Is Tesco getting too big in this country?

Maybe, but what can be done about it? Killing off companies just because they were "too" successful is hardly a way of ensuring enterprise in our country?

Tesco is well deserving of it's corporate-monster tag.The uneconomic prices they force suppliers to accept, enables the store chains to undercut traditional family shops, butchers, grocers and fishmongers, and drive them out of business in town after town.

Tesco is good. Especially the Tesco Extra store on the A48. Tesco Metro and Express stores are less good.

Also, with me being a vegetarian, I like the fact that they have a great vegetarian range.

The consumers are to blame, if you feed the monster he will grow.

Supermarkets in general are good for some things but they are not the be all and end all of food shopping, for fruit and veg markets are usually cheaper and meat and fish are often better elsewhere. I usually get a load of tinned/dry goods once a month from a supermarket and get my regular shopping elsewhere.

I think you need to worry more at ASDA who are part of the Wallmart chain, they are certainly Massive and could buy out Tesco if they wanted too. I think we have healthy competition in the big retailers, Sainsburys, Morrisons, Tescos, ASDA. It would be worrying if only one had a hold on the retail market. I would hate to have an american influence in retail, Mc Donalds are bad enough in the 'fast-food' business.

ASDA/Walmart would not be allowed to buy out Tesco under our competition rules. When Morrisons bought Safeway they even had to sell off half the Safeway stores (including the one in Shrewsbury) because of competition rules. I wouldn't worry - the government here keep an eye on things and make sure there is competition in just about every market.

I was typing generally David, not about Shrewsbury! Its General Chat.

I was talking nationally Andy. There are national rules about competition and large businesses and monopolies.

So how about this new eco friendly tesco their building in shrewsbury, eco friendly? they must have used half a forest just to build the wooden frame of the building

I think it's a step in the right direction Munky having a structure made out of timber. Massive structures composed out of steel during the smelting process produces damaging gases that harm the Ozone layer itself. Tescos also support the woodland trust and have with the help of customers planted vast forests.

Perhaps it will stem the planners in Shrewsbury to re-think their plans on steel structured buildings, the new football ground doesnt seem to be very 'green' in its design. It would be nice not only to be labelled 'floral town' but possibly 'green too! I think Tescos may pave the way to even jog the minds of both architects and planners to follow suit. P.S. I do have shares in Tesco!

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Its Lidl for me,stuff the big stores that take ages to get round and tempt you into buying things you dont need,we have now defected from Morrisons to do our weekly shop at Lidl,we have not bought anything thats duff so far,in fact the continental stuff is far tastier than the bland run of the mill uk produce.

Personally i dont trust any store with more than one branch, what happened the little man, the friendly corner shop, oh, he's under the size ten boot of the big boys, i never shop at the supermarkets and never take "Own Brands" as being as good as the real thing, since i started shopping daily for fresh produce i know exactly what im getting and exactly how much the supermarkets are robbing us out of for the sake of convenience, and i thought dick turpin was dead, thats not being tight, it's seeing the light "organic" just means it was grown in real soil not a synthetic substitute and they put another quid on the price, money talks, big corperations dont care about the state of the planet in 50 years time as most of the company directors will be dead and gone by then, so long as they can afford that new mercedes tomorow, i saw a thing on tv which said air travel is the biggest contributor to co2 and air travel is set to double before long, it make me chuckle to see the world leaders flapping, oh what to do about greenhouse gasses, they know it's already too late, but it's a case of being seen to be doing something and image, which brings me back to building superstores out of wood, like we really need another in this dying town anyway, no-body comes to shrewsbury for our heritage, beautifull historic buildings and landscape because they've all been turned into "afordable housing" which nobody can afford anyway, oh im gonna shut up now because i cant reach the keyboard from this high horse.

Hi Munky
Just for the rercord,we do buy our vegetables and meat from the market in town(S.bury)and yes i do admit to buying things from Germany,France etc and creating food miles but i try and off set this by recycling everthing,not using the car for short journeys,a 1100cc car,switching everthing off stanby at night etc.No matter how much we try we are all creating a carbon footprint one way or another.

Hello Avronb,

im not having a go an anyone in person and im by no means a tree hugger, i was just saying im not taken in by thinking all the big food chains want to help us eat healthy and save us money and look after the planet, they dont, i was also saying at how cheap it is to eat fresh produce and how much better it is for you, as you say you buy fresh stuff from the market you'll already know this, even if having to prepare and cook stuff every day is a pain, but what else would you do other than veg out on the sofa with a nuked pizza with more chemicals in it that a school lab.

School labs have very few chemicals in them, levels of science are incredibly primitive in school. Now, University labs, that's a different story...

This is my theory for what its worth,the degredation of this planet is down to just one thing,there are just too many of us.Observe for a while,the countries with the highest populations,they endure the worst living conditions,while low density places like the Scandinavian countries are pristine and everyone enjoys a very high standard of living.Look to the animal kingdom, there species regulate their numbers in relation to food and space available.Rats are a prime example,keep a small colony of them and they will all get on well together,keep themselves and their environment clean,over crowding them leads to fights and stress ,also they become unclean in their habits,now witness life in our overcrowded cities and compare that with life in say Bishops Castle.
When the film Soylent Green came out in the sixties i thought it was pure bunkam but when i play it back now i can see it is becoming scaringly true,i urge everyone that thinks i am talking rubbish to watch this film an d then ask themselves if what i am saying is not true.

Good post avronb - I couldn't agree more.

Goes against the saying 'the more the merrier' 'strength in numbers'! If you look at nature an compare, ants or bees they seem to do very well co-existing so I'd have to disagree with your theory Avronb.

I think the plight of the world is down to the selfishness of mankind, not helping his fellow man and the inability for some people to accept change easily.

What exactly do mean Andy

Does anyone think we now have a better quality of life in this country than we had in the 50s60s and 70s,and please dont think that quality of life is the same as standard of living.

Well Duh!

I dont want Simsons speak, i just want an answer to my question.

Avron! I thought my thread was pretty self explanitary ! Hence the 'well duh' or if you like old chap read what it said!

I think its the 'Simpsons', not simsons !

Forgive me for not being an expert on the SIMPSONS,but i shall just have to live with the fact that i dont find this banal american crap remotely funny.

We diversify

Please answer the question Andy

I think the 60's in particular are to blame for some of the social issues we have today. I cant answer your question as to better quality as I dont know how he quality of life was then ! I think you need to define 'quality of life'i.e some people who live in council houses now own their homes, is this improved quality of life ?

Think we are also straying from the origional thread here too !

No Andy
It means not worrying about if your children are being weighed up by some pervert or worrying about your property/car etc.are going to be trashed /stolen while you are on hloiday,all these might not be such an issue in Shropshire but they sure as hell are in our cities.

But surely that level of crime was witnessed to a degree in say victorian times ? Yet the communication they had in the form of the media was almost non-existant