Supermarkets in Shetland - prices, ethics and experiences

[icepick239]

Here's an example of how great the town centre shops are..I bought a camera from a well knows camera shop in the town centre in Lerwick 3 days after i got it the screen packed up so i went back with it i got nothing but cheek from a jumped up little boy about 15 year old who said i must have dropped it which was not the case i asked to speak to the boss and was told he was out so i said i could see him in the back shop when i said that i was told he was to busy to speak so i ended up having to go to the C.A.B. with it once they got there claws into them they backed down the owner .C.H. told me a lie when i picked it up saying it had certainly had a knock and it had cost £75.00 to fix it which they had payed for my hastle ..This was all a load off bull a young lass who was working there at the time told told me afterwards they fujifilm had replaced it at no cost because it was a fault with it from new..Is that how to keep customers i dont think so...Good on you Tesco's go for it and good luck...

If all of this is gospel, you did nothing wrong, so name the Shop, the Owner and the 15year-old runt whose job was to serve the public to the best of his ability..

I would think that the 'Trading Standards" people might be interested in this scenario.

Hope you're now happily snapping away.

[umph]

I hear Harrys is selling jam and biscuits i widna tink he even towt tae ask at Don Leslies / Brucefield stores / Alex Morrison's / Lochside stores / Bolts / Sound service station / if it wis ok we dame tae tak some o dir trade i niver tink it decause they dont give a toss about nobody but themselfs...Another thing does Harry Jamieson and Laurence Smith and there familys and staff do there weekly shopping at Don Leslies / Brucefield stores / Alex Morrison's / Lochside stores / Bolts / Sound service station na i niver tink it they go to the coop and Tesco's where they might pick up a bargain or twa...Dats more than there coustomers ever get..

[Para Handy]

The Town Centre complaining about ethics how ironic is that.

It’s kind of like the Church say they will all be non-prophet organisations.

[JustMe]

It does not help that the town centre does not meet a lot of peoples needs. For example both computer shops are out at Gremista......maybe due to the high rents of town centre shops.

 

In fact I think that the street is going to remain with an odd mix of shops but it will still attract locals for the banks, the charity shops, the post office and the chemists. I think it will attract visitors for the same reasons and I can vouch for charity shops attracting visitors........not just in Lerwick but right down in Devon........at least on the less sunny days.

 

Best thing the street traders can do is accept that they can not compete on price alone with Tesco or the Co-op (or the internet) but they can attract both locals and visitors if they are prepared to ensure that prices are sensible, goods are of reasonable quality and that service is good and friendly.

 

And on the topic of service I can honestly say that the only time I received poor service in a town centre shop this year so far the person concerned did apologise when they realised they had a customer waiting.

[Frances144]

For me it is all in customer service. Grunt and you will lose me as a customer. Be chirpy and helpful, and I will be prepared to pay extra and give you my custom.

 

I like shopping local. I try so hard. Sometimes, it can be very disheartening.

[Skunnered]

The Town Centre complaining about ethics how ironic is that.

It’s kind of like the Church say they will all be non-prophet organisations.

[jibjab]

Bottom line is Tesco has a broad range at reasonable prices, I have 4 children and shop for all there needs online as there is nothing in the town other than out of date expensive clothes. As for toys - most of them in the town are out of date and far to expensive. They are the sort of toys you would find on a street market down south. The only place i visit in the town is the bank or boots or clives. I think the shop owners in town need to get to grips with competition and work for there money like the rest of us do. If you want shetland to thrive you need to give people reasons to stay, Not lose people because they cant afford to live here.

[number 7]

well said jibjab, there isnt a big magnet at the tescos roundabout that pulls you there way ! or snipers shooting you if you continue on into the town ! no one makes people go in the doors of tesco apart from there own decision to shop there ! the monopoly days are over !

[mogling]

I really do not like this 'disposable society' we live in, where things are deliberately made to wear out or break quickly so we have to keep buying new stuff

 

I would rather save up and buy something dearer, and hopefully better quality, in the hope it will last longer...

 

I feel, if things are very cheap, they have been produced at somebody else's cost - child labour in other parts of the world?

