What was the first "big" supermarket to open in your local area?

[GRALISTAIR]

I guess you are too you are to young remember Gem in Dundonald Street?

It was Fame store before that then Gem but yes remember them well. However, I would not call them supermarkets but I suppose they were in a way.

 

[route101]

Roughly equidistant between Newlands Crossmyloof branches

Pop into Newlands one occaionally ass it has better selection of the craft beer than my local.

 

[route101]

I think Scotland only got its first sainsburys in 1994.

 

[hexagon789]

Pop into Newlands one occaionally ass it has better selection of the craft beer than my local.

It's definitely got a better selection of stock but there are one or two things Newlands doesn't stock that Crossmyloof does.

I can remember both when they were Safeways, indeed I can just about recall the children's play area in Newlands!

 

[route101]

It's definitely got a better selection of stock but there are one or two things Newlands doesn't stock that Crossmyloof does.

I can remember both when they were Safeways, indeed I can just about recall the children's play area in Newlands!

Yeah , the morrisons stores also have that distinctive smell , my local smells the same as the Newlands one

 

[hexagon789]

Yeah , the morrisons stores also have that distinctive smell , my local smells the same as the Newlands one

I know the Crossmyloof one was once an ice rink, not sure about Newlands. The first Safeway in the area though was formerly a cinema and is now a Spoons.

 

[Mag_seven]

I know the Crossmyloof one was once an ice rink, not sure about Newlands.

I'm sure the Newlands branch of Morrisons was formally a Safeway and lies on the site of the old Newlands tram depot.

 

[hexagon789]

I'm sure the Newlands branch of Morrisons was formally a Safeway and lies on the site of the old Newlands tram depot.

Sorry, I meant pre-Safeway. I know both of them were formerly Safeway stores

 

[Mag_seven]

Sorry, I meant pre-Safeway. I know both of them were formerly Safeway stores

Safeway (now Morrisons) was the first supermarket to be built on the site of the old Newlands tram depot (which was later a bus depot). There has never been any other supermarket on that site.

 

[hexagon789]

Safeway (now Morrisons) was the first supermarket to be built on the site of the old Newlands tram depot (which was later a bus depot). There has never been any other supermarket on that site.

Okay thanks; I wasn't aware of that. I do vaguely remember Safeway used to have some Tram pictures/designs in the entranceway as a hint to its former purpose but I think they've gone now

 

[Tetchytyke]

Where I grew up in Shipley, there was an Asda in the town centre from the late 70s, and a Sainsbury's down at Greengates and a small Morrisons at Eccleshill from the same time. Then we got Hillard's at Idle (which briefly became Tesco after the takeover, then became a Dunnes Stores department store) and then we got the new replacement enormous Morrison's at Eccleshill at the top of Idle.

It was all old hat for me, as when I was very small we lived in Dandenong in Australia and had a vast K-Mart.

 

[route101]

My local morrisons i reckon was built in 1992 , judging by 92 on manhole inspection covers DW 92

 

[Typhoon]

Difficult to remember how big it was but the first 'supermarket' I went in that was bigger than a Co-op was an Anthony Jackson's in the Broadway, Bexleyheath. Taken over by Victor Value.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Supermarkets were already well established in Huddersfield by the time I came along. The Tesco next to the viaduct is a 1970s building, though I do remember before it became a Tesco, it was run by a company called Hillard's (whom I've never heard anyone away from Huddersfield mention even once*). When I was a very young child neither of my parents drove, so our shopping was done at the town centre Sainsbury's or at the local suburban supermarket which was another local chain called Lodges.

*=until this thread. I was starting to wonder if I'd imagined it, though that would be a very odd thing to dream up!

 

[boyaloud]

Supermarkets were already well established in Huddersfield by the time I came along. The Tesco next to the viaduct is a 1970s building, though I do remember before it became a Tesco, it was run by a company called Hillard's (whom I've never heard anyone away from Huddersfield mention even once*). When I was a very young child neither of my parents drove, so our shopping was done at the town centre Sainsbury's or at the local suburban supermarket which was another local chain called Lodges.

*=until this thread. I was starting to wonder if I'd imagined it, though that would be a very odd thing to dream up!

I know the Tesco in Atherton, part of Wigan, Lancs, used to be a Hillard's as i was talking to a member of staff. I hadn't heard of them either.

