Supermarket Expansion

[okra]

Panorama program tonight has done research which has found at least 577 UK supermarkets were approved in the past two years by the "big four" stores.

There dominance is growing

[MuddyWitch]

There is hope...We arn't all seduced by their pap, smoke & mirrors!

MW

[greenorelse]

Panorama program tonight has done research which has found at least 577 UK supermarkets were approved in the past two years by the "big four" stores.

According to this then that* means a loss of approximately 160,000 jobs in retailing.

I'm proud to say that supermarkets receive less than 1% of my shopping expenditure and this has been so for years.

*(am I allowed to say 'this then that'?)

[okra]

The most horrifying part of the program last night was the visit to USA battery pig and cow factories and they are coming to the UK, driven by the supermarkets desire for cheaper milk and pork.

[The Riff-Raff Element]

The most horrifying part of the program last night was the visit to USA battery pig and cow factories and they are coming to the UK, driven by the supermarkets desire for cheaper milk and pork.

The poor shareholders need the profits

I've caught a couple of rather apologist bits and bobs on the beeb lately, notably from that rather strange cove Jay Rayner. One week he was explaining how beneficial it would be to cover the whole of Kent in greenhouses to grow year-round cherry tomatoes; the next he was extolling the virtues of a massive cattle feed lot in the Midlands that would give the world milk and - presumably - drive yet more farmers to the wall.

Not a word about the costs - social, environmental or nutritional though.

And, oddly I thought, since he styles himself as a leading food & restaurant critic, not a word about taste.

So we know what we can do with his reviews then

[boboff]

Oh, you see I disagree.

The farmer from the UK was clear that the "cows" were happy.

You get the old fart saying the "supermarkets" don't want apples with scabs on, BUT that is just not true. The customers don't buy them, and the supermarkets loose money on them, I have seen some "odd" fruit in supermarkets and it's not there now, reason = it didn't sell, even at a discount.

The Farmer who was so "shafted" by the multiples, came across quite simply as an arogant pig who would rub any buyer up the wrong way, especially a 22 year old girly graduate from London, no a Devon farmer used to having his dinner on the table is not EVER going to get on well with that type.

The expansion in Supermarkets is a "Capital" grab by the Supermarkets, market share in the end means allot.

At the end of the day, your collective Wrath should be targetted at the millions of people who use the shops, and make it possible and profitable to expand, no lets have a pop at the shareholders and those evil people who are on purpose ruining our world.

It is a matter of choice, if more people were like us, and at least tried to use them less, then they would stop growing, until that happens, which it never will, they won't.

It is too smug and arrogant to think the choices of 99% of the population are so poorly made.

Anyway this week I cold smoked some of my own bacon, cut my cured legs into Gammon, boiled a Ham glased with homemade Marmalade and bramble jelly, stunk the house out as the smoker blew smoke into the kitchen extractor fan, worked out the bacon was 70% fat, made a stock for Christmas from the bones, fed the dog the bones, fed the cats and birds the fat, and had a class of homemade cider.

Does that make me superior to those people who buy Danepack, and legs of Gammon for £3 a kilo? No, it probably makes me a little excentric, but the fact is I choose to do it as I enjoy it, and I want to be able to say that I CAN do it, and do it really well. That is fine, it doesn't make everyone else wrong.

[Shirleymouse]

I agree, Boboff. I'd love to produce more food myself but we have a tiny garden and both work full time so it's impossible to do more than growing a few veggies in the summer and going blackberrying by the canal. I'd rather get my food from markets, local shops etc or grow it myself but when you're leaving work at 5.30 in the dark the supermarket is by far the easier, practical option. I think the problem is that many people want to have it all - career, family, nice holidays etc which is why, in many families, both parents go out to work and need the convenience of supermarkets. I would actually not mind in the slightest going back to the old ways of women (or at least one parent, it doesn't matter which one) staying at home to look after the house and family. I think this would solve a lot of problems of anti-social behaviour, stress, child obesity, excessive use of supermarkets etc. I'd definitely give up or at least cut down on my hours at work if we have kids even though we'd have less money to live off - that wouldn't be so much of a problem if I had time to produce more of our own food, walk to the shops instead of using the car, repair clothes etc.
Unfortunately, while people still want to live this high-pressure, high-income lifestyle with fashionable clothes, nice holidays etc the supermarkets will be here to stay!

[southeast-isher]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... heap_Food/

The Big Four supermarkets are expanding at an unprecedented rate. It's being dubbed the new "space race", with T***o, Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrison's fighting for dominance on high streets and shopping malls across the UK. But how can they keep on expanding, and slashing our food prices, when we're in the middle of a global downturn?

In a Panorama Special, reporter Paul Kenyon looks behind the cellophane wrappers and the "Buy-one-get-one-frees" to examine the true cost of our cheap food. He visits the mega-farms coming our way from the United States, with cows being kept indoors and milked on giant "dairy-go-rounds", and pigs housed in "sty-scrapers". He also takes a look at space-age greenhouses where fruit grows without soil.

The Big Four's UK expansion has never really been charted, until now. Panorama has pieced together the location of every new store currently being planned and built.

And as the production costs of our food are driven downwards, saving us pounds during the recession, Panorama carries out pioneering scientific research to discover whether "Made in Britain" always means what it says

[greenorelse]

And there's this notion that supermarkets are cheap. Clever marketing.

[boboff]

Exactly, I mean 25p for a Pint of milk! Discracefull exploitation and profiteering........

[greenorelse]

A prime example of clever marketing.

[boboff]

Indeed, but how does marketing come into it? Surely it's just cheap? It's not Notional, it IS cheap. Selling things cheap is not clever marketing, clever marketinig is about selling people aspirations, it's not Notional, it's not Clever, and I suspect whether it could really be considered marketing, but apart from that I am with you 100%

[TheGoodEarth]

They wouldn't build them if we didn't want them. Simple supply and demand.

*(am I allowed to say 'this then that'?)

Why not, not why.

The poor shareholders need the profits

Unfortunately we all need the profits because that's what makes our economy work and provide us with a decent standard of living. It funds our pensions and the tax pays for the many 'free' services in our society.

[okra]

Have governments allowed the supermarkets to become too powerful to the detriment of the whole retail sector and producers across the world. With Asda now owned by WalMart which operates in 15 countries, a massive corporation bigger than most countries economically, they have the power to dictate prices and although we get cheap goods the true price and suffering is hidden. The people working in factories or on plantations, face long hours, terrible working conditions and little or no trade union rights. Despite working 80 hours a week, many workers are not able to earn a living wage and we get our cheap produce as a result.

I am sure most people would be willing to pay a little more to provide the workers with a living wage.

[oldjerry]

They wouldn't build them if we didn't want them. Simple supply and demand.

So advertising doesn't create demand?.....see previous re: bottled water





Unfortunately we all need the profits because that's what makes our economy work and provide us with a decent standard of living. It funds our pensions and the tax pays for the many 'free' services in our society.

Substitute 'They' for 'we', 'their' for 'our','them' for 'us' etc. etc. and I couldn't agree more.