Sale of the Marple CO-OP to ASDA

[corium]

Just wanted to pick up a few points here.

There has been some expression of concern for the in-store Coop bank staff. I suspect they would have gone even if the store remained. I seem to recall an item on the news 4/6 weeks ago which implied most if not all of the in-store banking facilities would be phased out across the whole Coop.

I'm a Coop member and it hasn't gone unnoticed that we're the ones who have lost our divi; I'm not so sure every senior staff member has lost their bonus, but I could be wrong. But given the number of financial institutions who have a stake in the various bits of it now I'm not sure the Coop going forward will retain the any of it's (perceived) remaining original ethos in the long term.

M

[Mr Marple]

I think we have more to consider than buying American goods.  Residents should consider educating themselves about Walmart. Just read Wikipedia.

Then we should ask what price are we prepared to pay for CHEAP?

Will they want to build up or out?  Is our fire station behind it safe?

What will the centre of our town look like?  CHEAP?  Will that affect property prices?

Which small stores will it affect?

MAKE YOUR OWN DECISION...AND IF YOU DONT LIKE IT FIGHT IT!  TELL THE CO-OP HOW YOU FEEL THROUGH THE MEMBERS' WEBSITE.

Do you know something........it's good to wear your heart on your sleeve.

I also agree with the comments of "be careful about what you wish for", yep the street car parking is certainly going to be an issue with some or many people.

However, my question to my fellow Marple residents is this  =  lets take the price of milk into question, who can tell me or us how much milk is at asda in comparison to co-op? Hopefully any stated prices will be better.

[simonesaffron]

Barbara, if we didn't speculate and we were content to wait and see then there wouldn't be any postings on this forum.

[Barbara]

Well it is no use speculating what the new store will be like - and it is not unexpected that the Co-op are selling, as it is well known that they intend to get rid of all their 'flagship' stores.  I do wonder what will happen re the instore bank, as they are a separate entity from the Co-op group as a whole.  Also the pharmacy, as the Co-op have announced that they will probably sell all those.  But we shall just have to wait a while and see what develops.

[JMC]

I have found it is hit and miss with Coop staff, there are a few very nice but many seem ambivalent about whether they want to be there and serving you. They could take a leaf out of Costa's book- they are always friendly in there and it makes you want to go back.I suspect this is the reason for its popularity rather than just its brand (bit of both maybe). Hopefully Asda will train the staff better.

Went to a local group this am with 60+ people. Pretty much all of them living in Marple were happy about the Coop becoming Asda except one who thought it was 'downmarket' for Marple.

I would stay in Marple for weekly shop (currently use Sainsbury's online) which would be great and I suspect many more would. If they sold George clothes it would be brilliant and save many parents the trip to Stockport every time they need kids uniform etc.Also small electrical goods would be useful.

Hazel Grove Asda is OK other than the parking but there is much less choice than the big Asdas. Good thing is that you get out quicker though. Either way it is much better than the Coop.

[amazon]

I am so pleased to hear that Asda are taking over in Marple, now I will have a good reason to shop in the town

But I shall miss the Co-op ethos of service with a smile,a friendly helpful manager, bright welcoming atmosphere, happy and smiling cash out staff  eager to help and clean displays, polished shoes and clean shaven assistants and "happy to help" people.

I have lost count of the number of Cafes and take outs and is it two tattoo parlors!, am I correct in assuming that Business Council tax/rates and Landlord rents are advantageous that in other areas?, I will have to find out and perhaps think about having a franchise on a SUBWAY or wine bar- I am sure I could do well with the student trade.

Which coop is this Alan ......

[alan@marple]

I am so pleased to hear that Asda are taking over in Marple, now I will have a good reason to shop in the town

But I shall miss the Co-op ethos of service with a smile,a friendly helpful manager, bright welcoming atmosphere, happy and smiling cash out staff  eager to help and clean displays, polished shoes and clean shaven assistants and "happy to help" people.

I have lost count of the number of Cafes and take outs and is it two tattoo parlors!, am I correct in assuming that Business Council tax/rates and Landlord rents are advantageous that in other areas?, I will have to find out and perhaps think about having a franchise on a SUBWAY or wine bar- I am sure I could do well with the student trade.

[simonesaffron]

I'm not absolutely sure and I've not been in the town centre Asda at all,  but I think that of all the Asda stores that I have been in then parking has either been free for a limited period or redeemable in the store. In Hazel Grove you are allowed 1.5 hours which I think is fair enough.

ASDA versus the Co-op is really a non contest as far as being a foodstore is concerned. I fail to understand how it can be seen any other way.
Inflated prices, narrow sell by dates, empty shelves, surly staff (not all of them) but the culture is there - this is what the co-op represents - overall a poor quality product.

Last year I was racing the clock early one morning and I needed an item which I knew the co-op sold so I drove over there. There was a small queue of people outside the door, it wasn't even open -it was 7.11 am. They can't even open on time.

I'm no lover of ASDA or any other such organisation. They just want your money, they're not interested in you as a person, of course they are not but the co-op in Marple is not even interested in you as a customer. To me it wouldn't matter if it was Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons or almost any other - they are all much better than the co-op.       

[amazon]

Agreed.  Although the present arrangement (two hours free parking for anyone, whether or not they are actually using the Co-op) could easily be changed to what Asda and Sainsbury's do at their Stockport town centre stores, i.e. charge £5 which is then knocked off what you spend inside the store. 