 

It is very difficult trying to buy Ethically - you never know whether to believe the claims made by retailers and manufacturers?

 

 

I read a while back that tesco Clubcards have RFID chips in them...

I just Gooooogled to see what I could find out, and found this rather interesting article:

 

http://www.newstatesman.com/life-and-society/2007/06/tesco-supermarket-mother-data

 

 

Quote from the end of the article:

"the next time you are bargain-hunting for double Clubcard points on cut-price bananas, remember the proud boast of a certain Tesco marketing manager who said: "The scheme is driven by this simple piece of plastic, but every time you shop with us we record all there is to know about you."

 

 

I also read a while back that the reason TV has gone Digital is to free up the analogue wavebands for all the planned RFID tagging... Whether this is true, I don't know. Will we ever know?

 

 

 

This is an interesting but disturbing wee advert for IBM RFID-tagging and shopping. Some people will say; "That'll be great!"

Like Nightclubbers in some places abroad and over here too getting 'chipped' so they don't have to carry purses / wallets to pay for their drinks, but, personally, I don't like the idea of {hidden} RFID-readers all over the place tracking and recording my movements and shopping habits!

[daveh]

Firstly, because an an item is cheap, it doesn't mean that they have been produced at someone else's cost. It is economy of scale.. The fixed production costs are recovered after so many are produced; thereafter, the producer just needs to recover the variable costs and add-on a small profit. The more he sells, the bigger the profit with the ulimate customers benfitting from a lower price. The retailer could, of course, sell the item at cost (or even less than cost) in order to bring the customers in who would then, hopefully, buy other items where a profit can be made.

 

Secondly, if someone wants to know what I buy each week then I have no problems with that. I have a Boots loyalty card, a Tesco loyalty card and a Co-op loyalty card and I wouldn't worry were they to get together each month to talk about what I have bought. In fact, were they also to submit a monthly report to MI5, about the variety of baked beans etc that I have purchased, then I would give them my blessing to do so.

[unlinkedstudent]

... Secondly, if someone wants to know what I buy each week then I have no problems with that. I have a Boots loyalty card, a Tesco loyalty card and a Co-op loyalty card and I wouldn't worry were they to get together each month to talk about what I have bought. In fact, were they also to submit a monthly report to MI5, about the variety of baked beans etc that I have purchased, then I would give them my blessing to do so.

 

I have a problem with it going to M15 - blimey, if the Spooks are going through peeps' shopping habits (unless, of course, you have purchased God knows how much DIY stuff and chemicals that could make a home-made bomb) then perhaps that is a large saving to be made in this climate!

 

Yep, I know they keep track of my shopping habits - so WHY do the coupons they send nearly always relate to items I don't buy or they want me to spend £80 when they know we don't go above £60 in order to get money off?

[daveh]

They will always entice you to buy other things and to return to the store. I similarly have a co-op voucher here but will go to Tesco next week instead.

[HN38]

relating to the tesco extension here, i think they have every right to sell what they want tesco is far cheaper then most shops in town and for once it will be good for people to have the opertunity to shop with lower prices. i feel that a few places in lerwick charge stupid prices as people dont have the option to go to lower priced places like they do on the mainland. if the town centre does become A GHOST TOWN as people seem to think then they should attempt to lower there prices to give people a reason to shop in the town.

why buy expensive stuff when you can get the same thing cheaper else where????

[JustMe]

mogling wrote

I feel, if things are very cheap, they have been produced at somebody else's cost - child labour in other parts of the world?

Trouble is that there is little to stop the dearer products having been produced the same way with the brand just getting extra profit from producing cheaply but selling as a premium product.

 

As for child labour it is well to remember that it is not that long (well in evolutionary terms) since child labour was phased out in the UK. Also in some countries it is still the case that child labour is essential for feeding the family. Wrong?.......of course......but it needs to be phased out gradually so that the very children we are trying to help do not simply starve.

[tom thumb]

i have noticed in the town a mobil phone £29.99, the same in tesco (shetland) £19.99, special offer in asda aberdeen £9.99.

 

you pay your money you NOW have a choice