Reducing choice Aldi and Lidl

[rafletcher]

And now Sainsbury have announce the permanent closure of their deli and wet fish counters (possibly meat counter too, I don't recall).  I expect Tesco to follow suit - they "temporarily" shut their wet fish counter down during the first lockdown.  All this in reaction to "changes in consumer choice" - oh, and lets not forget the increase to already huge (by comparison with many other similar operation) margins that will be gained by less staff, and higher priced pre-packed fish, cold meats etc.

Of course, the individual that wants just a single piece of fish or a couple of slices of ham is out of luck, as there are, in most places, no alternative wet fish shops or delis.

[ian]

This is the supermarket model, close the smaller competition, and then restrict choice and ramp up the price. The cost of fruit and veg in a supermarket is up to four times that in a traditional greengrocer (if you can find one).

[Cudzoziemiec]

That doesn't apply to all fruit and veg though. Supermarkets tend to be cheaper for the more "bulk" items like potatoes and onions, also bananas.

[ian]

I dunno these days, but when I used to buy my fruit and veg from the market, everything was cheaper.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I imagine that a market, especially if it was London, is cheaper again than a greengrocer's. It's one of those seeming ironies that food is more expensive in rural areas.

[pcolbeck]

I imagine that a market, especially if it was London, is cheaper again than a greengrocer's. It's one of those seeming ironies that food is more expensive in rural areas.

Not surprising though. They don't produce much you can actually eat round here except for game. Wheat, sheep and cows all have to be transported quite a way to be processed these days. Game is very cheap though. Pheasant from about £4 a brace, less if you know someone who works on a shoot.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Yep, it's all distribution, first for processing then for retail. Hence "seeming".

[ian]

To be fair, in London I guess they just stock up at New Convent Garden from whatever's on sale. Here in darkest Surrey, we said goodbye to greengrocers some time ago.

[L CC]

I dunno these days, but when I used to buy my fruit and veg from the market, everything was cheaper.

It only lasts about 20 minutes when you get it home, though.

We had 2 markets a week in BSE and I would usually be at work while Wednesday's was on. Fruit & veg bought on Saturday would rarely last until Wednesday before being unfit to eat.

[ian]

That's the problem with supermarket veg, it's the varieties that keep forever, so they sit around in supply chains, and then on the shelves for a week. That it often doesn't taste of anything is a secondary concern.

I used to like buying stuff from the market, we'd usually eat it the same day anyway. I'm missing that now*, it was quite nice to grab the ingredients for an evening meal each lunchtime.

*admittedly, we moved the London mothership to the South Bank which wasn't nearly as good, it used to be next to Leather Lane which had a nice foodie market, plus there's a great Italian deli on Clerkenwell Road.

[quixoticgeek]

Something I'm noticing is that a number of products go on special offer, then disappear from the shelf, are out of stock for a while, then come back with new packaging.

I think this is due to the new single use plastic directive. Nearly every item I've noticed this with, the packaging has gone from involving black or coloured plastic, to clear.

J

[L CC]

Black plastic isn't identified in automatic recycling streams. Clear is more reliably recyclable. It's part of the packaging industry's objectives for sustainability- remove black plastic.

[Cudzoziemiec]

We're told here not to put any black plastic into the recycling.