Tesco
Trafalgar Road, SE10
What can I say? It's a Tesco's - you've seen one, you've seen 'em all. This one follows much the same lines as every other store from here to Beijing, and they certainly pile those shelves high.
Trouble is, I'd say they got a bit on the greedy side, given the size available at Trafalagar Road, and put in one aisle too many. The shelves are stacked literally to the roof (I don't fancy any short people's chances at getting down some of those bottles of fizzy pop, )but there's so little room between them that traffic jams and mild irritation are inevitable, even on a short trip.
There is, as I say, plenty in there, piles of pasta, pizza, ready-meals, cereals and cans (though a pleasingly paltry amount of fish - nothing to scare our lovely new fishmonger, also very little meat - if anyone's thinking of starting a butchers...) but it really was a little too packed to the gills for me (sorry that pun wasn't intended.)
Slightly annoyingly there isn't a loose vegetable in sight. They're all packaged up into neat plastic bags with bar codes on - presumably for ease at the checkout, but not very environmentally friendly - and I ended up having to buy far more than I needed or wanted. I will be shopping for veg elsewhere now that I've done my obligatory phantasmagorical shop.
The convenience foods are what a shop this size does best and there are a lot of sandwiches, filled rolls and crisps, which will presumably make the bulk of their sales - and profits - there's a lot of cash to be had in sandwiches. The usual fillings.
The checkout is efficient. I tried out the self-service one, better than the one in Sainsburys which doesn't seem to be able to scan a single thing without telling the world there's an unexpected item in your bagging area. The Tesco one scanned everything perfectly - not a single mistake at any point.
The big question is not whether specialist shops like the Fishmonger or Theatre of Wine will be affected here. You're either the kind of person who buys their wares or you aren't - you're not suddenly going to be swayed by a bottle of £ 2.99 plonk if Threshers hasn't already got you. Ditto the small grocers with interesting vegetables displayed outside - their core market will stay too. The question is whether Iceland and the Co-Op will survive the competition.
The Co-Op , if you remember, had a bit of a spruce-up a couple of months ago in anticipation of the the new kid coming to live on the block. I can't say I was wildly impressed with the results - it's a bit brighter but the checkout system is lousy and Radio Co-Op is straight out of the bad bit of the 70s.
But Tescos has not upped the ante enough in my humble opinion to make it a straight knockout. The aisles are meanly-spaced and the place is so cluttered with bounty that it makes your head spin. just as you're trying to reach for a tin on the top shelf someone in a hurry is trying to elbow past at the same time that a bloke stocking up for his corner shop aims a trolley at your ankles(what's a shop this size doing with a trolley in the first place, I wonder?) The overall feel is too claustrophobic for me.
Sadly the Co-Op has the opposite problem - often badly (or not at all) re-stocked once shelves are empty and with a strange, scruffy, lost look about it, like that kid at school that no matter how neat and tidy he left his mum in the morning always looked like he'd been dragged through a hedge by the time he'd got to school. Both stores seem to be hankering after the fancy goods market, with fripperies such as whoopee cushions and cheap kiddie toys cluttering the place up, instead of just providing some really good food. And Iceland - well, Iceland always seems to have a "just about to close down" feel to it.
Tescos is ok, for a Tescos. Er, that's it.
I'm sad to report, Supermarket Nirvana has not been reached in Trafalgar Road. Yet. We will have to see what the M&S at the BP garage turns up in the Clash of the Retail Titans to find out if they hit the mark any more squarely. In the meanwhile my fave place for groceries remains La Salumeria - enjoy it while you can...
What can I say? It's a Tesco's - you've seen one, you've seen 'em all. This one follows much the same lines as every other store from here to Beijing, and they certainly pile those shelves high.
Trouble is, I'd say they got a bit on the greedy side, given the size available at Trafalagar Road, and put in one aisle too many. The shelves are stacked literally to the roof (I don't fancy any short people's chances at getting down some of those bottles of fizzy pop, )but there's so little room between them that traffic jams and mild irritation are inevitable, even on a short trip.
There is, as I say, plenty in there, piles of pasta, pizza, ready-meals, cereals and cans (though a pleasingly paltry amount of fish - nothing to scare our lovely new fishmonger, also very little meat - if anyone's thinking of starting a butchers...) but it really was a little too packed to the gills for me (sorry that pun wasn't intended.)
