Well, yes, it’s a story about the big supermarket chains and how some of the stores will have to close. But:
The unhealthy industry dynamic prompted him to predict large stores………Goldman Sachs recommended investors sell Tesco and Sainsbury’s shares but should buy Morrisons, arguing the Bradford-based grocer has fewer large stores on its hands than its listed rivals…….“We believe structural shifts away from large stores means over-spacing and not price is its biggest problem,”
It’s the large out of town stores which need closing, not the Metro style shops at all: they’re part of the solution.
if they understood or cared about business, Tim, they wouldn’t work for The Guardian.
It’s Goldman Sachs, so take it with a pinch of salt.
Not sure you’re right here. I know of a town where the large retail park Tesco Extra and small local Tesco Expresses are all open but they have just closed the mid sized Tesco Metro in the town centre.
The metros are not big enough to be worth visiting on their own but not common and local enough to be just down the road.
The sign say Tesco – it’s big business – it’s bad. Move on. The bien pensant readers of the Graniad need no more than to feel good about themselves.
The other trouble with the Metros is that they are only allowed to open for limited hours on Sundays. If they are in the sorts of places where a lot of their business is people who live nearby and just pop in to buy three or four items that they want nice and fresh and/or they have forgotten on their regular shop or unexpectedly run out of, they are not allowed to be open for quite a few of the prime hours for that sort of business. The Express outlets can stay open at all hours on Sundays and do a lot of business at those times. Thus a (smaller) Express store can be more profitable than a (larger) Metro store in the same location, which is why Tesco builds an Express store.
Sunday trading laws are particularly toolish. Sabbatarian nonsense.