please empty your brain below

How about McFisheries? What happened to them? They were one of the earliest supermarkets I believe.
There was also the International Stores

dg writes: Mac Fisheries were eventually sold off to International, whose branches became Gateway, which became Somerfield, which became part of the Co-Op. I'm not sure where the first stores were.
Aldi UK 1990 ?
Lidl UK 1994 ?
Budgens? (There was one in Ampthill, Beds in the mid 1970s I think)
Sorry, you'd got Budgens already and the 1970s is rather late!
Now is the time to roll out one of my favourite Alan Coren quotes: "I love Sainsbury's - it keeps the riff-raff out of Waitrose"
I can also recall David Grieg: no relation to present-day Greggs, this was an upmarket chain, a rival to Sainsburys - the two companies were founded within a year of each other in 1870. Started out in Brixton, but the family owners had to sell up shortly after their centenary to settle death duties. The assets eventually ended up with Gateway, which became Somerfield and is now part of the Co-op Group.
not all Safeway sites were taken by Morrisons, depending partly on whether there was another Morrisons nearby, and partly on the type of area, eg the Safeway site in Kings Rd Chelsea is now 3 or 4 individual shop units, as is the one in the Brunswick Centre in Bloomsbury which now has a large Waitrose
I remember there was a McFisheries in Weston-Super-Mare when I lived there in the late 50's - not a supermarket though. One of their first supermarkets (so I believe) was in Hall Green, Birmingham in the early to mid 60's. In fact I had a holiday job there packing when England won the World Cup.
According to my mother (not always reliable) a member of David Grieg's family once married one of the Sainsbury's in a Romeo and Juliet type scenario. Both families agreed not to open a store in a town where the other was trading. I don't know if it was true but as a child I looked for a counterexample and never found one.
But when was the first self service supermarket in London?

I am sure I read somewhere that it was opposite West Croydon station, but I can't find the original article anywhere.
Another large supermarket chain was Keymarkets and readers of a much older generation may remember the introduction of their ridiculously simple and plain packaging own-label "value/low price-point" range in very simple single, but sometimes garish colours, way ahead of today's supermarkets current range of "Everyday" or "Value" own-label ranges I think. They were supported on TV too with along the lines of "products with their prices knocked on the head by their own Key Store cops".
Re:Pedantic of Purley's suggestion that there were not both Sainsbury's and David Greig's in the same town, when I was a child in 1960s my home town of Maidstone had both.
Prevalent in Canning Town and Bow and other areas of London were Caters where my Mum and Dad always shopped.

http://www.ferdinando.org.uk/cater_brothers.htm
You've missed a few now defunct supermarkets. To name but four:

Hillards (acquired by Tesco in 1987)
William Low (acquired by Tesco in 1994)
Gateway (rebranded as Somerfield)
Somerfield (acquired by Co-Operative Group in 2008)
There are some shops that I remember from my childhood, although some of them may have been local chains in that (Great Yarmouth) area:
Peaks, Maypole. There was also the International and David Grieg that have already been mentioned. I seem to remember that David Grieg (it was never referred to there as just “Grieg” by shoppers) was a shiny marble and white tiles sort of shop – just like a butchers. I was also told my my mother of the Sainsbury / David Grieg arrangement so there must be some truth in it.

There was also Hollis, the first “supermarket” that I remember there although, by today’s standard, it was no more than a corner shop with baskets. Rather a novelty picking what you wanted off the shelves rather than handing a shopping list to the assistant.

Timothy Whites hasn’t been mentioned yet. From when I rememeber them, they were part of Boots. I don’t know when Boots took them over. I rememeber they used to sell household goods, such as electrical, kitchenware, some furnishings etc. - bit like Wilkinsons without the food. They eventually closed, with some Boots expanding into larger shops and stocking some of the range that TW used to sell.

Caters has been mentioned, I think that became Presto. If I recall the sequence right, there was a Caters buikt at Morden (where the Civic Centre is now) that then became presto. At some point Presto took over the large co-op department store at Morden, flattened it and built their new store there. It them became Safeway and when Morrisons took over (they presumably didn’t want it) it became Sainsbury.

In the way that the rise of on-line buying and giant “extra” supermarkets has changed the High Street today, it was the same decades ago when supermarkets came to town (usually just selling food in those days). As TVs got cheaper (and (slightly) more reliable) and people actually bought their TV, the myriad of TV rental shops either closed or branched out into other electrical goods. These in turn were taken over or replaced by the electrical ggods chains such as Rumbelows and Currys. The big department stores in the towns closed. Most of the Co-ops of all shapes and sizes disappeared (a few small Co-op grocers have since re-appeared). The smaller shops with one or two branches were priced out by the supermarkets and in many places, the butchers, greengrocers and fishmongers went as well.

I think the only difference these days is that what’s left of the shops on many High Streets today are now being replaced by the various pound shops or the coffee shop chains such as Starbucks, Café Nero etc.
The Tesco proposal for Roman rd. you mentioned recently (on the old Safeway site) was previously a Presto, and before that a Caters.( If memory serves).
Wallis's was taken over by International was taken over by.... etc. The Barking Dog pub outsiude Barking station used to be a Wallis's.

