WHO ARE THEY?
Wm Morrisons are now the UK's fourth largest supermarket group.
It was Founded by William Morrison in 1899 who started with an egg and butter stall on Bradford Market, they have only over the last 30 years dramatically expanded in order to compete with the likes of Tesco, ... Read review
Advantages: In Store "Ambiance". Good Prices, Many Offers. Cheerful Staff. Well Stocked Excellent Cafe Disadvantages: Smell of Fish! No Local Store. Some Isles Cluttered With Overflow Stock.
...THEY?
Wm Morrisons are now the UK's fourth largest supermarket group.
It was Founded by William Morrison in 1899 who started with an egg and butter stall on Bradford Market, they have only over the last 30 years dramatically expanded in order to compete with the likes of Tesco, ASDA and Sainsburys. William's son, Sir Ken Morrison was initially responsible for this expansion, originally staying very local in the Yorkshire ... ...recently as 1978 did Morrisons "cross the border" into Lancashire by buying out Wheelan's Discount Stores, following that acquisition, the rise of Morrisons was by any standards swift. In 1999 they celebrated their centenary - neatly coinciding with the opening of the 100th store.
Hovever, it was in 2004 with the take over of the ailing Safeway store chain that Morrisons became the UK's fourth supermarket group.
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WHO ARE THEY?
Wm Morrisons are now the UK's fourth largest supermarket group.
It was Founded by William Morrison in 1899 who started with an egg and butter stall on Bradford Market, they have only over the last 30 years dramatically expanded in order to compete with the likes of Tesco, ASDA and Sainsburys. William's son, Sir Ken Morrison was initially responsible for this expansion, originally staying very local in the Yorkshire area during the 1950's.
Only as recently as 1978 did Morrisons "cross the border" into Lancashire by buying out Wheelan's Discount Stores, following that acquisition, the rise of Morrisons was by any standards swift. In 1999 they celebrated their centenary - neatly coinciding with the opening of the 100th store.
Hovever, it was in 2004 with the take over of the ailing Safeway store chain that Morrisons became the UK's fourth supermarket group.
Currently, in 2006, Morrisons employ a total of 130,000 staff.
Around 9 to 10 million customers shuffle through their revolving doors each week.
HOW MANY BRANCHES?
Morrisons, since taking over Safeway now have a total of 360 stores across the UK. The south east of England however is currently particularly poorly served by Morrisons stores - particularly the larger superstores.
HOW MANY VISITED?
We do not have a "local" Morrisons shop. The two nearest (large) branches to us are both around 70 miles away, one located at Erith in Kent, the other in Edgeware, North West London. We tend to regard Erith as our local store, it is an hour away via the M25, Edgeware is, at best, an hour and a half from Brighton in the car.
Presumably Morrisons, probably correctly, assumed that the most densely populated corner of England, the South East was already saturated with other supermarket branches.
This was partially side stepped by them taking over the Safeway chain, who did have many small supermarket stores in this corner of the country. Regrettably most of those seem to have been sold off to other chains. There are, in this area, however one or two "garage shops" still carrying the Safeway name, but selling Morrisons produce. Two small supermarkets that have been re-branded from Safeway to Morrisons can be found in Seaford and Eastbourne.
As far as the superstores go, apart from the two mentioned above, we have plenty of experience with Morrisons in the north of England; Preston, the new one at Denton (Manchester), and several in the north east too.
WHAT DO THEY SELL? 4 / 10
They sell a better range of food and groceries to Tesco, but fall well short of the all in one shop approach of ASDA. You will not find adult clothes or a range of larger electrical items (such as TV's) in Morrisons. Many branches do however have in-store pharmacies.
Wherever I have seen Morrisons fuel stations, the prices appear to be the lowest in that particular area, certainly well below Sainsburys and Tesco, although usually those stores are offering money off fuel vouchers when you shop in store.
The clothes range is tiny, mostly for toddlers - with a few socks and stockings thrown in for adults. The toys and homewares are limited in selection too, although the ones they do have on offer, are often stupendously cheap, and of good quality, we have picked up some very surprising bargains in Morrisons, as demonstrated in my "Anecdote".
The range of entertainment (CD / DVD and reading matter) is very similar to Tesco, not a patch on ASDA. They do however carry a very good, and reasonably priced range of greetings cards. The magazine section is also comprehensive, although Tesco and ASDA both beat Morrisons on this last score.
