Talk:List of supermarket chains in the United Kingdom

Regional
The article says there are no regional supermarkets though I'm not sure about this. Co-op is mainly a northern only thing and Waitrose is definatly confined to the south east. Also the one Sainsburys (or did it take over Sainsburys...Or maybe it was Somerfield...) took over last year was northern only and this should be mentioned.
 * There are Co-ops in all four places in the south where I have lived: Bedford, Oxford, Bristol and London. Waitrose has stores in all four Southern regions (London, SE, SW, East of England) and a few in the Midlands and the North (Wolverhampton and Sheffield are two unlikely sounding locations). If you're thinking of the Sainsbury's takeover of Bells that is a convenience store, not a supermarket. I'll have a look at the wording to see if it can be made clearer.
 * "The Co-op" is not a single entity. The national Co-operative Group has stores throughout the UK. There are other non-northern societies operating in their specific regional areas such as the Plymouth & South Western Co-op, West Midlands Co-op, Oxford, Swindon & Gloucester Co-op and the Ipswich and Norwich society to name but four.
 * Waitrose used to be confined to the Midlands and South East. Since Morrison's take over, and subsequent sell-off, of certain stores of the Safeway brand, Waitrose has expanded to more of England.
 * There, had my two-penneth worth now. R.carroll 20:53, 19 August 2005 (UTC)

The Cooperative Society although founded in Rochdale, Lancs (in the North West) in the 1840s soon expanded to have a presence all over England - as a child growing up in the 60s/70s in the South East I can't think of many (any?) towns that didn't have a Co-op. Waitrose were as someone said South East (and possibly Midlands based) but expanded into northern England about 10 years ago - (I can think of Sheffield, Leeds, Harrogate, Otley in Yorkshire alone) and I think the West Country.

UK Supermarket Competition Essay
I am doing an essay for my degree about competition in the UK supermarket industry. I am looking for people to comment on my work and help me find sources of information i.e. books and websites (would prefer websites) I need to some up in 2000 words what the competition in the last 20 and then 5 years of the industry was then what made it change etc. If any one has any help they can give at all please email me below (even if it just to recommend a good website) - Email: woodhousescotty@hotmail.co.uk - Thanks

Are Alldays defunct?
I know they are now owned by the CO-OP I don't dispute this, but the one near me is still branded Alldays.


 * I believe there are plans to re-brand or close all Alldays stores in the next couple of years (if not sooner), but these things move slowly. Mtiedemann 19:12, 16 April 2006 (UTC)


 * We used to have several Alldays here in Thatcham, they've all been rebranded Co-op welcome now. CR7 15:10, 28 May 2007 (UTC)


 * Some of the Alldays shops were franchises, not owned by Alldays. I don't know what the Co-operative Group did with those ones in the end. --Hroðulf (or Hrothulf) (Talk) 22:43, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

adding 's' is a mistake?
Can someone please clarify if/why it is "A common mistake" to add an 's' to the end of the name of a supermarket? Is this not just a common english language construction or usage? thanks, clara 11:31, 19 February 2007 (UTC)
 * It seems rather a pompous comment anyway, and inaccurate. You wouldn't add an s to the name Waitrose.  I think the 'why' is that it is a posessive s - you are saying you went to Mr Sainsbury's shop.  It probably stems from a time when the shop you went to was usually named after the person who owned it. 221.66.22.33 23:57, 8 April 2007 (UTC)
 * I agree with the last comment. It doesn't mean Tescos - it means Tesco's. It's not really a mistake and if it is presumed so, the claim should have citations/references. CR7 15:09, 28 May 2007 (UTC

Some possible additions
I have not attempted to add these to the main Wikipedia article because I have little information - perhaps others can add.

An addition to current supermarkets - Nisa / Nisa-Todays, appears to be a voluntary chain.

Some possible additions to defunct supermarkets: VIVO - I believe this was a voluntary chain, it was possibly taken over by SPAR, all of the VIVO shops I remember as a child became SPAR shops at around the same time. MACE - I believe this was also a voluntary chain, I have no idea what happened to them. MAID MARION - Another voluntary chain, again I have no idea what happened to them.

