Tesco buy all nine Shoprite supermarkets- Monopoly?

[CrazyDave]

2 hours ago, Omobono said:

Same applies to Robinsons staff who work in Shoprite as well as their delivery and whare house staff , if Tesco are going to import their own fruit and veg  then Robinsons miss out in a very big way with the loss of 95% of their  present retail outlets, 

Robinsons are still the biggest wholesale suppliers of veg and some dry goods to the  hotels , catering industry ,schools , hospital etc  should anything happen to this supply chain  it could bring difficulties to lots of other areas 

they are also the biggest wholesale buyers of local produce   , so the possible  knock on effect  in Island terms   certainly should not be underplayed by government 

Unfortunately there are many people who are too dim to understand the real implications of this:

They will learn in a couple of years.

[Kopek]

4 hours ago, WTF said:

did shoprite have a monopoly with 9 stores ?

No,  because Shoprites  nine outlets never really competed with the  one Tesco store, which drew the major weekly shop from us. whether we like it or not, Tesco became our store to go to!

We can't denigrate Shoprite if we were part of it's demise???

[CrazyDave]

27 minutes ago, Roger Mexico said:

Oh quite, I don't think I've ever been in Tesco without seeing at least one obvious trade buyer.  But (except for some small players)  they may not be buying all their supplies there.  They may be picking and choosing what is best priced or picking up stuff that Robinsons didn't deliver or that they forgot to order or that they had a run on.  You often see the same in other shops (say the Coop in Port Erin) where someone in chef's checks hurries in for lemons or peppers or whatever.  So these people may still be getting supplies from Robinson's as well, possibly spending most there.

This isn't just about price.  Time is money as well and having to retail shop for all goods would cause extra time pressure and cost in terms of having to pay wages to cover the extra hours needed.  So most catering etc business will still rely on wholesaler deliveries for most of their supplies.

I think Omobono's point was related in that we don't know how much the health of Robinson's business relies on Shoprite sales and how vulnerable they will be to collapse now it's gone.  If it does stop trading, a whole range of businesses and institutions will be hit.

The only trade buyers, or restaurants who buy in Tesco are those who have no credit left at places that would be much cheaper for them, but who can use a credit card at the till.

[WTF]

5 minutes ago, Kopek said:

No,  because Shoprites  nine outlets never really competed with the  one Tesco store, which drew the major weekly shop from us. whether we like it or not, Tesco became our store to go to!

We can't denigrate Shoprite if we were part of it's demise???

did shoprites 9 stores have a monopoly before tesco came to the island then ?

[Gladys]

2 minutes ago, WTF said:

did shoprites 9 stores have a monopoly before tesco came to the island then ?

No, because there was Safeways.  

[Roger Mexico]

21 minutes ago, Gladys said:

I get the point, but I suspect that the business won't be so dependent on Shoprite as we think.   Certainly it will be a sizeable chunk, but presumably their wholesale side is the larger part?  Their range of veg at Cooil Road is much wider then is on the shelves at Shoprite.  So, they must have their own market not dependent on Shoprite outlets. 

I rather tend to agree (I was explaining the point rather than supporting it) but we don't really know the way Robinson's business model works.  The fact that the trade seems to get the better produce rather suggests that's where most of the money lies.

11 minutes ago, CrazyDave said:

The only trade buyers, or restaurants who buy in Tesco are those who have no credit left at places that would be much cheaper for them, but who can use a credit card at the till.

That's not really true - the old joke on the Island is: "I can get it for you retail".  But for most client businesses the convenience of daily deliveries and greater reliability of supply outweighs the extra cost.  But a lot of smaller places in particular will supplement from the supermarkets.

[Kopek]

44 minutes ago, CrazyDave said:

ave no credit left at places that would be much cheaper for them, bu

Or have the quality of retail over commecial offering in mind???

