Companies That You Expect to Disappear Soon

[trash80]

Waitrose are still doing well (my wife's branch at Canary Wharf makes tons of cash anyway) but John Lewis is dragging the group down a bit. The fundamentals are pretty good though unlike some other dept stores.

 

[telstarbox]

As I work nearby I pop into the various Oxford Street department stores now and again. JL/Waitrose is streets ahead of Debenhams and ex-House of Fraser in terms of a nice environment to browse things.

 

[richw]

Waitrose are still doing well (my wife's branch at Canary Wharf makes tons of cash anyway) but John Lewis is dragging the group down a bit. The fundamentals are pretty good though unlike some other dept stores.

I'm not sure these figures released today cant be taken as indicative. They have made considerable debt repayment to make themselves stronger.

 

[BrendaRobinson]

Waitrose are still doing well (my wife's branch at Canary Wharf makes tons of cash anyway) but John Lewis is dragging the group down a bit. The fundamentals are pretty good though unlike some other dept stores.

My nephew is assistant store manager at a Waitrose store in the Midlands, he reckons as fast as they get the stuff out onto the shelves it's sold.

Which I found odd because the one Waitrose around here is full of overpriced tat.

Horses for courses, I guess.

 

[greyman42]

I'm not sure these figures released today cant be taken as indicative. They have made considerable debt repayment to make themselves stronger.

I agree. This is more 'business news' than 'frontpage news'.

 

[FQTV]

I'm not sure these figures released today cant be taken as indicative. They have made considerable debt repayment to make themselves stronger.

I agree that the 'results' are newsworthy, but the figures themselves don't suggest that JLP is in any trouble at all.

Sir Charlie Mayfield's suggestion that the profit fall is down to the competitive environment, the number of competitor promotions and JLP's price matching policy is patent twaddle at best, and a veiled threat at worst.

It's a little-known fact that the 'back-end' mechanics of Never Knowingly Undersold are that every price match is billed back to the supplier, to penalise them for selling the same product to a competitor more cheaply. There's an administration cost in billing the supplier, but JLP do not generally take the margin hit themselves.

So, playing that line this morning could well be part of the strategy to put more pressure on suppliers.

They're a good, perhaps great business, but they're not averse to a bit of behind-the-scenes bullying.

 

[route101]

WHSmith can also be quite funny sometimes. For example, at Glasgow Central they have 2 stores!

Forgot about the other one , i need to check its still there . It had a much more limited range of stuff .
Queen St , had a smaller stand by the low level platforms similar to Motherwell stall.

 

[route101]

Was in the Glasgow John Lewis which opened in 1999 , not changed at all , needs a facelieft

 

[Peter Mugridge]

It's a little-known fact that the 'back-end' mechanics of Never Knowingly Undersold are that every price match is billed back to the supplier, to penalise them for selling the same product to a competitor more cheaply.

Do John Lewis and Waitrose have a clause in the contracts with their suppliers that prohibit them from selling the same products to other shops at a lower cost? This could be a legal can of worms for them - if they don't, then can they legally penalise suppliers for doing so. If they do, is that not something which is likely to attract the attention of the Competition and Markets Authority?

 

[Darandio]

House of Fraser dropped another bombshell for customers today. Originally they released a statement on 16th August to say that all outstanding online orders would be cancelled and customers refunded. Now they have changed it and are saying that any orders made prior to the takeover on 10th August will now not be refunded and customers now have to contact the creditors to try and recover the money. Absolutely shocking but not surprising where Ashley is involved.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45520194

House of Fraser customers have been told that they'll get no refunds for goods ordered online but undelivered before the chain was bought last month.
New owner Sports Direct said people must "contact the administrators" to chase their cash. They will join a long queue of other creditors - meaning there'll be little chance of getting their money back. One customer told the BBC: "I am fuming about this whole situation and just want my money back".

Mike Ashley's Sports Direct agreed to buy the department store for £90m on 10 August hours after the 169-year-old chain went into administration when talks with its creditors failed to reach an agreement. But on 15 August they took down the website, leaving online customers in the dark about their goods orders or their cash. After an outcry from customers, House of Fraser on 16 August said it would refund customers and also cancel all online orders.

But this week a spokesperson for House of Fraser told the BBC: "The comment made on social media on August 16 can by definition only relate to orders received by the current company. "Any issues relating to purchases made prior to August 10 must be referred to, and dealt with, by the administrators at EY. We have spoken to EY, who accept that orders taken prior to August 10th must be dealt with by them." In other words, anyone who made an order before the takeover and owed money will be in a long line of creditors owed money. That means it's likely they will only get a small part of the money they are owed back.

 

[SteveP29]

Forgot about the other one , i need to check its still there . It had a much more limited range of stuff .
Queen St , had a smaller stand by the low level platforms similar to Motherwell stall.

There are 2 at Newcastle too, one either side of the gateline

 

[SteveP29]

Debenhams and or House of Fraser, word on the shop floor is that Ashley is considering merging the two

 

[Clip]

Debenhams and or House of Fraser, word on the shop floor is that Ashley is considering merging the two

If he owned the two then he could but he doesnt so cant right now

 

[185143]

WHSmith can also be quite funny sometimes. For example, at Glasgow Central they have 2 stores!

3 at Man Picc!

 

[318266]

God no...

 

[bussnapperwm]

I'll give Jack's a few months before Tescos decide it's a failure and closes the stores

 

[yorksrob]

I'll give Jack's a few months before Tescos decide it's a failure and closes the stores

Difficult to see what it would add over their existing shops.

