I have decided it's time to leave Gainsborough, and that's partly due to the deterioration of the local Tesco store.
Before the pandemic I noticed some items had disappeared from the shelves, so I started buy on amazon. I also started shopping at Aldi. I wasn't a fan of Aldi (long checkout lines) but I've learned to shop there later in the evening and it's more pleasant. In fact Aldi staff are much nicer and the store is better at keeping regular items in stock, something that used to be a problem.
The pandemic shortened the opening hours; I'm not sure if they've gone back to pre-pandemic hours but I suspect not. The staffed checkouts are now closed much of the time. There's a huge pressure to use self checkout, something I absolutely DESPISE. I refuse to use self checkout. EVER. It used to be that one checkout would be open until 10pm, then it became 9pm, and today at 8.15pm they had closed the last open checkout. When I complained they simply said 'I agree with you', and when I pushed the question they said it was staff shortages and that they were 'just a little person, I can't do anything'. I'm one shopping experience away from never shopping at Tesco again.
Hint to Tesco, staff training. Be proactive. For example, 'if you'd like to leave feedback or have a complaint, you could go online and leave a message, or if you can give me a moment I'll find a card with our customer service telephone number'. Don't make me ask for these things, offer them, when I am obviously annoyed by the situation.
I assume the staff shortages are a money saving tactic, yet Tesco spent a lot of money on some big ugly dark grey gates to prevent theft. It feels like entering a prison rather than a supermarket.
More disappearing products. More of the items I used to buy have disappeared. At first I thought some of the own brand and 'Finest' products had been discontinued, until I went to stores in other towns and saw them on the shelves. Gainsborough chooses not to stock them. As I've been travelling around the country with work I've seen (for example) Tesco Metros with a better selection of 'meal deal' items than you find in Gainsborough. Gainsborough Tesco is starting to remind me of an Eastern European grocery store from the mid 1980s as far as choice is concerned. On one occasion when I asked what had happened to a brand of tea I like that they used to stock, I was told they no longer stocked it and to 'try amazon'.
I need to find somewhere to live with greater choice, a Sainsbury's, Asda, even perhaps a Waitrose. Somewhere, anywhere, where customers aren't treated as an inconvenience. read more