The Russians are Coming .. Bearing Tins of Baked Beans
Never mind the quality, go for the low low price. I do wonder what standards of hygiene, pesticide use and animal welfare are adopted in Russia. I suspect that this newcomer will attract a lot of consumer interest. We will see.
Russian-founded discounter giant gearing up to open four UK stores | News | The Grocer
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A Costco without membership fees? Don't Costco basically only make a profit because of membership fees?1
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I’m genuinely amazed at why people shop a Costco. It was proven last year in a price comparison study that their food , on the whole , is dearer than Sainsburys and they bloody charge you to go there !North Lower Neil said:A Costco without membership fees? Don't Costco basically only make a profit because of membership fees?2 -
I would think that the low prices and healthy profits are down to low wages paid in Russia and relatively cheap projected shipping costs to the UK. I'll wager that even 'low' UK prices will be higher than what's paid in Siberia, Romania and PolandNorth Lower Neil said:A Costco without membership fees? Don't Costco basically only make a profit because of membership fees?0 -
It seems the 'Grocer' article needs a log in to read .. here is a bit of Mere propaganda
Where we are - MERERETAIL
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Highly unlikely that very much if any stock is sourced in Russia. The stores will still be subject to the standards required for British food retailers.Lincsaddick said:Mere, not to be confused with you know who, a Russian supermarket chain already operating in the eastern EU, with prices claimed to be a lot lower than even Aldi and Lidl, is opening four stores in the UK, two in Lancashire and two in north Wales. Expensive Waitrose it ain't
Never mind the quality, go for the low low price. I do wonder what standards of hygiene, pesticide use and animal welfare are adopted in Russia. I suspect that this newcomer will attract a lot of consumer interest. We will see.
Russian-founded discounter giant gearing up to open four UK stores | News | The Grocer1 -
Mere, sounds a bit like Miere, and for that reason I'm out.2
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exactly this, looks like the reason its cheaper is that suppliers basically deliver direct to the shop floor.ShootersHillGuru said:
Highly unlikely that very much if any stock is sourced in Russia. The stores will still be subject to the standards required for British food retailers.Lincsaddick said:Mere, not to be confused with you know who, a Russian supermarket chain already operating in the eastern EU, with prices claimed to be a lot lower than even Aldi and Lidl, is opening four stores in the UK, two in Lancashire and two in north Wales. Expensive Waitrose it ain't
Never mind the quality, go for the low low price. I do wonder what standards of hygiene, pesticide use and animal welfare are adopted in Russia. I suspect that this newcomer will attract a lot of consumer interest. We will see.
Russian-founded discounter giant gearing up to open four UK stores | News | The Grocer0 -
I'll only go if they have a Vodka aisle.5
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I sometimes used to go to a nice friendly Polish shop in Bognor Regis. Not exactly a supermarket but it had four checkouts.
What got me was you could buy simple things like bottles of water or Coca-Cola much cheaper than the UK equivalents.
So they bring labelled bottles of water all the way from Poland and sell it for 20p while a bottle of water in Tesco costs 50p.
Maybe Tesco are just taking the piss?
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I've boycotted Russia and China, both being quite appalling on human rights, for quite some time so I won't be shopping there.2
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The bottled water industry is one of the biggest cons going. They're all taking the piss.stevexreeve said:I sometimes used to go to a nice friendly Polish shop in Bognor Regis. Not exactly a supermarket but it had four checkouts.
What got me was you could buy simple things like bottles of water or Coca-Cola much cheaper than the UK equivalents.
So they bring labelled bottles of water all the way from Poland and sell it for 20p while a bottle of water in Tesco costs 50p.
Maybe Tesco are just taking the piss?
There's three types of water (bottled) that are sold. The main one being, simply, bottled water. Essentially people are paying for tap water that's been treated (with no requirement to list the treatment(s) on the labelling) before selling back to the public at stupid costs. It's the same con that saw Dasani (of Coca-Cola fame) fail miserably when launched in the UK. Okay, it was also not too long after the OFAH episode about Peckham Spring, but they tried their luck anyway. Seems it's now commonplace and accepted by most. Mental!!
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I don’t live in North Wales or Lancashire, so won’t I be shopping there.3
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From The Grocer:-Lincsaddick said:It seems the 'Grocer' article needs a log in to read .. here is a bit of Mere propaganda
Where we are - MERERETAILA food discounter founded in Russia with a claimed 3,200 stores internationally is gearing up to open its first branches in the UK this summer.
