Yet another rant at Morrisons

Pretty sure it was. Those stores were Mac Fisheries, Mac Market, International, Gateway and Somerfield at various points in their lives.

Never worked out where the supermarkets were in Barnstaple or Bideford, so used to use that South Molton one, far end of the town, going west, just down a side turning on the left; so the frozen stuff hadn't defrosted by the time we got to Welcombe.

My Mum still calls her local Somerfield "International"... she'd only just got used to calling it that instead of "Masons", then it became Gateway and eventually Somerfield...

My partner's mum calls her local Somerfield "Fine Fare" - which also got taken over by Gateway (and renamed Somerfield).

And the one in Stratford-upon-Avon was once a "Key Markets"....

Back "on topic".... my local Safeway (Kings Heath, Bimingham) has also gone down the pan since Morrisons took over.

Talking of Safeways... Anyone remember the advert with the voiceover of what the baby's thinking? Classic!

My mum still remembers the local Somerfield as "Fine Fare", which I think went out in the early 80s. Fine Fare was a northern chain, Gateway was down south and there was the Carrefour name in there somewhere as well, part of the same company at one point.

I'm personally pleased Safeway has died I've never quite forgiven them for getting rid of the old Presto name, and Argyll Stores taking over Liptons and Hintons, all 3 so much better than the low quality carp Safeway was farting out. Safeway was overpriced, and the quality wasn't there either. At least Morrisons is pile-em-high, sell-em-cheap, and doesn't make any secret of the fact.

Still, if you want cheap, nowt beats the Herrons store near here. You can get twice the amount for the same money as the overpriced Tesco nearby.

Safeway was okay as supermarkets go, but ever since Morrison took over it has gone downhill. Our petrol station is shoddy and the Morrison branding looks like it has been applied on in sheets of plastic.

I've defected to Messrs. Waitrose and ocassionaly Tesco Express - especially if we are going to the cinema:

Tesco Minstrels Large Bag: £1.46
Odeon Minstrels Large Bag: £2.56

And Tesco were doing a BOGOF offer.

John

While we're on the subject of Supermarket rebranding, our local ASDA has just been refurbihed- for the 3rd time since it opened in October 1998! Is it just me, or it it a waste of money to keep doing this? It really doesn't need to have been refurbished once in that time, yet alone three! Both of the Tesco stores here in Mansfield opened in the late 70s and have only been refurbished once- in 1996 (the town centre store still has the original 1977 signage outside!).

And since Asda bought in that sickly light green colour branding in early 2002, our store now has that everywhere, it's an awful colour scheme, but it's obviously been bought in by the Wal Mart people from the States, the original 1998 decoration was much more appealing, but apart from a couple of signs, there's no trace of it left.

It does seem incredible that while other major retailers in the UK are keen to use the latest technologies, Morrisons are actually removing a facility like this! I mean, why? It's already there, Safeway spent the money putting it there, so why? There's a Morrisons very near an exit on the M6 (Walsall I think) and several times I've made a minor detour there to avoid paying Motorway petrol prices, only to find the petrol station works to the same restricted opening hours as the main store, so I have to get back on the motorway and pay something ridiculous like 91.9. Why are Morrisons so averse to the 24 hour Pay @ Pump system like Tesco has? With all the petrol stations they now have, it would probably increase their share of the fuel market by several percent! Do they actually want to sell petrol?

The conversion programme also includes the removal of self-scan checkouts, found in some of the newer Safeway stores, and the removal of the telephones on each till which rather conveniently enabled the till operator to contact any part of the store to speed up problems at the checkout. Morrisons have replaced these with flashing lights (last seen in branches of Kwik Save in around 1986), so now the till operator has to wait for their supervisor to see the light flashing and walk over to help them.

And I share your pain over the eradication of Safeway signage and graphics - they were probably the best looking of any UK supermarket chain, and they've been replaced with the most downmarket load of tat imaginable.

used to love the "scan and go" thing safeway used to have where you scanned your own stuff with a portable and put stuff in green boxes.

All gone now

lol only used that once when i was about 12, still good though. If you ask me i just think the Morrisons logo and store look come across a bit tacky.

Harry and Molly. Still have a fridge magnet of them. Amazing campaign.

Not quite.

Still in Warminster and still on the original "version one", with VERY limited information on the smaller edition of the scanner.

Due to finally be removed when the store gets "Morrisonised", I understand.

Since Warminster got version one, Devizes has had version two installed AND removed.

I wasn't ever a massive fan of the latest version of the Safeways branding, particularly the 'Markerfelt' style of signage. It all looked a bit too cosy for my liking, and wasn't as good as when they used the Stone font for everything.

But still, it beats the pants off anything Morrisons have come up with. Even the uniforms look like they're about 15 years old. Apparently Safeways' electronic stock control system has been replaced by some manual system too. Maybe Sir Ken is actually some sort of luddite?

My local Safeways (reputedly the most expensive in Scotland) spent around a year as a "Safeway Compact" store, during which time Morrisons brought in their smaller product line, and their own brand goods (which, in a way, was good - because the prices were often printed on the packaging, so they couldn't overcharge too much), but now it's a Somerfield, and pretty much back to Safeways' old prices.
Shortly after the changeover, I managed to buy Safeways, Morrisons and Somerfield branded products in the same transaction. A small triumph when you've been doing nothing else all week other than studying.

Incidentally, is it store policy elsewhere to not actually bother asking for Saver cards? All the tills at my local store have an 'override' Saver card, which they seem to use for all transactions.