[quilp]

50 minutes ago, Gladys said:

I get the point, but I suspect that the business won't be so dependent on Shoprite as we think. Certainly it will be a sizeable chunk, but presumably their wholesale side is the larger part? Their range of veg at Cooil Road is much wider than is on the shelves at Shoprite. So, they must have their own market not dependent on Shoprite outlets.

Spot on, imo. It's a strong local brand which will survive, long term. It may have to explore other avenues of trade but they'll see it through. 

[Gladys]

@Roger Mexico no, we don't know the business model, and it is all supposition, but I don't think they are as vulnerable as some may think. 

Again, do feel for any staff made redundant because of the Tesco deal.

What astonishes me is how Agrimark, or whatever they are called, survives.  

  

[alpha-acid]

4 minutes ago, Gladys said:

@Roger Mexico no, we don't know the business model, and it is all supposition, but I don't think they are as vulnerable as some may think. 

Again, do feel for any staff made redundant because of the Tesco deal.

What astonishes me is how Agrimark, or whatever they are called, survives.  

  

Have you ever been in there some of their stuff is cheaper than anywhere else on the Island for catering stuff. Car park full of customers every time I go to buy

Edited October 16, 2023 by alpha-acid

[woolley]

4 hours ago, Gladys said:

They have bought the stores not the company according to the press release.  

 

 

4 hours ago, John Wright said:

They have bought the business, not the operating company nor the stores. They’ve taken leases/sub leases  on the stores owned ( freehold or long leasehold )  by Shoprite/Isle of Man Enterprises and will be taking assignments of leases on those stores which Shoprite leases

 

4 hours ago, Gladys said:

https://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/tesco-buys-all-nine-shoprite-supermarkets-on-the-isle-of-man-643050

I was trying to gently say that the Shoprite head office or back office staff will not be the responsibility of Tesco to those who expect Tesco will assist in their redeployment.  They may well do, but not sure there is a) any obligation or b) any scope within their current management structure,  which will mostly be in the UK. 

As might be expected, they have been quite tight lipped about the details. If they had "bought the business" in it's purest sense, even without buying the company, it would mean taking on all of the backroom staff including personnel involved at head office. As Gladys says, it seems as though a fair amount of cherry picking has taken place in advance so that they are not taking on (or having to lay off) staff in functions they don't want to continue even though those functions have been part of the business up until last week. So as far as Tesco is concerned, I suspect it's the shops and the warehouse transferred with the labour that is direct to those units, along with any customer goodwill (which in this case just means the punters who live locally).

[mollag]

On 10/15/2023 at 6:27 PM, John Wright said:

Did the smylies place eventually become securicor ?

Initially next door..

Edited October 17, 2023 by mollag
mistakes

[mollag]

If I remember well, Agrimark was established to use up the surplus product from the Fatstock combine and Milk marketing Association, it made Ice cream, sausage and canned and fresh  meat [Prima Donna marque] It also shifted produce from the farms generally, potaoes etc With the demise of tourism, it's market dried up so it became just a wholesaler by taking over Smylies. Surplus milk products and meats were then exported with very nice Export subsidies to make up profit.Their manufactured products were V good quality as i recall. 😋

[John Wright]

20 minutes ago, mollag said:

If I remember well, Agrimark was established to use up the surplus product from the Fatstock combine and Milk marketing Association, it made Ice cream, sausage and canned and fresh  meat [Prima Donna marque] It also shifted produce from the farms generally, potaoes etc With the demise of tourism, it's market dried up so it became just a wholesaler by taking over Smylies. Surplus milk products and meats were then exported with very nice Export subsidies to make up profit.Their manufactured products were V good quality as i recall. 😋

The canned meat, stewed steak, was excellent.

[GD4ELI]

13 hours ago, John Wright said:

It’s been being hawked around, with crazy price tags, since before the Tesco Castletown and Chester Street licensing applications.

I bet Tesco didn't pay top dollar for this.