Supermarkets

Perhaps not the most exciting form of shopping, but essential nonetheless!

There are a number of supermarket chains in the UK and they are all in fierce competition to win your custom.  Typically supermarkets are located just on the outskirts of a town so that they can occupy a larger site and offer car parking facilities.  However, smaller branches, which in turn carry a smaller range of items, can be found within most town centres so that you can still purchase groceries without needing a car.  Some of the larger supermarkets will also offer a shuttle bus service from the town centre to their store, thus ensuring they get your custom!

Supermarkets are increasingly expanding their product base, and long gone are the days when you merely shopped for your weekly groceries!  You can now purchase all array of items from clothes, to computers, to travel insurance! 

However, most are trying to ensure that the whole shopping experience is as pleasurable as possible with many offering cafes, creches, banking facilities and pharmacies on site - whether they're achieving a truly pleasing grocery shop will have to be your decision! 

The future of shopping is definitely within ordering on the internet, and having the supermarket deliver to you.  This is already available from most of the leading companies for a small fee.  This greatly reduces the stress of having to push a trolley around the store, and should save the inevitable arguments with your partner, not to mention dragging the kids with you!

The leaders in the market are:

Tesco's is the largest chain in the UK and was started in 1924.  They can be found in most towns across the UK and now claim to be market leaders.  The Tesco Metro brand are smaller stores in town centres. Tesco also offer internet shopping.

Founded in 1899 by William Morrison, Morrisons has grown from a single egg and butter stall in Bradford market to become the UK’s fourth largest, and rapidly growing supermarket chain since aquiring the Safeway supermarket chain. They do not yet offer on-line shopping.

Asda was set up in 1965 by a group of Yorkshire farmers.  In 1999 it was sold to the US Wal-mart group.  It prides itself on offering good value for money weekly groceries.  They have internet shopping facilities.

In addition to these chains, there are the following smaller chains:

Somerfield which is usually found in high streets rather than large out of town stores.

Budgens which are only found in the Midlands and South East England.  They have a few large stores but tend to be mainly found in the high street or as convenience stores.

And, in a category all of it's own, is Iceland. They specialise in frozen food, but do tend to have some good deals in their shops. They also deliver.

All the companies listed above are ideal for purchasing your weekly or monthly groceries.  However, there are also a number of stores that you will find within residential areas which are solely convenience stores for items that you may have run out of at home.  These are:

Nisa, Co-op, Spar, One-Stop and Londis.  Their prices tend to be slightly higher than those found in the supermarkets, as you will be paying for the convenience of having them on your doorstep.

Many supermarkets also have petrol stations on site. They sell petrol and diesel at competitive prices in comparison to some of the larger petrol suppliers.

All of the larger groups of supermarkets offer a loyalty scheme of one sort or another.  This will either be a card where you collect points and then trade the points for a range of 'prizes' on offer, or by giving you money off fuel purchased from their filling stations.  All of these are intended to keep you a loyal customer of that particular chain, but there is nothing to stop you collecting cards and points from as many supermarkets as you like.

You will also find recycling points for glass, paper, tins etc in car parks to the larger superstores.

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