However, on the food side of things - let's face it the reason most of us actually visit one of these places weekly - Morrisons have a fine choice of all products across the board. Certainly the equal, if not the better, of ASDA here, light years ahead of Tesco. Particularly praiseworthy appear to be the fruit and vegetable department, the choice of cheeses, almost endless in Morrisons and last but not least, I suspect a northern tradition, an expansive "Hot Pie" counter - ideal for a quick snack on the run.
Whilst not strictly in the "sales" category, I am going to offer a sentence or two of praise for Morrisons Café here in this section. Being so far from home, when we visit Morrisons, we tend to kill two birds with one stone - the Bluewater shopping centre is only 15 minutes drive from Erith. Food prices at Bluewater are in my opinion extortionate; we visit Morrisons and eat there either before or after trawling the vast shopping centre!
The food on offer is cooked to order, of good quality, served to the table AND extremely good value for money. Certainly Morrisons put Sainsburys cafes to shame. Smaller stores have a smaller "Café" offering hot and cold drinks and a limited range of meals, whilst the larger stores, such as Erith, have a "Market Street Café" - offering a menu selection that would put many local restaurants to shame. A roast lunch (choice of meats) will cost around £4.00, as will fish dishes and vegetarian options. If you happen to like "Chocolate Puddle Pudding" as I do, get there early, it is the best that I have tasted anywhere and does tend to sell out due to demand.
QUALITY & FRESHNESS OF PRODUCE 6 / 10
With the fruit, vegetables and any bakery or dairy items purchased in Morrisons, I have no issue. Indeed, we have enjoyed on many occasions superb cakes from here. They also, in my experience, offer the freshest and best value ready made sandwiches of any supermarket too.
Morrisons advertise their fresh produce as Market Fresh, indeed they use the term "Market Street" to describe the many specialist counters (Butcher, Baker, Candle Stick Maker - well maybe not the latter!) spread around the outside of the store.
However, as you will read below in the "ambiance" section, due to the smell of it, in all stores we have visited, I would never touch Morrisons fresh fish.
MONEY BACK GUARANTEE: 5 / 10
Hands up on this one, we simply have not shopped enough at Morrisons to have had the experience of taking an item back. I therefore have no choice but to assume that like Tesco and Sainsburys, there would be a no quibble money back policy on faulty / stale goods and produce.
AVAILABILITY OF STOCK ON SHELVES 7 / 10
We tend to buy "bits and pieces" in Morrisons, only very occasionally doing what could be termed a full weekly shop. However, generally speaking, the whole store, unlike Tesco, seems to be very well stocked. In certain areas, my wife would actually argue that they are "over" stocked, unnecessarily large piles of produce, particularly soap powders and tinned products, cluttering up the isles. Her comment in Morrisons yesterday was "that, of all the supermarkets visited, this was 'the most Polish in character'" rather reflected this.
OWN BRAND QUALITY? 7 / 10
The limited number of "own brand" products that we have sampled from Morrisons have met with our approval.
FAIR TRADE PRODUCE RANGE? 4 / 10
Those of you, who shop in Morrisons more often than I, would probably know more about this aspect. In my own opinion, whilst they are there, Fair Trade Goods do not exactly jump off the shelves at you in these stores. Morrisons tend to major more on their own brands and many BOGOF items, rather leaving the Fair Trade products in the shade.
ANY "LABELS"? 4 / 10
As far as most of us "Southerners" are concerned, a trip to Morrisons is a completely unknown quantity. This rather makes the identification of "labels" a fruitless exercise as they have no meaning anyway!
There are not enough clothes on offer to brag about labels in these terms, as far as the food goes, they are marketing a rather ambitious one "The Best". Looking at this range of products, apart from the title itself, the packaging and labelling appears to be a direct imitation of Tesco's well established "Finest" range. Black printing on a classy silver background is again the theme here.
"eat smart" is Morrisons take on the healthier range of foods, generally promising reduced fat, sugars and salt, this label encompasses most types of food from ready made sandwiches to microwaveable ready meals.
At the economy end of the range is to be found "Bettabuy", this you may well find on basic staples such as rice, porridge oats and items such as bin liners and plastic sacks.
HOW ABOUT THE TROLLEYS? 7 / 10
In general the trolleys that we have used at Morrisons are vastly better than their counterparts at ASDA.
