Companies That You Expect to Disappear Soon

[lookapigeon]

Lidl can hardly overtake anything and less they actually get enough stock in their stores, every time I go into one it's like old mother hubbard's cupboard and increasingly it's less of their own brand items and more branded goods at about a penny cheaper than Tesco offered for sale. Not what I'm looking for in a supermarket especially with the often slightly dubious customer service you get. I like Morrisons but certainly not as impressed with them since I moved to the south and a switch may well happen soon

I always think they've lost their way a little (Lidl?), before they were focused on hard value, getting people through the tills as quickly as possible, no frills.

I've noticed a lot less offers in the leaflet as the years ago by, with more of its pages dedicated to fluff - like the Lidl+ app and on page they've adopted the loyalty card 2-tier pricing structure for certain non food items. Perhaps this is a trial as everyone else seems to be doing it. There also seems to be a reformulation of the products periodically and switching suppliers, with not always good results.

 

[Peter Sarf]

I feel Morrisons' future looks uncertain after it was overtaken by Aldi in market share and likely will be again by Lidl soon.

If it hits the wall like Safeway years ago then Sainsburys & Asda probably will take on their stores as Tesco could be banned due to competition rules. Waitrose probably will also want a number of stores to keep up with M&S foodhalls.

I think since Morrisons has changed hands there are obvious changes. There seems t be a lot of belt tightening. I know my Croydon store has reduced its staff levels and it shows. More mess, less facing up, spillages left for hours. Blocked drain meaning the the condensation from the milk chillers overflows onto the floor. I see stock in cages chilled/frozen warming up and not getting put in chillers/freezers. I see the near dated stock not getting reduced and having to be thrown away. I notice there is more staff turnover. I encounter more out of date stock on the shelves.

But then this penny pinching is probably what will keep Morrisons head above water.

Morrisons biggest problem isn’t a small change in market share, it’s the unsustainable level of debt they’re carrying since the takeover. £600m in finance payments in the last financial year

But then this. Its always a bad sign when a business is making a living for money lenders. Interest payments are lost money.

 

[jon0844]

I think since Morrisons has changed hands there are obvious changes. There seems t be a lot of belt tightening. I know my Croydon store has reduced its staff levels and it shows. More mess, less facing up, spillages left for hours. Blocked drain meaning the the condensation from the milk chillers overflows onto the floor. I see stock in cages chilled/frozen warming up and not getting put in chillers/freezers. I see the near dated stock not getting reduced and having to be thrown away. I notice there is more staff turnover. I encounter more out of date stock on the shelves.

Our Asda has been a nightmare since the new owners came in, and they've cut staffing to the bone, only have ONE security guard a lot of the time (who can't leave the store - which means no dealing with people outside the store or by the petrol station), and have lost most of their trolleys (mostly students taking their shopping home). They also lost most of their baskets and had to use security tags for a while, and regularly run out of carrier bags.

This week the petrol station ran out of fuel for a number of days, and the toilets have been closed off (which were always disgusting and in the male toilets (can't comment on the female or disabled ones), only one of three cubicles had a door on it for months). Given the amount of security tags on the floor, perhaps having no doors is intentional - although not making any difference.

I doubt Asda is in any imminent trouble, but the owners certainly do seem to have an interesting way of running a business - especially the fuel side, given their background.

 

[Busaholic]

Our Asda has been a nightmare since the new owners came in, and they've cut staffing to the bone, only have ONE security guard a lot of the time (who can't leave the store - which means no dealing with people outside the store or by the petrol station), and have lost most of their trolleys (mostly students taking their shopping home). They also lost most of their baskets and had to use security tags for a while, and regularly run out of carrier bags.

This week the petrol station ran out of fuel for a number of days, and the toilets have been closed off (which were always disgusting and in the male toilets (can't comment on the female or disabled ones), only one of three cubicles had a door on it for months). Given the amount of security tags on the floor, perhaps having no doors is intentional - although not making any difference.