Svetofor was founded in Krasnoyarsk in Siberia in 2009 and has been opening stores in Europe since 2018 under the name Mere. The business has stores in Germany, Poland, Romania, Lithuania, Latvia and Ukraine, with plans for more soon in Italy, Spain, Greece and Bulgaria as well as the UK.
Suppliers are being approached about four planned UK stores, including two in Wales, in Mold and Caldicot, and two in the north of England, in Preston and Castleford. The first, in a former Nisa in Preston’s Ribbleton, is scheduled to open next month, according to Mere UK head of buying Pavels Antonovs.
A no-frills model sees suppliers expected to deliver directly to stores, which also act as the business’ warehouses. Each will be about 10,000 sq ft, and will include a walk-in chiller room and “huge freezer”, allowing multi-temperature ranges to be sold directly from the pallets on which they arrive.
The business prides itself on the extreme simplicity of the model, which it likens to a Costco but with no membership fee and no in-store service. Antonovs said this would allow it to undercut even the cheapest UK supermarkets by 20%-30%.
Each store is to have a maximum of 1,200 SKUs and only eight staff, including a director, four cashiers and three to handle deliveries.
“We are the gap in the market,” said Antonovs. “We don’t have any competitors.
“Our model is no service and no marketing.”
The business’ terms and conditions for suppliers say stock is bought on a “sale or return basis”, meaning Mere “pays only for goods sold, returning those that are unsold to the seller”.
It’s a condition that has made some wary of signing up, with one potential supplier describing the arrangement as “extremely rare in a large-scale food retail setting”. The payment terms would leave suppliers “effectively funding shrinkage”, added the source.
Antonovs said: “Some will understand us, some won’t. There are already around 30 business that will 70% fill our shops.
“I have just now met with a manufacturer with a turnover of £150m and we signed for eight SKUs.
“On 13 March, we opened a store in Latvia and the queue outside was 570 people. In Germany, when we opened our first store, it had been bought out [of stock] in two days.”
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Their security is basic but effective.
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Me to.AddicksAddict said:I've boycotted Russia and China, both being quite appalling on human rights, for quite some time so I won't be shopping there.2 -
Uber eats will probably deliver.ValleyGary said:I don’t live in North Wales or Lancashire, so won’t I be shopping there.1 -
So, queues around the corner and running out of stock…that old communist selling point didn’t seem very appealing when the USSR was still aroundSporadicAddick said:
From The Grocer:-Lincsaddick said:It seems the 'Grocer' article needs a log in to read .. here is a bit of Mere propaganda
Where we are - MERERETAILA food discounter founded in Russia with a claimed 3,200 stores internationally is gearing up to open its first branches in the UK this summer.
Svetofor was founded in Krasnoyarsk in Siberia in 2009 and has been opening stores in Europe since 2018 under the name Mere. The business has stores in Germany, Poland, Romania, Lithuania, Latvia and Ukraine, with plans for more soon in Italy, Spain, Greece and Bulgaria as well as the UK.
Suppliers are being approached about four planned UK stores, including two in Wales, in Mold and Caldicot, and two in the north of England, in Preston and Castleford. The first, in a former Nisa in Preston’s Ribbleton, is scheduled to open next month, according to Mere UK head of buying Pavels Antonovs.
A no-frills model sees suppliers expected to deliver directly to stores, which also act as the business’ warehouses. Each will be about 10,000 sq ft, and will include a walk-in chiller room and “huge freezer”, allowing multi-temperature ranges to be sold directly from the pallets on which they arrive.
The business prides itself on the extreme simplicity of the model, which it likens to a Costco but with no membership fee and no in-store service. Antonovs said this would allow it to undercut even the cheapest UK supermarkets by 20%-30%.
Each store is to have a maximum of 1,200 SKUs and only eight staff, including a director, four cashiers and three to handle deliveries.
“We are the gap in the market,” said Antonovs. “We don’t have any competitors.
“Our model is no service and no marketing.”
The business’ terms and conditions for suppliers say stock is bought on a “sale or return basis”, meaning Mere “pays only for goods sold, returning those that are unsold to the seller”.
It’s a condition that has made some wary of signing up, with one potential supplier describing the arrangement as “extremely rare in a large-scale food retail setting”. The payment terms would leave suppliers “effectively funding shrinkage”, added the source.
Antonovs said: “Some will understand us, some won’t. There are already around 30 business that will 70% fill our shops.
