The case against Tesco...
in today's Guardian appears to be pretty much as you'd expect, i.e. it is suggested it indulges in predatory pricing (the example given is hard to argue against, though one doesn't know how representative it is).The other argument however is against the hundreds of Tesco Express that have opened, mainly as a result of the Tesco's purchase of Cullens, Europa and Harts in London, and T&N's convenience stores elsewhere. The Express format, which is smaller than the Metro format, is blamed by many residents for clogging up their neighbourhood with lorries.
Now I'm not around much in the daytime, so I can't comment on this (though watching Tesco's lorries try to turn right into Portobello Road off Westbourne Grove is amusing). Nevertheless I also have a problem with Tesco Express, which is just how ugly an addition to the High Street they are.
Now Cullens, with its trying-to-look-posh green front, wasn't exactly pretty. But at least it wasn't a garish mixmash of reds and blues, a sort of permanent US election rally in your high street. Furthermore the typefaces used look silly. As in the following example (which isn't one of the worst) why is the 'e' of express larger? What's that red line doing under the p or e? It all looks a bit like the first DTP newsletters did -- oh look my Mac can do italics. Crazy.
UPDATE: Even more annoying is the Great Portland Street branch, which insists its customers queue in multiple queues behind individual tills, with signs saying this will be quicker. Sensibly the customer continually ignore this and form a single queue (such as in Post Offices). .
posted by Matthew @ 1/06/2005 07:05:00 PM
Comments: 1
