tescos, Pimarmani and Peacocks is the impact they have on the charity shops. Selling a brand new shirt for a fiver will drastically reduce the prices charity shops can charge for second hand items. Some of the more organised charities will have national guidlines for prices that may not reflect local saturation.

And eventually everyone will come to the ball wearing the same Tesco Gown.

 

Song time

 

 

Lets all go to Tescos

Where Shetlanders get their best clothes

 

La la la.....

 

La la la...

 

Seen it happen here in various town I have lived in.....

[paulb]

but thats the diffrence in preston you have the choice. up here we did not. i think your forgetting how limited the amount of choice there is. i will not argue about a teeshirt for 4 quid when it would cost a lot more from a local shop. thats if i could get one to fit which i could not.

[shetlandpeat]

Apart from using it as device to get folk through the door I feel it actually removes choices. To get to those cheap clothes you have to walk through the food section.

There is also the fact that to produce clothing so cheap, ship to the UK then distribute means that there is a opening for abuse at the lower end of the chain. As no proof with the stores mentioned, there has been some comments in the past.

The clothing is not always of good quality, for a couple of pounds more you may get an item that lasts a couple of seasons rather than just the one.

Primark continually change their stock, so, there could be more pressure to keep up with the fashion and not with practicability.

I have already heard in the pubs up there that if jeans are only 3 pounds, it is cheaper to buy a new pair for work every week or less than to buy proper work wear and clean it. An increase in landfill and charity shops again being flooded with substandard clothing, only usable as scrap or to get charged by the local authority to get rid of.

My only thought is that although Tesco will supply cheaper clothing, the human and environmental costs are so hidden. A Fair Isle jumper is more for the Shetland climate than a polyester/cotton mix. I have a jumper of my grandads still, I will still wear it even though he had no use for it since 1997. Even if the jumper cost 30 pounds to make (it was hand made) it makes it a little over 2 pounds a year.

The throwaway attitude will diminish the need for repairs to clothing. A small rip, fixed with a little cotton thread, a button off.

The overall cost will continue t escalate.

 

But, Tescos and the others are not there to not make a profit.

 

And I agree that the less well off will have clothing at a cheaper price.

 

Oh, the choice....internet and the such is around to stay, shoppin on line, free delivery now included on some things.

 

Shetlanders did have a great deal of choice, they also used to get off the Islands more often for those weekends shopping in Aberdeen. Now you don't have to leave at all.

 

IMO