I doubt Asda is in any imminent trouble, but the owners certainly do seem to have an interesting way of running a business - especially the fuel side, given their background.

Almost makes you want the return of Walmart, doesn't it?

 

[Techniquest]

Almost makes you want the return of Walmart, doesn't it?

I could make many comments on Asda, and some on Walmart too, but as much as it's tempting I will refrain. Apart from to say that nothing would surprise me with the green team. I've only been into Asda twice in the last 2 and a bit months, and that is twice too often.

Before I get carried away, I've been to a works do, and yes I stayed to my teetotal ways you'll be glad to know, so here's one for the list:

Pubs which play music overly loud, and pubs that allow vaping indoors. My ears, more than 35 minutes after leaving, are still hurting! I'd have not gone if it wasn't one of my favourite people's leaving do, and I picked up some great tips from a fellow athlete in the first venue, so that was good

I definitely do not miss nights out though!

 

[Peter Sarf]

Our Asda has been a nightmare since the new owners came in, and they've cut staffing to the bone, only have ONE security guard a lot of the time (who can't leave the store - which means no dealing with people outside the store or by the petrol station), and have lost most of their trolleys (mostly students taking their shopping home). They also lost most of their baskets and had to use security tags for a while, and regularly run out of carrier bags.

This week the petrol station ran out of fuel for a number of days, and the toilets have been closed off (which were always disgusting and in the male toilets (can't comment on the female or disabled ones), only one of three cubicles had a door on it for months). Given the amount of security tags on the floor, perhaps having no doors is intentional - although not making any difference.

I doubt Asda is in any imminent trouble, but the owners certainly do seem to have an interesting way of running a business - especially the fuel side, given their background.

Trolleys. They get left opposite our house, sometimes 4 or 5. It is due to one family nearby - they always take a trolley home but they are too thick to take it back next time they go shopping.

I could make many comments on Asda, and some on Walmart too, but as much as it's tempting I will refrain. Apart from to say that nothing would surprise me with the green team. I've only been into Asda twice in the last 2 and a bit months, and that is twice too often.

Before I get carried away, I've been to a works do, and yes I stayed to my teetotal ways you'll be glad to know, so here's one for the list:

Pubs which play music overly loud, and pubs that allow vaping indoors. My ears, more than 35 minutes after leaving, are still hurting! I'd have not gone if it wasn't one of my favourite people's leaving do, and I picked up some great tips from a fellow athlete in the first venue, so that was good

I definitely do not miss nights out though!

Sounds to me like your getting old (but you will never catch up with me).

 

[Techniquest]

@Peter Sarf Yes I am, and my ears finally are almost back to normal

 

[richw]

Our Asda has been a nightmare since the new owners came in, and they've cut staffing to the bone, only have ONE security guard a lot of the time (who can't leave the store - which means no dealing with people outside the store or by the petrol station), and have lost most of their trolleys (mostly students taking their shopping home). They also lost most of their baskets and had to use security tags for a while, and regularly run out of carrier bags.

I live in the middle of a triangle of 3 asdas, each about 15 miles away so I vary which one I visit.
All 3 seem to have a lot of product shortage. Also a Lack of staff about.
The create your own pizza counter are regularly closed due to technical difficulties at all 3, not sure what’s technical about a person putting toppings on a pizza by hand.

As for Morrisons my local store has a broken freezer. It’s about 25% of their freezer space. It’s been broken for several years. Doesn’t give a good impression that they’ve got a budget to fix things

 

[jon0844]

Trolleys. They get left opposite our house, sometimes 4 or 5. It is due to one family nearby - they always take a trolley home but they are too thick to take it back next time they go shopping.

I believe our Asda stopped using the company it contracted to collect trolleys in the local area. I know in the past you could report a trolley near you and it was retrieved but now they just stay for days/weeks and when they disappear, it's more likely someone came and took it as scrap metal than it getting back to the store.