Slightly annoyingly there isn't a loose vegetable in sight. They're all packaged up into neat plastic bags with bar codes on - presumably for ease at the checkout, but not very environmentally friendly - and I ended up having to buy far more than I needed or wanted. I will be shopping for veg elsewhere now that I've done my obligatory phantasmagorical shop.
The convenience foods are what a shop this size does best and there are a lot of sandwiches, filled rolls and crisps, which will presumably make the bulk of their sales - and profits - there's a lot of cash to be had in sandwiches. The usual fillings.
The checkout is efficient. I tried out the self-service one, better than the one in Sainsburys which doesn't seem to be able to scan a single thing without telling the world there's an unexpected item in your bagging area. The Tesco one scanned everything perfectly - not a single mistake at any point.
The big question is not whether specialist shops like the Fishmonger or Theatre of Wine will be affected here. You're either the kind of person who buys their wares or you aren't - you're not suddenly going to be swayed by a bottle of £ 2.99 plonk if Threshers hasn't already got you. Ditto the small grocers with interesting vegetables displayed outside - their core market will stay too. The question is whether Iceland and the Co-Op will survive the competition.
The Co-Op , if you remember, had a bit of a spruce-up a couple of months ago in anticipation of the the new kid coming to live on the block. I can't say I was wildly impressed with the results - it's a bit brighter but the checkout system is lousy and Radio Co-Op is straight out of the bad bit of the 70s.
But Tescos has not upped the ante enough in my humble opinion to make it a straight knockout. The aisles are meanly-spaced and the place is so cluttered with bounty that it makes your head spin. just as you're trying to reach for a tin on the top shelf someone in a hurry is trying to elbow past at the same time that a bloke stocking up for his corner shop aims a trolley at your ankles(what's a shop this size doing with a trolley in the first place, I wonder?) The overall feel is too claustrophobic for me.
Sadly the Co-Op has the opposite problem - often badly (or not at all) re-stocked once shelves are empty and with a strange, scruffy, lost look about it, like that kid at school that no matter how neat and tidy he left his mum in the morning always looked like he'd been dragged through a hedge by the time he'd got to school. Both stores seem to be hankering after the fancy goods market, with fripperies such as whoopee cushions and cheap kiddie toys cluttering the place up, instead of just providing some really good food. And Iceland - well, Iceland always seems to have a "just about to close down" feel to it.
Tescos is ok, for a Tescos. Er, that's it.
I'm sad to report, Supermarket Nirvana has not been reached in Trafalgar Road. Yet. We will have to see what the M&S at the BP garage turns up in the Clash of the Retail Titans to find out if they hit the mark any more squarely. In the meanwhile my fave place for groceries remains La Salumeria - enjoy it while you can...
Labels: Food and Drink
posted by The Greenwich Phantom at
22:31
9 Comments:
Although M&S food is much superior to Tesco's (IMHO) they score appallingly badly in the packaging stakes. And you certainly won't be able to buy loose fruit or veg here.
I went in this morning and found it disappointing. 3 packs of onions and garlic? Come off it Tescos. A whole wall of sandwiches, whole aisle of soft drinks but a tiny meat section and minimal on tinned and packaged basics too.
Between this and Co-Op, could it get any shoddier? Is anywhere ever going to open to save us all a trek up to Asda or Sainsburys?
Greenwich Lalas
The worst supermarket in the world! I went in last night and not only did the woman serving at one till spend 10 minutes trying to get a scratch-card out of the box, but also had her trousers undone - not a pretty sight. The staff were unhelpful and couldn't have strung a sentence together if they tried. There was a huge queue and the self-service wasn't working. Only saving grace was that they had the stuffing that I went in there for!
Visited Saturday evening...must say we were disappointed. Muddy floors, veg already going bad on the shelves, signs posted on the walls (in plain view of the customers) bribing the staff to smile and keep the queues short in exchange for a monthly bonus. Very unimpressive management all around I'd say.
My hopes are pinned on the M&S.
Would have thought M and S will be pretty small, compared even to the main one in Greenwich.
....which is minute itself. Most of it seems to be devoted to the mammoth queue which never seems to subside. Frankly I still think sticking to our local specialist shops is the best idea...
I thought the new branch of Tesco was very poor when I went in to grab a quick shop last night. I never thought I would say this, but the Trafalgar Road Co-Op is much better- with a far superior selection of food.
I never thought I'd say it either - but that scruffy old Co-Op IS actually better than Tesco. Depressing, isn't it...
Went in today for the first time. It is pretty small but I found the staff friendly enough and, for the basics, it seems better stocked than Co-Op.
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