THE CHECK OUT QUEUES! 8 /10
We may have been particularly lucky on our visits, especially to the Erith store, but by and large, even when the shop is busy, very busy at weekends, the queuing time seems to be less than at other supermarkets, particularly Tesco and ASDA. This would seem to come about simply because the tills are all manned (sorry, that should be "staffed" in our PC day and age!) for longer periods of the day.
We have also visited Birmingham, Manchester (Denton) and Sunderland branches at busy lunch times during the week and have commented on the speed of exit through the check outs.
THE CARRIER BAGS 7 / 10
No throw away supermarket carrier bag is a good thing as it is quite possible, by the use of reusable shopping bags to cut this wastage out altogether. However, as far as we are concerned, in terms of strength and strangely, appearance, Morrisons carrier bags are the best that I have used.
SHOP AMBIANCE: 7 / 10
Each one of these titles I put here with a specific store in mind, and this one was Morrisons! Compared to an ASDA, Tesco or Sainsburys store, Morrisons have actually managed to create some ambience within their stores. This is, I know, an entirely subjective opinion, but this is my personal review so here goes!
As it happens I am a sucker for stained glass, here in Morrisons, along with the use of mosaic tiles over the individual departments, this is just what you will find. Apart from that, the displays of food have more artistic thought to them in Morrisons, they are "displayed" rather than merely "piled high and sold cheap". Thanks partly to this, Morrisons call it Market Street, and yes their stores do have the feel of a market to them inside.
I just like the experience of shopping in a Morrisons store more than in any of the other big supermarkets which I tend to find more "de-humanising". This could of course also be novelty value as we do not shop weekly here!
Why then did Morrisons not walk away with a 10 / 10 rating here? Well, as Mrs. R would tell you there is a downer!
In every one of their stores that we have been into, you cannot escape the rather unpleasant "fishy" smell near the entrance, which always pervades the fruit and vegetable stalls at the front of the store. This comes about due to the rather odd policy of always positioning the fish counter next to the fruit and vegetables at the front of the store. Smelling like this, it is not encouraging me to purchase their fresh fish. Certainly I do not remember smelling this in other supermarkets and yet in Morrisons this ALWAYS seems to be the case.
A further note, whilst talking about "ambiance" - apologies for the unusually blurred pictures below - the Erith Morrisons store was insufficiently lit inside to allow good digital photography without flash! As my photographic sorties are done "under cover", I have to rely on ambient lighting conditions. You may either draw the conclusion that Morrisons is a dimly lit store, or that they are kinder to the environment in reducing electricity consumption!
THE STAFF 7 / 10
I have absolutely no issue concerning the Morrisons staff. Whichever store we have visited, the staff have proven helpful and knowledgeable, more often than not they have a smile for the customer too. In my book service with a smile goes a very long way, especially as I am sure that they are paid mere peanuts.
On the whole it appears to be Morrisons policy to place slightly more mature staff on the tills - no bad thing in my opinion.
The one thing I will say is that I feel sorry for the staff having to wear such down-market uniforms, along with those of the Co-Op, this does little to heighten my perception of the quality of the store overall.
Good staff deserve better looking, better quality, uniforms!
WHO ACTUALLY SHOPS THERE?
Oh ho! Here we go again.
You may remember that I look at the age and quality / value of the cars parked around me in the car park to evaluate just: "who shops in a store like this?"!
My car park test comes into play and I have to say that it looks rather more like ASDA than Tesco in there. Many older, cheaper cars, and for some odd reason, vans and caravanettes seem to feature more prominently in the Morrisons line up. Yes there are the canny "value orientated" BMW and Mercedes shoppers here too of course, but it does not seem to share Tescos enviably classless appeal.
SNOB RATING: 8 / 10
There is no snobbery involved with shopping at Morrisons, pretty much what you see is what you get. My kind of store really!
N.B. This rate does not count on the overall total!
VALUE FOR MONEY RATING: 6 / 10
With all those much publicised BOGOF's (Buy One Get One Free) - Morrisons promise us 150 weekly, the general perception is that they are a direct competitor to ASDA in terms of value.
My wife and I would refute this! The BOGOF's rarely seem to be the items that we would buy weekly - they are promoting items that THEY want to sell to you. Sticking to our weekly shopping items (usually purchased from ASDA), we found an extra few (several in some cases) pence here and there on almost all of the items that WE wanted to buy. At the check out that meant that we paid a good couple of pounds more than we would have done on the same shop at ASDA.