 

[WibbleWobble]

A lot of WH Smith High Street branches have closed in the North West over the last few years, namely Blackpool, Blackburn, Accrington, Barrow-in-Furness, Wigan, St Helens, Leigh, Birkenhead, Chorley, Crewe and Widnes, I think this is in order to only concentrate on locations it deems Profitable, the most profitable one in Northern England is the store in York, I am lead to understand.

In terms of Lloyds Pharmacy the local branch I use has just been taken over by Cohens.

Leigh's was an experimental "Local" franchise with Cannings (who have since closed down). The "Local" sub-brand only lasted a few years, but I think was ditched in the 2018 review, which saw a number of stores closed due to falling profits.

The Post Office tie-up doesn't seem to be a dead cert profit-wise, the store in Ringwood closed late last year despite housing the town's post office (which has since been taken up by someone else).

I would imagine something that will probably also help is the new concession arrangement with the relaunched Toys R Us.

 

[Peter Sarf]

I live in the middle of a triangle of 3 asdas, each about 15 miles away so I vary which one I visit.
All 3 seem to have a lot of product shortage. Also a Lack of staff about.
The create your own pizza counter are regularly closed due to technical difficulties at all 3, not sure what’s technical about a person putting toppings on a pizza by hand.

As for Morrisons my local store has a broken freezer. It’s about 25% of their freezer space. It’s been broken for several years. Doesn’t give a good impression that they’ve got a budget to fix things

Oh yes my local Morrisons has a free standing freezer display that is forever beeping out its alarm. It drives me away from the ends of the nerest isles.

As for "technical difficulties". I finally worked out why the cutting service in B&Q kept breaking down but would be working other times. It was a lack of trained staff - I worked it out when I noticed the sign would go up as the relevant staff member went home !. I asked and was told they had to be trained - fair enough and I suppose that technically that is a technical difficulty.

I believe our Asda stopped using the company it contracted to collect trolleys in the local area. I know in the past you could report a trolley near you and it was retrieved but now they just stay for days/weeks and when they disappear, it's more likely someone came and took it as scrap metal than it getting back to the store.

Yes I wonder if Morrisons do collect their trolleys up as there is little interest when I tell them where to look for 4 or 5. I suspect that a few scrap men have learnt where to drive on the off chance. Metal is worth quite a lot these days although surely nowhere near as much as a working trolley is. I have taken a trolley back before but the slope from left to right (or vice versa) on the pavements kills my back.

---

Here is a new at risk company (well sort of) - HS2 .

 

[GatwickDepress]

I think since Morrisons has changed hands there are obvious changes. There seems t be a lot of belt tightening. I know my Croydon store has reduced its staff levels and it shows. More mess, less facing up, spillages left for hours. Blocked drain meaning the the condensation from the milk chillers overflows onto the floor. I see stock in cages chilled/frozen warming up and not getting put in chillers/freezers. I see the near dated stock not getting reduced and having to be thrown away. I notice there is more staff turnover. I encounter more out of date stock on the shelves.

But then this penny pinching is probably what will keep Morrisons head above water.

But then this. Its always a bad sign when a business is making a living for money lenders. Interest payments are lost money.

My local Morrisons has had Deliveroo since the Pandemic, and it's absolutely knackered the already stretched staffing levels - in the evenings, you can have three or four colleagues running around doing orders, which means three or four people not replenishing stock or code-checking. It's an absolute shambles and the store is far worse for it.

There is a reason why it's the smaller shops that generally utilise delivery apps.

 

[jon0844]

I used to have people running around Morrisons for Amazon deliveries and they push and shove to get their goods (they're on the clock) so I just don't bother to go there anymore. No idea if it's still as bad now, but if you add in Deliveroo and others then it must be chaotic.

 

[Peter Sarf]

I used to have people running around Morrisons for Amazon deliveries and they push and shove to get their goods (they're on the clock) so I just don't bother to go there anymore. No idea if it's still as bad now, but if you add in Deliveroo and others then it must be chaotic.