 

[djpontrack]

When I was a child there was two supermarkets in the High St.
Lows and Templetons. We mostly went to Lows for our shopping but on occasions my mother would decide to visit Templetons.
When I lived in Swindon we lived near West Swindon Centre which originally had a Carrefour supermarket then it became something else for a short while and now is Asda.

 

[Ploughman]

Supermarkets were already well established in Huddersfield by the time I came along. The Tesco next to the viaduct is a 1970s building, though I do remember before it became a Tesco, it was run by a company called Hillard's (whom I've never heard anyone away from Huddersfield mention even once*). When I was a very young child neither of my parents drove, so our shopping was done at the town centre Sainsbury's or at the local suburban supermarket which was another local chain called Lodges.

*=until this thread. I was starting to wonder if I'd imagined it, though that would be a very odd thing to dream up!

Hillards was common through North and West Yorkshire in the 80's along with Hinton's Some have continued under the Sainsbury's brand.

 

[R G NOW.]

Hailing from North Wales we had to make do with Kwik Save until Asda opened. It was quite a long time before Safeway then Tesco came along

I remember a Kwik Save in Lydney where I lived at the time. The old store was in an old red and white bus Depo and was pulled down, They then built a nice yellow brick new Kwik Save and 18 months later Somerfield took it over and it was not the same. some years later it was changed to a Harry Tuffins.

 

[Taunton]

Here at Canary Wharf, when the London Docklands Development Corporation got started in the mid-1980s there was nothing. Their Chief Exec, Reg Ward, did a deal with Asda to open three supermarkets together, which they did, at (using nearby station names) Beckton, Crossharbour and Canada Water. The latter has now gone but the other two are still there. They were a real focus in the early stages of the development. It was quite a substantial investment for Asda.

In the Canary Wharf underground shopping centre the management company got Waitrose in as an anchor tenant in the early days there. That has been an absolute success, I understand it's not only the largest Waitrose but has the highest turnover and margins of any of their stores in the country. It's right in front of you at the busiest point in the mall, at the east end. Tesco later opened next to the DLR station which is halfway along the mall, but only got an upstairs location so you sort of have to know it is there. The difference in customer usage is most noticeable.

 

[R G NOW.]

The first large store in Gloucester, was a big Sainsburys followed by their Homebase store built on an old car dealers in Westgate in the 1980's. It was moved to the docks and the Homebase moved to eastern avenue. The old Homebase is now a Dunelm store and Carphone warehouse, which has been closed for weeks due the virus.

Yeah , the morrisons stores also have that distinctive smell , my local smells the same as the Newlands one

Our first Morrisons was built two years ago and is another large store to come to Gloucester recently. It is built on an old midland railway goods shed site and is near the train station. I would say ours smells of baked bread, or it did until the lockdown, closing the bakery and cafe.

 

[bussnapperwm]

As far as I'm aware, the nearest supermarket to my area which came first was Carrefour in 1986, then an ASDA, then Sainsbury's, with Carrefour turning into Gateway in '88, turning into ASDA in '90

 

[chorleyjeff]

Supermarkets have been a hot topic for discussion lately and this makes it somewhat hard to believe that a few decades ago, there were much less of these around and people had to travel further to reach one of their choice. Many of the big out of town supermarkets only opened in the past three decades or so, but there have been a few that have lasted longer so it would be interesting to find out which was the first to open in your local area.

In the Bournemouth & Poole area where I'm from, I think the first big supermarkets were those built as part of the Hampshire Centre complex in 1968, although these were rebuilt to be incorporated into the Castlepoint Shopping Centre in 2003. Poole's first I think was the Asda on Canford Heath which I seem to recall opened in 1980, while the Sainsbury's in the town centre followed a few years later.

GEM in Preston. Elsie Tanner from Corrie was paraded around the streets on a flatbed lorry. Was a former steel framed cotton spinning mill.Not sure of exact date but maybe early 1960s. Next door neighbour was a Spinning Master there and as remployed as a general dogsbody e.g. Directing traffic on site.

 

[Big Tim]

The definition of "large supermarket" has changed over the years, in term of floor space, but my "tup'penneth" ...

The first recognised self-service supermarket in York would have been Hillards in Hull Road (housed in a former factory unit, which I believe was used most prominently in the manufacture of bicycles). The company was taken over by Tesco in either 85 / 86 and was run as a branch of Tesco for a short time, then (in I think this order) became: Grandways, Kwik Save, Somerfield and laterly (for the last 15+ years) a large Co-oP. As Hillards, it was probably seven aisles covering food departments downstairs, with a hardware department upstairs.