WAVY LINE - this was a voluntary chain that seemed to operate in the South East only, several people from Sussex I have spoken to remember them but since moving to the midlands no one I have asked has ever heard of them. I have clear memories of the The Wavy Line branded products, they were often bought by my family from our local shop. There was a large shop called Gazzels I think, in Woodingdean, Brighton. I have never been able to find any information about the Wavy Line group on the internet except some photos on a Flikr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dgbalancesrocks/162661662/in/photostream/ -- —Preceding unsigned comment added by Cam-in-wolves (talk) 11:34, 2 August 2007

Mace still exists and is now listed here. Wavy Line was, for a time in the 1980s at least, marketed alongside the Mace symbol group. --Hroðulf (or Hrothulf) (Talk) 22:43, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Walter Willson('s) in the North East and Cumbria. Are they still going? The Ulverston branch closed some while ago but Windermere stayed open I haven't been there recently to see.

I know there were Wavy Line stores in Hertfordshire in the 1970s. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.31.43.122 (talk) 06:19, 7 February 2014 (UTC)

The local neighbourhood when I was a child was Wavy Line this would have been in the late 60s and 70s and I should imagine well into the 80s although if moved away by then that was not far from Slough in Bucks ( as it was then before it was gerrymandered into Berks) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.255.235.200 (talk) 16:25, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

Yeah, "so near, so Spar", where is it? 2A00:23C8:8332:EE01:39AD:C7A4:5297:CA1B (talk) 08:26, 17 July 2023 (UTC)

Lennon's
This was an early supermarket or supermarket group I suspect in the Merseyside area? Any more information on them? Soarhead77 (talk) 14:10, 19 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Google comes up with a few hits, such as a Lennon store in Wigan. I didn't go into detail. --Hroðulf (or Hrothulf) (Talk) 22:43, 7 July 2008 (UTC)


 * There was a Lennons branch in Carlisle it later became a Kwik Save and is now a charity shop I think Penrithguy (talk) 17:15, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

Asda's?
I can't remember ever hearing someone say Asda's, just Asda. So i've replaced "Tesco's and Asda's" at the top of the article with "Tesco's and Marks and Spencer's" -- —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.169.6.33  (talk)  18:03, 5 July 2008


 * Good move. Morrisons and Sainsbury's even made the 's' official or semi-official. --Hroðulf (or Hrothulf) (Talk) 22:43, 7 July 2008 (UTC)


 * I often use and hear "ASDA's" informally, though I can't be bothered digging out a source 137.205.25.164 (talk) 15:59, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

No superstores outside the big four?
The tiny Harry Tuffins chain (not even mentioned here) which has precisely six stores, all in Shropshire and the Welsh borders, has a 40,000 sq ft store in Churchstoke. Doesn't this invalidate the assertation made in the lead? Even without this, surely the Co-op, M&S and Waitrose can muster the odd superstore between them, so saying that the big four are "the only chains which operate full-scale superstores" would be wrong. Loganberry (Talk) 04:05, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