SPAR started in Holland in the thirtiers, and now operated worldwide. My theory is it is so-called becuase SPAR means 'save' in Dutch. My wife, who is Dutch, disagrees, but that's what wives do...
@Paul, your wife is right!

The name was originally DE SPAR, an acronym of the Dutch phrase Door Eendrachtig Samenwerken Profiteren Allen Regelmatig ("through united co-operation everyone regularly profits"). De Spar is Dutch for "The spruce", hence Spar's logo. As the organisation expanded across Europe, the name was abbreviated by dropping "DE".
David Grieg/Sainsbury

According to Wikipedia it seems there was a gentlemen's agreement not to compete - this later broek down amid some acrimony.

Before more recent mergers there was a distinct regional flavour to many chains - spending a lot of my youth flitting between London and more northerly parts, I noticed Sainsburys, Timothy Whites and Safeways were hardly seen in the latter, whilst the converse was true for David Grieg (despite its London origins), Boots and Morrisons.

Mergers often result in sell-offs of surplus branches, often to avoid objections from the Monopolies Commission. One interesting example was the takeover of Somerfield by the Co-op Group: as the Group still has individual regional members covering parts of the country (most of them now in East Anglia and the East Midlands) it was not thought appropriate to compete with its own members (which after all have voting rights in the Co-Op Group!) so sold off those branches it inherited in such areas.

It amuses me that some of those who look askance at Co-Ops as pinko socialist organisations favour Waitrose - part of the John Lewis Partnership, which is itself a co-operative: it doesn't have employees but partners!
I wonder what became of the Home and Colonial Stores in Thornton Heath where my mother took me shopping as a child in the late sixties - until one day the 6d in the slot space rocket outside, on which I used to ride as a weekly treat, was out of order and I henceforth developed a terror of the place (I'm reasonably sane and well balanced now, I promise). I know it became a Liptons (in the eighties?) but have no idea what's happened to it more recently. It had those big UFO shaped security cameras - scary enough in themselves.
David Grieg/Sainsbury - from matrimony to acrimony. A not uncommon outcome.
Interesting that the first 2 Tesco's were both on very similar 1920's LCC very large "cottage" housing estates.


As for Wm Lows...they were almost entirely in Scotland, although I have a feeling they opened 1 or 2 stores south of the border shortly before Tesco's took 'em over.
I looked and looked to try to find where the first Caters store was, but no luck. Ditto with many of the other supermarket chains mentioned above, alas.
Waa…it’s been bugging me all day and I think this old man’s memory has let him down. I think the very plain Keymarkets own-label I was relating to was actually an own-label for the Fine Fare supermarket group? As this was probably over 30 years ago, can someone else remember? This has been a very enjoyable blog post and could lead to DG placing the location of each supermarkets original location in a jar and making a random visit once a month! DG, if you would like a link to a couple of the packs I can supply it but as the picture appears in someone else's blog, I thought it courtesy to seek permission before exposing their blog to us DG followers!
I remember a small supermarket by the name of Bishops arriving in Bramley Road, London N14 in the early 1960's. According to Wikipedia their 63 stores were acquired by Budgens in the early 1980's
I used to work in Fine Fare in 1970 as a Saturday job. I got paid £1 0s 8d and the 8d was taken off me in National Insurance. My mum actually bought shares in Kwik Save which was round the corner. I think she did quite well out of them with her dividends.
Happy Harry - Fine Fare's own brand was bright yellow with black text if my memory serves. We had a Fine Fare hypermarket in the town I grew up in (Hyde, Greater Manchester). Sold alsorts - I seem to remember my mum buying fabric there.

When Gateway took over they split the store, with part of it becoming a WHSMith Do It All, and the Fine Fare becoming a Gateway (this was the time when Carrefor UK also became part of Gateway with posters promoting prices in all three chains.)

The Gateway then became "Food Giant" - Somerfield's discount brand where I worked as a teenager. Then a large Kwik Save, then was sold to Morrisons. Do It All was kicked out and the whole place is now a large supermarket. Hypermarkets have moved on a bit in those 30 odd years ;)
I think it was the Sainsburys at West Croydon that was the first self service store. I used to shop there. Regarding Bejams, I worked for them at Worcester Park in 1984. They got taken over by Iceland in 1989. There was a mention of Victor Value on their Wiki page. What ever happened to them? Sarah, I remember the Home and Colonial in Thornton Heath too. I shall have to look at Googlemap to see what is there now probably a takeaway! Shopping has been an integral part of my life, still is, but not so much choice these days. A most nostalgic post. Thanks.
Jack Cohen's market stall was on Well Street, Homerton, which was the forerunner for the actual first Tesco.
Ah, I have now read the previous day's post, where you say exactly that. Feel a bit foolish now.
Sorry if I'm going to repeat something that's already been covered.
I recently came across the last traces - a name moulding - former David Grieg location, at Market Sq, Bromley. Unless I'm fooling myself, I think I can remember it as a grocer's. These days, it's an Ann Summers.
I also remember there being a Caters in Eltham, and I'm pretty sure it's where the Argos is now.
Safeway's store in Bedford opened in 1963. Its press office gave out incorrect information in its final days in this country. I know this because I was there that day.










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