A few weeks ago, the supermarket chain 'Morrison's' published disappointing trading results although some of its rivals are still doing quite well. This makes me think that Morrison's is not getting its trading approach quite right.
I used to use a Morrison's store little more than half-a-mile from my front door, but no more. It used to be a 'Safeway', when it was a bit down market, and then Morrison's took over, extended and improved it. What had been a rather poor store became a good one. Sadly, that was a few years ago and it's clear that Morrison's has now lost its way.
I stopped using the store with any regularity a couple of years ago for several reasons. The entrance was often filled with people either selling double glazing, energy products or car recovery memberships, or by others shaking collecting tins under the noses of customers. The 'tills' were frequently accompanied by gaggles of schoolchildren offering to pack your shopping but, in reality, wanting a contribution to some school outing or other. Added to the annoyance of finding store gangways blocked by unattended refill trolleys on a regular basis, I gave up and moved elsewhere. The level of annoyance was simply too great to put up with.
Yesterday, I returned to the store to see if anything had changed, only to find that things had become worse. Even before getting into the store, I had a problem locating a small trolley as none had found their way back to the main trolley park at the entrance; having to scour the car park for a trolley did not make me happy.
Once inside, it was business as usual, although there were no salesmen or beggars, thank god. The aisles were still populated by unattended refill trolleys and additional fixed display stands had been added in positions strategically selected, or so it seemed, to cause maximum obstruction to customers. While the fruit and veg section had been turned round and 'modernised', the actual offerings were terrible; mouldy (yes, actually mouldy) lemons of a size to strain the eyes, shrivelled loose mandarins (or clementines or whatever; I can never tell the difference), even smaller that the lemons and clearly passed their 'sell by date'. I could have had a pre-packed dozen or more mandarins for £2, but I didn't want that many, and the loose peppers were far smaller than those on offer in other stores, while being more expensive; there was no loose broccoli, only pre-packed pieces at a set price and the regular celery was mixed up with the more expensive organic variety. There's a good catch for the unwary shopper.
To be fair, the staff have always been helpful, when asked, and the fish counter is excellent, but these small plus points can hardly compensate for the general service, or lack thereof. Apart from the occasional visit for fish, I won't be going back, even though the alternatives are further away.
ps. An orange bought on Saturday, one of four, is already going rotten by Monday !
ps. An orange bought on Saturday, one of four, is already going rotten by Monday !
