The Co-Op

[NGHFB71]

My parents live in a small town which is practically run by the co-op,
Any intervention from other shops have always been turned down as the co-op has always stood fast and not let competition in..
I personally live outside Oxford where Tesco and there express shops are taking over .... Does it change from district to distric or is there just tactical business plans...

[Heaton21]

Many of the villages in Lincolnshire where we live have a Co-op with no real competion. While it's handy for a few convenience items, the problem faced by the Co-op is that most shoppers and certainly all our neighbours still go into nearby Lincoln, where there is a wide selection of the major supermarkets, with cheaper prices and petrol. There is no petrol station near our village and the nearest supermarket (Tesco) is only 3 miles away.

[ummmm]

Within comfortable walking distance from me is Tesco petrol station/Express, Co-op, Sainsbury Express and another Tesco Express.

I tend to just use the Co-op as it's nearest.

Less than a 10 min drive we have Morrisons, Lidl, Aldi and a main Tesco.

[rockyracoon]

Co-op had a stranglehold round here for years and they were appaling, Tesco came along and gave them a major boot up the backside so service and prices improved drastically, they're still here, just!

[EcclesCake]

I don't know the answer but am also intrigued as to how some businesses monopolise some regions/towns.

I am so grateful that I have several Waitrose, Tesco, Sainsbury, Aldi, Lidl, Morrisons, Budgens all within seven miles of my home. The only big store that is further afield is Asda and that is no loss as far as I'm concerned.

[Baldric]

Tesco are on a quest for World domination!

[hc4361]

At least Tesco is a UK company. Asda is the UK arm of the American giant Walmart which operates in 27 countries.

[chrissa1]

In our town we used to have 3 petrol stations. For the past 5 years the Co-Op has been the only one. Their prices hit £1.40/ litre well before the rest of the country amid have stuck at £1.33 even though the rest of the country's prices have been around the £1.28 Mark.

A couple of weeks ago a new garage opened selling petrol at £1.29. Guess what? The Co-Op followed suit, that day.

Their forecourt is virtually empty now and it serves them right.

[Peaspeculiars]

Generally the landlord will rent out his/her property to the highest bidder with the longest tenancy deal e.g 10 years with a 5 year break clause and it will be dependant on the extent of the schedule of dilapidation which the incoming company requests. The landlord will be approached by many different companies for a prospective tenancy depending on the footfall and area demographic in relation to the interested company's product/s.
A lot of deals fall through as the lease normally is tied in to the planning applications i.e for a pawnbroker, they would have to apply for A2 planning for a financial establishment. Most company's will not complete on the lease deal until advertising consent and building consent have been granted by the council - this is the point at which Co-op would probably step in to place an objection to the company's submitted planning applications (which are in the public domain on the council's website).
It really depends on the gusto of the interested company and their finances which leads to them re-submitting planning again and again until the council accepts the plans. The building control officer and the separate A1/A2/A3 etc planning dept have the final say no matter what the co-op may think, so their strangle hold isn't completely infallible. But, it will put a lot of first time retailers and local company's off (It is normally the big PLC/ LTD's that keep plugging away until the lease is a done deal). Hence is why there are so many tescos everywhere etc, etc

[heathfield]

IMHO the Co-0p is run by amateurs and staffed by numpties. Their latest is the slogan 'Loved by us' on their packaging. Oh yes? Why is it loved by the Co-Op? Because they can buy it in cheap and can put a big mark-up on it? How about selling stuff that's loved by the customers instead? I think they've shot themselves in the foot on that one.
Some years back we had a small Co-Op convenience store nearby. One day my wife asked the manager if they sold fresh garlic. "No." he replied. "We only have the bulbs." Doh!
Another failing is that what stores stock is dictated by head offices, not the store staff, who have to apologise to customers for not having what they want, but can do nothing about it. Some Christmases ago I asked in their local supermarket why they had no cider vinegar. The reply was that they had limited shelf space, and couldn't stock everything. I pointed out that 8 inches of their shelf space was being taken up by bottles of sherry vinegar, and that if they were lucky they might sell one bottle of it over the Christmas period.
Co-Op pricing? Our nearest big supermarkets are some 6 miles away. Even for a few items, and taking the cost of fuel for a 12 mile round trip into consideration, it adds up costing less to buy from them than from our local Co-Op. Again, head offices set the prices, but they don't have to face the resulting customer complaints as store staff do.
Our Co-Op is disliked by many of the local population, who state that they look forward to the day that a major supermarket decides to open in the town.

[cassa333]

The co-op in the next village along from me baught the papershop when it closed so that another one couldn't open in competition.

Sound business sense to me. Well it's what I would do if I could lol