Residents of a Cardiff suburb have called for changes to be made to their local Tesco supermarket amid claims of rising prices and the loss of own brand products in-store. The branch of Tesco Express - one of two on Cowbridge Road East in Canton - was previously a larger 'Metro' store, but became an Express supermarket last year.
While Tesco Extra and Tesco Metro supermarkets were designed to cater for shoppers' larger, weekly shops, branches of Tesco Express are smaller, convenience stores and some shoppers say are also more expensive. We bought the same shopping at Extra and Express branches to see the difference in cost for ourselves, and you can read about that here.
In May 2021, the supermarket giant announced a major overhaul of its stores across the UK, with 147 Metro stores either being scrapped and becoming Express branches or revamped as new 'Superstores'. One of those stores was the former Metro supermarket which opened in the heart of Canton, near the Ivor Davies pub, in 1973.
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Tesco said that research on customers' shopping habits found that nearly 70% of shoppers were using Metro branches as convenience stores, leading them to convert many of them into Express supermarkets. The change in Canton was opposed by local shoppers, who feared that the cost of their weekly shop would soar if they continued to use the Express store, while the range of items on offer would be reduced. Get the latest news from across Cardiff sent straight to your inbox for free by signing up to our newsletter.
More than a year on, there are fresh calls for the store to be converted back to its original format, with shoppers feeling the pinch amid the ongoing cost of living crisis. Local resident Lawrence Hourahane, who addressed the issue with Tesco last year along with Canton councillor Stephen Cunnah and Cardiff West MP Kevin Brennan, has accused the supermarket chain of "turning its back" on Canton's shoppers and written to them in hope of changing the store's Express status.
Mr Hourahane said the supermarket had "served the area very well for generations" with people more often than not using it for their weekly shop. However, last year's switch had left many shoppers, particularly those without a car, unable to easily access a more affordable alternative to the Express store.
"The supermarket is literally situated at the heart of our community, in the middle of a bustling shopping centre," he said. "It’s where shoppers have traditionally congregated. It served us very well for generations, until last summer when Tesco management in their corporate HQ decided to change its definition to an Express store.
"Express stores charge far more, and have far less stock in them - having ditched many of Tesco’s own brand goods. Actually, in Cowbridge Road, not only have they reduced the number of items they sell, but they have reduced the space inside the store from which they can sell stuff.
He added: "And, unlike most of the other Express stores, this one doesn’t even open standard hours - closing at 10 on weeknights, rather than 11. Tesco don’t seem to know what it is.
Having previously raised the issue with Tesco last year to no avail, Mr Hourahane is not confident that the supermarket giant will listen to the community's concerns after writing to them again earlier this week. However, he feels motivated to keep up the fight on behalf of those who have been alienated by the change of store.
"I'm not doing this for me," he said. "I’m doing it for all the people who don’t have the advantage of having access to a car and therefore can’t go to Aldi, Lidl, Asda, or even the Tesco Extra store on Western Avenue, where prices are considerably cheaper.
"I’m certain that if anybody came down from Tesco HQ and looked at the size of the store, the type of area it serves, and the people who shop in there, they would quickly conclude that the store fits the Metro/Superstore category, and would change it back. It’s not a place where you just pop in for some milk and chocolate and a tin of beans, like the Express convenience stores.
"It’s a place where people without transport (used to) do their weekly shop when it was a Metro. But from the interaction we had with Tesco last year, it doesn’t seem like they want to know."
Mr Hourahane added that the supermarket chain had "turned its back" on shoppers in Canton, with those desperate to save but unable to easily access any other stores instead forced to spend a few pounds more on their regular shop, with own brand products also disappearing from the shelves.
"Tesco was started by one man - Jack Cohen - who listened to his customers, and gave them what they wanted through good choice and keen pricing," he said. "Nowadays, Tesco is a corporation that made £2.65 billion profit in the most recent financial year. That’s just in twelve months!
"Now, with inflation seemingly out of control, and its customers desperately looking for support to control their spending, Tesco has turned its back on the shoppers of Canton. Not everyone has a car and is able to shop around for better choice and prices, not everyone who shops in the Canton store has the confidence to use a Clubcard or app to get cheaper prices when Tesco deign to offer them, but I bet they throw that excuse at us.
"Now, more than ever, we need to know which supermarkets are on our side during this period of soaring price inflation. Are Tesco on our side in Canton? Now, more than ever, we need our Tesco Metro back in the heart of the Canton community. As they say - Every Little Helps."
Local resident Dennis Hill, who shopped in the former Metro store for 45 years, previously told WalesOnline that the change was "very frustrating". He added: "The majority of shoppers there are old age people like me, or single people, or people on low incomes. Everybody's been suffering through this pandemic, everybody's short of money and they go and jack the prices up.
"It's very frustrating for me. I've got to get a bus now to go to Lidl. I spend up to £20 a week there, so they'll lose £1000 roughly from me if I don't go there again."
A spokesperson for Tesco said: “Over the last few years we have seen our customers’ shopping habits change and in May last year we took the decision to re-brand all of our Metro stores to better reflect this. Our Metro format was originally designed for larger, weekly shops, but we found that nearly 70% of customers were using them as convenience stores, buying food for that day, so the majority of stores, including our store in Canton, were rebranded as Express stores to reflect this.”
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