Winegro
I can remeber a few of these shops operating, i think it went defunct in the early 2000's, i think it had started in the 1980's? The shop logo was written in blue on a bright yellow background and had a small picture of a women pushing trolley (also in blue) They operated in the Wigan and St Helens area in North-west England and i cant find any web sources on it. p.s. im not sure if the name is spelt right, but im sure it was spelt 'gro' on the end —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.192.246.56 (talk) 22:04, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Merger: List of supermarket chains of the United Kingdom
both these articles serve the same purpose thus this one probably should be deleted and then the information transferred into the other article 212.140.128.36 (talk) 20:28, 15 December 2009 (UTC)
 * My opinion is to use this article and merge the data from the other article into here and to keep the same format as is now being used, and rename the other to Supermarkets chains in the united Kingdom and focus on detailing the background and history of the Supermarket Chains. I also propose similar article's to be made for Retailers in the United Kingdom focusing on non-food stores such as Clothes, DIY, Newsagents etc. Paul2387 (talk) 22:07, 15 December 2009 (UTC)
 * It's certainly a bad idea to keep both articles under such very similar names. I think the "in" article, being better written and with more photos, should remain as the main one. The one here (the "of" one) should either be deleted or renamed and refocused, perhaps along the lines Paul2387 above suggests. Loganberry (Talk) 03:36, 1 February 2010 (UTC)
 * I think that if the data from the of article were to be merged into the in article, we would end up with a more comprehensive and more informative list overall. By the way, a redirect should be used: neither of these articles should be deleted, in order to preserve the history. --Hroðulf (or Hrothulf) (Talk) 08:57, 8 February 2010 (UTC)

A redirect sounds good, only difference is the "of" and "in" the UK. --OJB2010(OBR) (talk) 15:06, 25 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Information integrated, merged as this article appears more inline with consistent trans-wiki formats. Rgds --Trident13 (talk) 14:46, 18 July 2010 (UTC)

We should remove 2 of the supermarkets
We should remove Somerfield from this list as it has now finished its transition and all Somerfield stores have either been rebranded as co-op, sold or are now derelict, looking for a new business.

We should remove Wilkinsons, because I have looked on there website and I contacted them and they said and I quote "we do not consider ourselves as a supermarket" when asked the question Our you a supermarket?

I am going to go ahead and remove those 2 know, I will add Somerfield to the list of defunct supermarkets — Preceding unsigned comment added by Guyb123321 (talk • contribs) 20:37, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Defining a supermarket
Can we limit the term supermarket to places that you could conveniently do your weekly shop. B&M Bargains is in no way a supermarket and neither is costco or makro. If you need a card to get in, it's not exactly a convenient place to do the weekly shop! Marks and spencer is only really a food hall in a clothes shop but i'm sure I can let that one go! Does anyone agree because I think this page is just rubbish!


 * I think the fact you didn't sign your comment is just rubbish! --86.156.190.100 (talk) 21:37, 13 November 2012 (UTC)

No mention of CK's?
Why not? Is it because its a small chain with about 20 stores? --86.156.190.100 (talk) 22:33, 18 November 2012 (UTC)

Convenience Stores
I have created a new page for the list of convenience stores as there has been much debate.Davidstewartharvey (talk) 14:07, 27 April 2015 (UTC)

Aldi has overtaken Morrisons
Kantar report: https://www.kantar.com/uki/inspiration/fmcg/2022-wp-big-four-line-up-changes-as-grocery-price-inflation-accelerates-again

BBC article: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62887477 JaseW (talk) 09:28, 13 September 2022 (UTC)

This list is out of date
Morrisons has dropped to 5th with Aldi rising to 4th 90.255.154.210 (talk) 21:34, 23 September 2022 (UTC)


 * The most recent figures in the table are from the audited annual reports for the year 2021 and showed Morrisons in 4th position. No more recent audited annual results are available yet so the table is still up to date. You may be referring to this article which was based on in-house research published by Kantar Worldwide collected over the 12 weeks to 4 September 2022. As we are nearly three-quarters of the way through the year, unless Aldi secures a massive increase in sales in the last quarter of this year, Morrisons may well remain in fourth position for 2022 as well. Dormskirk (talk) 23:17, 23 September 2022 (UTC)

Mark Down
There is very little info on Mark Down other than pictures. On Sanbach History the pdf says Mark Down was replaced by Liptons but there is no record. Not sure if it was a takeover of an Independent chain, or Mark Down were part if Allied Suppliers.Davidstewartharvey (talk) 14:42, 1 February 2023 (UTC)

Meadow Markets Discount Food Stores
Hi. Found this pic on the internet but cannot find any further information so not sure if was a supermarket or not? Any help appreciated. Davidstewartharvey (talk) 06:44, 28 March 2024 (UTC)