Halva Heaven/Tesco Torment

[muninnhuginn]

I always look at Treat of the Week in The Grauniad's colour supplement with interest and hope. Occasionally I'm boggled. The recipe a few weeks back that required a punnet of blackberries, for example: whoever knew that blackberries came in punnets? Double-layered plastic bags or a colander, maybe, but punnets? Doesn't that imply a financial transaction and, er, shops?

Last Saturday's treat was Sesame Ginger Halva, which I made yesterday. Highly recommended.

Acquiring tahini (and the absence of milk in the house) necessitated a visit to Tesco.

I HATE TESCO.

First off, earlier in the summer, the move began to "integrate" the organic products into the rest of the store, instead of having them coralled in several separate little sections (until Xmas last year the dry groceries were next to the refrigerated section so I only had to find milk and meat elsewhere--joy). This means far more hunting around and walking through the store instead of a quick nip around a small subset of locations where I can find everything.

Second, the process has been so protracted that it's meant even more hassle. Things have moved piecemeal, and their destinations have been shifted around too, which must have been just as annoying for everyone else using the store.

Third, during the move several items seem to have been "lost". The organic range has contracted: there's certainly less meat; only one brand of organic strong white flour (Tesco's own) instead of a choice of two or three. There's some things I just can't find, too: Kallo organic rice cakes, unsalted; organic tinned pineapple.

On the board of customers' comments there's a quote from one shopper saying they'd like the organic products shelved alongside the rest of the stock. So my idea of convenience may not have matched others' experiences. (I'm being charitable here and not giving in to the suspicion that the quote is a plant.) However, I wonder what the effect has been on their revenues. I've not quite stopped using it (it is virtually our corner shop): I'm buying meat on-line for the freezer now; I've never bought much fruit and veg there (the box scheme's been going longer than the store has existed) and at the minute we're harvesting our own stuff and benefiting from others' surpluses; I try to use local stores where I can. But currently, it's double clubcard points on all organic goods. Have other folk failed to find their usual purchases and gone elsewhere?

Comments

[fjm.livejournal.com]

They've also started to spread out their "free from" range.

If they move the gluten free bread to the bread rack (where it was for a while) I will be complaining vociferously.

[muninnhuginn]

Yup. I'd noticed that. If I couldn't find certain organic products where I expected them to be, the next stop used to be the "free from" shelves. It worked for organic flours.

At the same time, there are wholefood promotions on the ends (i.e. high visibility, we want this stuff to sell) of a couple of aisles.

I'm confused :-(

[six-old-cars.livejournal.com]

I think confused is the way they want you. It's all a conspiracy I tell you!

Actually, they do move things around quite irrationally and they do so entirely deliberately for the sole purpose of inconveniencing their customers. The reasoning is that the inconvenience forces shoppers NOT to do what you admitted is your normal pattern - and thus makes us explore parts of the store we'd never usually visit. They hope that in doing so we'll succumb to the temptation of products we're unfamiliar with (read "have no real use for") and give them even more of our money.

[muninnhuginn]

Failed conspiracy, since I'm lucky enough to be able to shop elsewhere if Tesco is sufficiently annyoing. Except for milk... have I ever mentioned I wanted a goat?