New Co-Op on Jamaica Road (where Costcutter is)

Deeply disappointed so far by the huge drop in stock since Co Op took over the Dockhead Costcutters.

Costcutter used to have a decent selection of wine and most other things you would need, now it's empty shelves and not very cheap prices. Costcutter wasn't that cheap but this is worse.

It's been a week or two now, they have to get their act together at some point?

Edit - "Poor stock and uncompetitive pricing" is totally my gripe!

It would be nice if that Co-Op employee who posted here once would also be kind enough to respond to concerns about pricing and stock.

SE1 suffers from a dearth of more affordable 'metro-sized' supermarkets in the areas where real people live (what immediate community does Tooley ST Tesco Metro serve?) so it used to fall to the likes of Costcutter to pick up some of that slack.

james127 - Martin who posted here is not a Co-op employee - he's an elected representative as part of the membership structure of the Co-operative.

The Co-op is quite different in its organisation/ownership to any other supermarket.

has anyone taken the time to email martin & had a response? we've just voted with our feet & shop elsewhere...



I'm interested to read your views when the stores open and I'll take up the issues I've already seen on SE1.

If you have wider issues or thoughts, email me on coopvoice@gmail.com.

Martin[/quote]

James Hatts wrote:

The Co-op is quite different in its organisation

Or disorganisation. I go to look for bread and there's no bread, I go looking for something else and there's none of that either. No tomatoes, no onions, no..... no water! How hard can it be to have really basic things in stock?

Additionally, the store management on SBR has decided the pavement outside would benefit and the entire ambience of the street could be improved by the area outside their store's door being permanently obstructed by their rubbish filled, wheeled cages. Quite where they learned that in Southwark you can use the pavements as a commercial refuse store so long as it is (mostly) in cages I'm not entirely sure, but I've contacted the council about it.

It seems there are more than myself complaining about issues at SBR. Following the intercession of Cllr. Adele Roberts, the council have now issued a warning letter regarding both the clutter on the pavement and complaints about deliveries occurring outside the hours permitted in the store's planning consent.

Now if only they could do the same demanding these stores lower their prices and stock things people want to buy.

I'd just like to echo what's already been said about the Jamaica Road co-op; a decent shop has been completely ruined under the management of what is supposed to be a much larger and more professional operation.

I'm not sure whether I'm more annoyed by the lack of products I want to buy on the shelves, or the prices. Bear in mind that this is an organisation that claims its values include "Equity, social responsibility and caring for others", but is clearly content with blatant profiteering, for example a 30% increase in the price of 4 pints of milk over what Costcutter used to charge.

I wasn't at all surprised when I went in the other day and found they had no Christmas cards, despite having a whole display of other types of card! I did manage to get a card in the shop that I would recommend you switch to: "Circle Store" on Queen Elizabeth Road; it's just 50 yds from this Co-op down Shad Thames.

mb1 wrote:

Bear in mind that this is an organisation that claims its values include "Equity, social responsibility and caring for others", but is clearly content with blatant profiteering, for example a 30% increase in the price of 4 pints of milk over what Costcutter would charge.

I don't have any stats to back this up, but at least one person has suggested the difference is due to the Co-op paying farmers a better price for the milk.

Co-op farmers do receive a premium, but they were clear as recently as July 2012 that:

BBC News wrote:

Co-op and Asda ruled out the increase being passed on to consumers through rises in the price of dairy products.

James Hatts wrote:

mb1 wrote:

Bear in mind that this is an organisation that claims its values include "Equity, social responsibility and caring for others", but is clearly content with blatant profiteering, for example a 30% increase in the price of 4 pints of milk over what Costcutter would charge.

I don't have any stats to back this up, but at least one person has suggested the difference is due to the Co-op paying farmers a better price for the milk.

A good point, but lets bear in mind that although Shad Thames etc. is a wealthy pocket, there's plenty of people in the area who are not so well off. Luckily there's other shops they can go to, assuming Costcutter isn't going to buy them all! It's not for co-op to decide that farmers must be paid more if it's at the expense of consumers (which I admit the next post suggests it should not be); it would be perfectly easy to give people the choice as to how much they pay for their milk and tell them what the difference is.

Aside from that example, almost everything seems to be a bit more expensive anyway.