“I have just now met with a manufacturer with a turnover of £150m and we signed for eight SKUs.
“On 13 March, we opened a store in Latvia and the queue outside was 570 people. In Germany, when we opened our first store, it had been bought out [of stock] in two days.”
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I read a while ago that they were looking at Beckenham as a potential location for a store as Lidl are apparently wanting at moving from the old Safeway site, and Sainsburys have had disposal agents looking at redeveloping the building for residential properties.
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They should buy the Sainsbury's at Selhurst. The locals will love it.1
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I hope not, I bet it tastes disgusting.stevexreeve said:I sometimes used to go to a nice friendly Polish shop in Bognor Regis. Not exactly a supermarket but it had four checkouts.
What got me was you could buy simple things like bottles of water or Coca-Cola much cheaper than the UK equivalents.
So they bring labelled bottles of water all the way from Poland and sell it for 20p while a bottle of water in Tesco costs 50p.
Maybe Tesco are just taking the piss?0 -
Sponsored links:
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Will you be required to queue for five hours to get a token to queue for another two hours to get a pound of potatoes, and a turnip..... if so i'm in, think of the weekly savings in the housekeeping budget, up the revolution!!1
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I asked if they deliverclb74 said:
Uber eats will probably deliver.ValleyGary said:I don’t live in North Wales or Lancashire, so won’t I be shopping there.
They said no.
They only do chicken and lamb.4 -
That’s an offal joke…blackpool72 said:
I asked if they deliverclb74 said:
Uber eats will probably deliver.ValleyGary said:I don’t live in North Wales or Lancashire, so won’t I be shopping there.
They said no.
They only do chicken and lamb.3 -
Only those two? What about the USA's record on human rights?AddicksAddict said:I've boycotted Russia and China, both being quite appalling on human rights, for quite some time so I won't be shopping there.
Does the UK selling massive amounts of arms abroad bother you to the extent that you'd consider boycotting British products?
Sorry if I seem like I'm digging you out, but this is the circle I go around in when I consider this issue.
It seems to me that it's easy to get caught up in western propaganda against Russia and China....
And I say that having lived in Xinjiang and being married to an Uyghur.1 -
Same question to youBaldybonce said:
Me to.AddicksAddict said:I've boycotted Russia and China, both being quite appalling on human rights, for quite some time so I won't be shopping there.
Can you justify why you have singled these two out for special treatment?
I imagine you must have thought it through well enough so am interested to hear your thinking/justification0 -
If you really think human rights are worst in UK and US than Russia and China you must be off your rocker!2
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(if you seek a specific UK focused answer) How about:Siv_in_Norfolk said:
Same question to youBaldybonce said:
Me to.AddicksAddict said:I've boycotted Russia and China, both being quite appalling on human rights, for quite some time so I won't be shopping there.
Can you justify why you have singled these two out for special treatment?
I imagine you must have thought it through well enough so am interested to hear your thinking/justification
Solidarity with the innocent dead citizen in Salisbury who found the tube of Novicok, and the policeman who fought for his life and lost his career? Not to mention the Skripals themselves and Alexander Litvinenko before them, all UK citizens?
Solidarity with the people of HK, our former colony, whom we have left to a pretty grim future.
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spotted the tankieSiv_in_Norfolk said:
Only those two? What about the USA's record on human rights?AddicksAddict said:I've boycotted Russia and China, both being quite appalling on human rights, for quite some time so I won't be shopping there.
Does the UK selling massive amounts of arms abroad bother you to the extent that you'd consider boycotting British products?
Sorry if I seem like I'm digging you out, but this is the circle I go around in when I consider this issue.
It seems to me that it's easy to get caught up in western propaganda against Russia and China....
And I say that having lived in Xinjiang and being married to an Uyghur.0 -
This is what Tesco and Sainsbury's face if the Russkies get a grocery foothold
Russian jets and ships shadow British warship - BBC News
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China.Siv_in_Norfolk said:
Same question to youBaldybonce said:
Me to.AddicksAddict said:I've boycotted Russia and China, both being quite appalling on human rights, for quite some time so I won't be shopping there.
Can you justify why you have singled these two out for special treatment?
I imagine you must have thought it through well enough so am interested to hear your thinking/justification
The treatment of Australia, the Philipines etc.
Cheap goods filling our landfill.
The bullying of Taiwan.
Covid.
India.
Russia.
Trying to de-stabilise the west.
Salisbury.
Ukraine,
etc.4