Additionally, they do not market such a wide range of products in the first place which could leave you going elsewhere when you could have purchased all of your requirements in ASDA.
INTERNET SHOP FROM YOUR PC and HOME DELIVERY: 0 / 10
Please correct me if I am wrong, but my internet research does not tell me that Morrisons offer any form of home shopping service anywhere in the country. This is one area where all the other supermarkets already have the jump on them.
MY MORRISONS ANECDOTE: (8 / 10)
The very first time that we visited Morrisons in Erith we spotted some very attractive circular cane and wicker occasional tables. At the time we had no intention of buying such an item of furniture - but at £9.99 each - this was a bargain we thought too good to pass up. Along with our shopping we returned home with one wicker table.
Just in case you are beginning to think that we spend money on just anything, we were at the time having a conservatory built and had not one stick of furniture to put in it! We arrived home and placed the little table in the lounge, where with its shelf underneath, it proved absolutely ideal as an occasional table, so much so that we knew that we would miss it once the conservatory was built.
Of course having decided to purchase a second one, upon our return to Erith they were out of stock, no surprise there for such a bargain! It was late in the evening, and the staff on duty were unable to tell us if any more were due into stock, they were good enough to give us a telephone number to call customer services the following morning.
The next day my wife did just that and was told that yes indeed they were expecting a consignment in on the Thursday, would she like them to reserve one for her? On Thursday morning the phone rang, Morrisons informing her that they had placed a table for us to collect behind the CD desk. We collected our second table the same evening and to this day cannot believe that we furnished our conservatory with two cane tables for less than £20!.
LOYALTY CARD
Once again, as with home delivery I stand ready to be corrected, but Morrisons do not appear to offer a loyalty or credit card. Nor is there the plethora of financial services available from the bigger players in the supermarket wars.
CONCLUSION
Northerners have always been canny shoppers and know a bargain when they see one. Morrisons offer bargains aplenty, a good cheap meal out, and rather more ambience than your usual warehouse style superstore. Yes, if they opened one here in Brighton you would find RICHADA (but perversely probably NOT Mrs R!) shopping in there - but not for fish!
OVERALL RATING:
For those of us living so far away from a Morrisons store, unfortunately I have to say that the 58% score here is entirely hypothetical. In our area we have a vast choice of supermarkets and nobody in their right mind is going to undertake a 140 mile round trip in order to do their weekly shop at Morrisons.
Advantages: Good offers. Disadvantages: Too many tempting treats!
I never had a _Morrisons_ close by but I would occasionally get to go with other people to do a shop and I always loved shopping here, but then recently my local supermarket was replaced by a _Morrisons_ and I was very pleased as I preferred it to the supermarket that was originally there. My weekly shopping bill greatly reduced which was a real bonus. The supermarket felt bigger and offered more choice. I have been shopping here for a couple of ... ...the past couple of months due to the economical climate. The store layout has remained the same but has had a few changes but then has gone back to the same standard layout of most supermarkets. I can’t quite understand why they put the fruit and Veg. to the front of the store as this always leaves me rearranging my food in my trolley as I go around. All _Morrisons_ have the same layout and they offer the same choice. Upon entering the store you ...
Autarkis 18.04.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Morrisons (Shop)
Advantages: Convenient, some cheap prices, some fairly good food, good fish counter Disadvantages: Some food past use-by date, a few of the staff off with the fairies
My closest Morrisons is situated along London Road, Hadleigh, Essex, about halfway (on the north side of the road) between the old Waggon & Horses big roundabout, and Hadleigh Church.
It is, by modern-day standards, a medium-sized supermarket made of terracotta colour brickwork which from the outside looks clean, bright and very appealing (I'd hazard a guess that it was built sometime during the early to mid-1990s, judging by the architectural style).
... ...as this particular branch of Morrisons sometimes allows items to be displayed that are past their best (most likely a staff oversight rather than a deliberate attempt to deceive).
There is quite a large off-licence section which, though I haven't examined it too carefully as I rarely drink alcohol, seems to offer a good selection of wines and spirits.
At the far end of the shop, is the frozen food section - which compared to other supermarkets ...