 

[cactustwirly]

Difficult to see what it would add over their existing shops.

Their existing shops are failing to attract customers, due to the presence of Lidl & Aldi.
The whole point of Jacks is to compete with Lidl and Aldi, to win back the customers they lost.
They are doing what any good business should do, and that's adapting your business to a changing market, which is precisley what they failed to do in 2014.

 

[yorksrob]

Their existing shops are failing to attract customers, due to the presence of Lidl & Aldi.
The whole point of Jacks is to compete with Lidl and Aldi, to win back the customers they lost.
They are doing what any good business should do, and that's adapting your business to a changing market, which is precisley what they failed to do in 2014.

They pretty much lost my business when they stopped stocking my preferred type of canned beer.

 

[underbank]

They pretty much lost my business when they stopped stocking my preferred type of canned beer.

They lost my business when they started pushing up prices of individual items to make their occasional BOGOF and 4/6/12 pack offers look better. They thought their customers were fools. Not to mention the way they've actually reduced their stock lines so there is a much smaller choice of goods on offer, and instead you have whole shelves/sections of the same thing. There's just sooo much you can't buy in Tesco anymore. They've definitely lost the plot.

 

[yorksrob]

They lost my business when they started pushing up prices of individual items to make their occasional BOGOF and 4/6/12 pack offers look better. They thought their customers were fools. Not to mention the way they've actually reduced their stock lines so there is a much smaller choice of goods on offer, and instead you have whole shelves/sections of the same thing. There's just sooo much you can't buy in Tesco anymore. They've definitely lost the plot.

Quite. They used to do very well by having a good range of value products which enabled people to feel that they could afford luxury items.

Now they and Sainsburys seem to have moved to this model of 'local' shops which are more or less guaranteed not to have the product you're looking for.

 

[Typhoon]

Not to mention the way they've actually reduced their stock lines so there is a much smaller choice of goods on offer, and instead you have whole shelves/sections of the same thing. There's just sooo much you can't buy in Tesco anymore.

All the supermarkets stock the same things. Anything that comes in varieties - yoghurt or fruit juice flavours, soup varieties and biscuits (like the iced coffee flavour ones I ate as a kid - all the same. I find Asda the best - goodness knows what it will be like when Sainsburys take over.

Edit: underlined!

(Asda is the company I expect to disappear soon, Sainsburys will renege on their promise and yank up the Asda prices to close on the Sainsburys price, which will drop slightly. They will claim that is what consumers want.)

 

[GrimShady]

Abellio ScotRail

 

[underbank]

I find Asda the best - goodness knows what it will be like when Sainsburys take over.

Ironically, there are several products that are only stocked by our nearest Sainsbury, that our Asda, Tesco and Morrisons don't stock (full sized stores, not locals). Not obscure items either - one in particular is the MrKipling Treacle Tart and another is Baxters soup. Both our Asda and Morrisons have an awful bakery too - stale "fresh" baguettes, fruit scones with no fruit, etc - Sainsbury is head and shoulders better. It means that our normal weekly shop is done at Sainsbury.

 

[Iskra]

The bread is not fresh, it is delivered in frozen and then ‘freshly baked’ in store. This is why it tastes dry.

 

[richw]

The bread is not fresh, it is delivered in frozen and then ‘freshly baked’ in store. This is why it tastes dry.

Sainsburys at least is freshly mixed, when I was employed there (up until fairly recently) I watched them emptying the huge flour bags into the mixer thing.

 

[BrendaRobinson]

The bread is not fresh, it is delivered in frozen and then ‘freshly baked’ in store. This is why it tastes dry.

My wife is a baker at an Asda (one of the larger ones, granted) and they most definitely do make and bake their own products in-house; hence her having to be in work when most of us are about three hours into our nightly kip.

I would imagine that the smaller stores (all supermarket brands) do as you say and buy the stuff in frozen; that way they don't have to pay the going rate for "a fully qualified" baker.

It's the same if you eat out at what I call ping-chef establishments; i.e chain restaurants that have their stuff frozen and all the "chef" has to do is put it into a pre-programmed microwave and dollop it up.....those "chefs" won't be on 1/3 of what a fully qualified chef would demand.......but then the chains couldn't afford to sell you a curry and a pint for £5 if they were employing properly qualified kitchen staff, would they?

 

[TheEdge]

I'll give Jack's a few months before Tescos decide it's a failure and closes the stores

Absolutely, I don't think it'll be long before Jacks just becomes the new version of Tesco own brand in their normal stores. Aldi and Lidl are not just trading on their prices, it's their price and quality. I tend to find Aldi quality is just outstanding. Their Specially Selected range is generally excellent and their normal lines are decent quality. I doubt that Jacks will match that.

From my laymans point of view Aldi and Lidl seem to have absolutely tied up that corner of the market and it probably isn't really worth the big guys trying.

 

[yorksrob]

Ironically, there are several products that are only stocked by our nearest Sainsbury, that our Asda, Tesco and Morrisons don't stock (full sized stores, not locals). Not obscure items either - one in particular is the MrKipling Treacle Tart and another is Baxters soup. Both our Asda and Morrisons have an awful bakery too - stale "fresh" baguettes, fruit scones with no fruit, etc - Sainsbury is head and shoulders better. It means that our normal weekly shop is done at Sainsbury.

I had to traipse all the way to Elephant and Castle just to find a proper Sainsbury's in London, yesterday.

No doubt it will be turned into a crummy Sainsbury's 'local' forthwith.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Tesla.