However, ASDA opened a branch sometime in the 1970's, probably three times the size of Hillards out on Jockey Lane (in a building which is now occupied by "The Range"), which was York's first recognised "Superstore", also including a cafe and petrol station. ASDA later moved half a mile up the road (1997 or 98) onto the new Monks Cross retail park, and to this day trades only a stones throw from a large Sainsbury's - built and opened around the same time. The first large planned Tesco superstore in York opened up at Clifton Moor in 1988 or thereabouts (there had been a small city centre convenience branch in the early 1980's in Piccadilly - on the other side of the road to the more recent Tesco Express, as well as their short-lived presence in the vacant premises of Hillards).

Discount supermarkets are obviously hugely popular now, and the first of those in York would have been Kwik Save, on the old Hillards site in the early 90's. We then got two Netto branches - one on Layerthorpe, built on a former scrapyard (now a small ASDA), and one up at Clifton Moor. All of those are now gone, but we have a brace of both Aldi and Lidl stores which always seem to keep busy.

 

[route101]

The first large store in Gloucester, was a big Sainsburys followed by their Homebase store built on an old car dealers in Westgate in the 1980's. It was moved to the docks and the Homebase moved to eastern avenue. The old Homebase is now a Dunelm store and Carphone warehouse, which has been closed for weeks due the virus.

Our first Morrisons was built two years ago and is another large store to come to Gloucester recently. It is built on an old midland railway goods shed site and is near the train station. I would say ours smells of baked bread, or it did until the lockdown, closing the bakery and cafe.

I live in Scotland so cant think of any new morrisons stores.
Morrisons smells of bakery along with cafe/cleaning product smells

 

[GusB]

I live in Scotland so cant think of any new morrisons stores.
Morrisons smells of bakery along with cafe/cleaning product smells

I'm not aware of any new Morrison's stores opening in Scotland, but they did add a load of fairly new stores to their portfolio when they acquired Safeway. Safeway had been on bit of a store-building spree in the years running up to the takeover. The store next to the Eastgate Centre in Inverness is a prime example, having been built to replace Safeway's older stores in Rose Street and the former Presto in Millburn Road. Inverurie is another that had only been open for a few years before the takeover.

 

[Dai Corner]

In Maidstone, do you remember the old Sainsbury's inside the Chequers Centre and did it have a separate shop for frozen food?

Late follow-up (sorry) but I remember the first supermarket in Maidstone was David Greig in Gabriel's Hill. It opened in the mid-late 1960s and the building is now occupied by Robert Dyas and Strawberry Moon according to Google Streetview.

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

goo.gl

 

[Busaholic]

Late follow-up (sorry) but I remember the first supermarket in Maidstone was David Greig in Gabriel's Hill. It opened in the mid-late 1960s and the building is now occupied by Robert Dyas and Strawberry Moon according to Google Streetview.

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

goo.gl

I grew up with David Greig, in the days when they were grocers rather than supermarkets. DG and Sainsbury's never operated in the same towns/suburbs as each other, so where I lived in outer S.E. London it was DG, and my grandparents in Bromley, Kent, had a Sainsbury's. Lee Green also had a DG, but the nearer you got to inner London it was Sainsbury territory.

 

[westv]

Supermarket related, I remember as a youngster in Peckham in the 70s shopping with my mum at the last ever counter service Sainsburys.

 

[Busaholic]

Supermarket related, I remember as a youngster in Peckham in the 70s shopping with my mum at the last ever counter service Sainsburys.

In Rye Lane - I used it the once, just before it closed.

 

[SteveM70]

There was a Sainsbury’s in Bell Green, the suburb of Coventry I grew up in. I remember it was very tight for space, and being mesmerised watching the way the checkout staff typed the prices into the till with their fingers and then nonchalantly used the side of their hand to hit the enter button on the right hand side of the till keyboard.

Then when we moved a few miles in 1978/9 there was a brand new Asda pretty much on the doorstep. It was like something out of one of those “this is what the future will look like” videos. It had loads of choice, a cafe that did a full English for 99p, records, clothes. And a branch of Harry Shaw Travel in the entrance foyer. Madness