Agreed again - but I bet they don't - too expensive! 

It would.  I'd always assumed that the four small shops were a sub-let from the Co-op - and of course, one of them is Co-op Travel anyway.

Dave waiting for the banners now saying save our coop . .....

[Dave]

The current car park is difficult and busy at peak times even with an "unpopular" store. If it suddenly becomes reasonable for more people to do their full weekly shop there, it absolutely simply won't cope.

Agreed.  Although the present arrangement (two hours free parking for anyone, whether or not they are actually using the Co-op) could easily be changed to what Asda and Sainsbury's do at their Stockport town centre stores, i.e. charge £5 which is then knocked off what you spend inside the store. 

The best scenario would again be to demolish and rebuild with a rooftop or basement car park

Agreed again - but I bet they don't - too expensive! 

It'd be interesting to know whether they're actually looking to buy the 3 or 4 small units too, so the whole site, or just the main store...

It would.  I'd always assumed that the four small shops were a sub-let from the Co-op - and of course, one of them is Co-op Travel anyway.

[rsh]

I'm amazed after only floating the idea of another supermarket buying the site a few weeks ago that it seems to be genuinely happening. Quite pleased too, although I have concerns similar to some raised.

Particularly the Hazel Grove store concerns me - I might indeed say it was a bad conversion, in that they seem to have basically slapped green paint over everything, stuffed it with far too many products and aisles for the floor space and not properly considered the parking and access. You only need to see the odd checkout and entrance/exit layout to see how cheap and ill-considered it was. That building really should have been levelled and rebuilt to a modern standard, but perhaps they didn't want to risk that investment given the competition in Hazel Grove.

In Marple parking would be the biggest concern if they do the same kind of job. The current car park is difficult and busy at peak times even with an "unpopular" store. If it suddenly becomes reasonable for more people to do their full weekly shop there, it absolutely simply won't cope. And this won't just make the store itself a pain to visit but could hurt Marple itself.

The best scenario would again be to demolish and rebuild with a rooftop or basement car park spanning the full length and width of the site (ditto the store above/below). A bigger, better, cheaper store here could really capture the income of a vast population which currently goes elsewhere. Given what they wanted at Hibbert Lane, they're hopefully looking to do *something* more to better utilise the site, but would they want to lose income during a long rebuild, or just get straight in there for a fast buck? Hmm...

It'd be interesting to know whether they're actually looking to buy the 3 or 4 small units too, so the whole site, or just the main store...

[Bluezorro]

Is the hazel grove conversion from coop to asda a bad one?
I think not and it would be the same size as a marple one.

[My login is Henrietta]

I'll cough to being a convert to Asda (Hyde) about 9 months ago. I think Marpleites will be surprised at the quality of much of the food and certainly the staff are very friendly - which I do get the impression is a company ethos. I think it will be good for Marple as it's bound to both draw in customers to the town and / or retain them. My days of jaunting over Werneth Low are likely to soon be over.

One thing though - I do fear for Marple's car parking now. Can't see the current co-op coping with the demand is Asda is half decent. So where to go? Is this the death rattle for the Chadwick St development proposals.

Hyde ASDA has changed drastically since I lived in Hyde, then. It had surly, ill-trained and unhelpful staff and the quality of the goods was poor to the extent that they often broke the law eg defrosted fish and shellfish with instructions not to re-freeze on the packaging were sold under a big banner stating that the product was suitable for home freezing! There was poor management of sell-by dates on perishable foods and poor freezer organisation. It was also expensive compared with Morrisons in Hyde. And I was warned off buying electrical goods from there by an employee - unfortunately AFTER I'd bought an electrical item which died within the guarantee (hollow laugh) period and which lead to a protracted battle with the manager of the store who only gave in when I reported the matter to TMBC trading standards.

Re parking. You can bet your bottom dollar that they (or any other large s/market brand) will agitate for the removal of free parking and short duration street parking around the centre of Marple once they get settled in. They've achieved it elsewhere.

Oh well, as the old adage goes - be careful what you wish for.

[My login is Henrietta]

I think we have more to consider than buying American goods.  Residents should consider educating themselves about Walmart. Just read Wikipedia.

Then we should ask what price are we prepared to pay for CHEAP?

Will they want to build up or out?  Is our fire station behind it safe?

What will the centre of our town look like?  CHEAP?  Will that affect property prices?

Which small stores will it affect?

MAKE YOUR OWN DECISION...AND IF YOU DONT LIKE IT FIGHT IT!  TELL THE CO-OP HOW YOU FEEL THROUGH THE MEMBERS' WEBSITE.

I'm with Rosehill on the Walmart issue as I've said in an earlier post. British workers have more employment protection in law than Americans but Walmart are known to wriggle round the law where they can. Yes, Rosehill is correct. Research Walmart. You may be shocked!

As to the "CHEAP" issue, sadly, there are those who are happy to overlook moral issues in favour of cheap goods even where those goods are of dubious quality. If one is poor this is understandable to a degree but I don't think those of us who can afford internet access and equipment can, honestly, describe our selves as poor.

[alison]

At the risk of being shot down by the 'I hate the coop because I equate the failings of top management with the whole of the bank, and anyway banks are evil' brigade, I do worry what that means for the staff of the in store bank who I have always heard good things about.