Yes. I have noticed the pressure they are under. They quite often nearly walk into people as they are busy on their mobile/tablet. And as for the chime - drring - that the tablet makes each time an order comes in that drives me mad.

 

[Techniquest]

If that's the Deliveroo one, the one in my local Asda doesn't ever stop making its horrendous noise. It can be heard halfway across the shop! The place has JustEat, Deliveroo and UberEats all at once, and the pressure of the job of usually one solo person to do all of that plus the rest of the jobs they have, well it's driven a lot of good people to suffer mental health problems.

I absolutely refuse to use those services, due to the immense pressure it puts on people for nowhere near the money they deserve. That goes for the drivers/riders as well as those picking orders, it's just ridiculous. As far as I'm concerned, it's time society got much less lazy. Understandable if it's down to illness/injury, then I would agree that a delivery service is a good idea if it helps to stop the spread of illness. That is not what a lot of orders can be like though, a more common order is something like a big bottle of vodka, tobacco and rolling papers and maybe a small food item.

As you may have noticed, I have way too much experience of dealing with such companies!

Don't start me on Morrisons either, the way they jacked their prices up but hardly ever stock what I want/made it that much smaller/less tasty to make it not worth it! I have to be desperate to walk into a Morrisons!

 

[jon0844]

If you can't easily get out, surely you don't need something in a matter of minutes. But the company doesn't want anyone taking their time.

We learned years ago how dangerous it was when pizza delivery firms promised money back if not delivered in 30 minutes (with people actually dying in accidents as people raced to deliver on time). The pizza places stopped that promise.

But now we're back to the same level of urgency, even if the customer isn't given a promise and doesn't get money back. It's now the store/delivery service putting their staff under pressure to deliver so they can get on to the next order.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

At risk of straying into the territory of the Supermarkets thread (if that ship hasn't already sailed) I certainly hope Morrisons won't disappear soon. Whilst they are far from perfect from a customer service point of view, they do at least have a much better range than the other big chains. They also retain proper staffed counters, and seem to recognise that not everyone wants or needs to buy an entire herd of steaks at once. I'm happy to pay a little more for certain items if it cuts down on waste.

 

[Russel]

At risk of straying into the territory of the Supermarkets thread (if that ship hasn't already sailed) I certainly hope Morrisons won't disappear soon. Whilst they are far from perfect from a customer service point of view, they do at least have a much better range than the other big chains. They also retain proper staffed counters, and seem to recognise that not everyone wants or needs to buy an entire herd of steaks at once. I'm happy to pay a little more for certain items if it cuts down on waste.

I used to really like Morrisons, their salad bar was really good, but it's looked a real mess recently, infact the last one I had, I'm convinced made me ill all weekend as I started to feel rather sick a couple of hours after eating it...

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I used to really like Morrisons, their salad bar was really good, but it's looked a real mess recently, infact the last one I had, I'm convinced made me ill all weekend as I started to feel rather sick a couple of hours after eating it...

One of the frustrating things about the current owners is that their lack of attention to detail and lack of sufficient staff training/support is likely to undermine the good aspects of the business such as still having proper counters. I also worry that some new management will come along and think "all the other supermarkets have got rid of their counters, so we ought to do the same"... and then we'll be stuck with all of the "big four" being equally crappy.

 

[GatwickDepress]

You'll take my Morrisons pies from my cold dead hands.

 

[Peter Sarf]

One of the frustrating things about the current owners is that their lack of attention to detail and lack of sufficient staff training/support is likely to undermine the good aspects of the business such as still having proper counters. I also worry that some new management will come along and think "all the other supermarkets have got rid of their counters, so we ought to do the same"... and then we'll be stuck with all of the "big four" being equally crappy.

It the race to the bottom.