CelticSoulSister 31.10.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Morrisons (Shop)
Advantages: Originality, fairly good prices on staple items Disadvantages: Outdated presentation, concentration on unhealthy food, poor attitude of staff
...feeling in the air that Morrisons isn't that marvellous. I think all the excitement was just down to the fact we had a new kid in town.
Make no mistake, Morrisons is cheap and has a proliferation of own brand products that you won't find elsewhere. With cheapness of price, however, comes low quality and nowhere is this more evident than with Morrison's 'ready made' foods, some of which can fairly be described as muck. Certain ex-Safeway ready meals ... ...the Morrisons portfolio but somehow it's not enough; you can't pick up something for your tea in Morrisons in the confidence that you're going to enjoy it.
For staple items Morrisons is pretty good. Fruit and veg is reasonable value for money although freshness can be a bit iffy. The freezer aisle food is particularly cheap and well stocked, and offers excellent desserts and frozen vegetables. Crisps, fizzy drinks and similar 'junk' is amongst the ...
rdobbie 25.04.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Morrisons (Shop)
Advantages: clean, cheaper, good range Disadvantages: -
...took a trip to my Morrisons which is closer to where I work and was amazed to see that it had been through a great refurbishment. I have always liked Morrisons but always found there stores to be a little bit dull. The produce I have always found to be good but just the stores in general just put me off a little. I have been to others across the country too and they were somewhat the same, so I'm not sure whether they have all gone through this refurbishment ... ...media but I think our Morrisons has actually rebranded giving themselves this whle new look to portray excellence. They have also had a new logo, which I think is slightly basic in comparision to their old logo, but at the end of the day, the new look of the stores is all that interests me.
Morrisons dates back to 1899 and was originally a market stall in Bradford. Through the inspiration of William Morrison, he led Morrisons into the supermarket ...
blondgem 06.02.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Morrisons (Shop)
Advantages: Some good bargains Disadvantages: Too big and long queues
...one free' offers. More recently Morrisons have been promoting 8 items for 50p each at vastly discounted prices. They stock many unusual cooking ingredients. I wanted to make some onion bhajees and needed some 'gram flour' and went round all the other supermarkets and couldn't find it. However, when I went to Morrison's I was able to find it there.
I like their household and gardening sections and I can often pick up bargains there. Recently I bought ... ...10% discount and other offers, Morrisons is not the place that I do my regular shop. The main reason is that it is about 5 miles away. The second is that I just find the store too big! When I have forgotten something as I go round the supermarket it can take an age to go and find it.
It is usually extremely busy too and I don't like crowds of people when shopping. There are often long queues at the till. I just seem to spend too long shopping at ...
Krazikas 22.01.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Morrisons (Shop)
Price
Value for money
Layout & presentation
Selection & range
Quality
Waiting / queues
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i've always done my shopping at morrisons, and never thought about shopping anywhere else really until we got the internet. Thats when we decided to shop around to see which one was best for price. I always thought it would be morrisons, but after shopping at asda, found out that asda was a lot cheaper. It saves you money in the long run and there are always got bargains aty asda as well. Also you can have your shopping delivered to your home and it only costs £3.50, compared to some supermarkets which cost £5 delivery. Asda always has the food in that i want or have ordered which some smaller supermarkets don't. prices at asda compared to anywhere else are cheaper, so why not save your money and shop at asda ...
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I live in the british colony of Gibraltar. Tobacco and alcohol are tax duty free, amaizing prices, but what we lack is a good supermarket. We have Morrisons superket in Gibraltar which they are quite resnable back in the U.K but because of products being shipped into Gibraltar, we have to pay even higher prices than the U.K Morrisons.
A person living on mininum wage would struggle with grocerie shopping if Morrisons in Gibraltar was the last option. Prices are scandalous!
What we need in Gibraltar is a LIDL once and for all, the only reason we dont have a LIDL is because it would put Morrison completely out of business and its not in the government interest.
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Asda is (for anyone not sure!) one of the biggest, if not THE biggest supermarket chain in the UK. I have shopped with Asda for well over 5 years now, after getting fed up with Safeway/Morrisons.
There are two main reasons I like to shop at Asda; firstly, they have what I feel is the best selection of products of any of the big supermarkets. Everything from oranges to flat screen tvs. The second reason is simple, in my opinion they are by far the cheapest supermarket without losing quality. Don't get me wrong, I know there are cheaper places, like ALDI or Lidl, but the quality really is less in these stores.
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