I have heard that Morrisons are thinking of ditching the bakery and a few other fresh counter (deli I think). I fear "Market Street" is lost on the new owners. My local has recently added a cafe selling "fresh home cooked food" but it turns out it is basically hot toasties and pies - nothing you could call a knife, fork and plate meal !.

 

[Swanny200]

In ours, they had the cafe, which takes up a lot of room but is hardly ever full, they do a trade at lunch when all the staff from the local primary schools have lunch, but that is it. 2 years ago they used to have a large space on the way out where they put their promotions (stupid place to put it if you ask me), they moved all that and had a coffee shop, 8 tables and it was always full, in the recent refurb, that has gone and the cigarette/lotto counter has replaced it. Our Morrisons is odd though as when you walk in and go right, there is no barrier and there is an estate agent and the pharmacy.

 

[gg1]

It the race to the bottom.

I have heard that Morrisons are thinking of ditching the bakery and a few other fresh counter (deli I think). I fear "Market Street" is lost on the new owners. My local has recently added a cafe selling "fresh home cooked food" but it turns out it is basically hot toasties and pies - nothing you could call a knife, fork and plate meal !.

The deli counter at my local Morrisons has gone notably downhill the past couple of years. The most common item I used to buy from there were olives which used to be very good, nowadays they're really no better than pre-packed olives and their range of deli counter cheeses is somewhat more limited too.

The other major irritation is they don't have a scan as you go option (not sure if it's Morrisons generally or just my local store) leaving you with a choice between a usually lengthy queue at a manned checkout or one of their horribly unreliable self scan checkouts.

 

[Busaholic]

The deli counter at my local Morrisons has gone notably downhill the past couple of years. The most common item I used to buy from there were olives which used to be very good, nowadays they're really no better than pre-packed olives and their range of deli counter cheeses is somewhat more limited too.

The other major irritation is they don't have a scan as you go option (not sure if it's Morrisons generally or just my local store) leaving you with a choice between a usually lengthy queue at a manned checkout or one of their horribly unreliable self scan checkouts.

I think the cheese situation is more to do with Brexit, with the European cheeses anyway, and it's the same in all the supermarkets with the pre-packed ones too.

 

[GCH100]

Clinton Cards may disappear by what I am lead to believe, https://www.theguardian.com/busines...o-close-a-fifth-of-stores-to-avoid-going-bust Clintons has gone into receivership a number of times, and the fact that other shops sell cards such as Card Warehouse etc for a fraction of the price its no surprise either, my guess is one day the finance houses will have had enough and the company will totally fold.

 

[SuspectUsual]

I live in the middle of a triangle of 3 asdas, each about 15 miles away so I vary which one I visit.
All 3 seem to have a lot of product shortage

Asda are in the midst of extricating themselves from Walmart’s systems. They’re implementing SAP. It’s going about as well as the typical SAP implementation *








* consultants are making fortunes and burnishing their glowing CVs despite the realities on the ground

 

[pdq]

I saw today that Brillen opticians have closed in Huddersfield, with a notice saying that Brillen have withdrawn from the UK market. https://www.brillen.co.uk

 

[LancasterRed]

I will always go for a look in HMV (I collect media) but outside of clearance sales the prices of DVDs and Blu-Rays is always terrible value for money. We're talking triple what CEX want in some cases. With the rise in streaming, and the new merch being the same as most other stores, I'm wondering how HMV are sustainable and if they have a long-term future.

 

[Thirteen]

Clinton Cards may disappear by what I am lead to believe, https://www.theguardian.com/busines...o-close-a-fifth-of-stores-to-avoid-going-bust Clintons has gone into receivership a number of times, and the fact that other shops sell cards such as Card Warehouse etc for a fraction of the price its no surprise either, my guess is one day the finance houses will have had enough and the company will totally fold.

Cards generally do fold....

I'll get me coat.

 

[GusB]

Asda are in the midst of extricating themselves from Walmart’s systems. They’re implementing SAP. It’s going about as well as the typical SAP implementation *

Oh dear!