Yehp our Local Coles has a UK manager... Which is amazing this being Coburg and all, certainly has a very recent accent as far as I'm concerned.

I may ask the staff if she was imported when I get an opportunity.

Coles in Aus is nothing like it was 10 years ago, I wouldn't have bothered with them back then. Its been a most welcome transformation IMO.


I dont think this is happening at Woolworths, as my mate is a manager there and he hasnt said anything about it.

A little bit of trivia for those who don't know (and care!) Tesco equals Thomas Edward Stockwell and Jack Cohen

"The Tesco brand first appeared in 1924. The name came about after Jack Cohen bought a shipment of tea from Thomas Edward Stockwell. He made new labels using the first three letters of the supplier's name (TES), and the first two letters of his surname (CO), forming the word TESCO."

Jack Cohen's daughter is Dame Shirley Porter who gained infamy over the 'homes for votes' and gerrymandering affair when she was leader of Westminster City Council.

One of the highly secretive Albrecht brothers died recently. The 2 Albrecht brothers started off Aldi (Albrecht Discount) but split into 2 different companies. Curiously and co-incidentally, 2 other German brothers - Adi and Rudi Dassler started Adidas and Puma after a bitter feud, only recently patched up after 60 years of bitter rivalry.

I think it has transformed even since we arrived 4.5 years ago. When we first arrived we thought it was like a 1970s UK Spar or something, but it is almost like a UK supermarket now. I do think UK knows how to do a supermarket.

What they do know is that a lot of people are happy to go into the one place and do their 'big shopping' rather than use specialty stores and cherry pick (just get the specials in different places). This is even to the extent of getting your eyes tested, getting passport photos, banking, insurance, hair cut etc as well as the groceries all under the one roof. This leaves people more time to immerse themselves in social media rather than shopping, doing things with the family, exercising, reading etc. They do get some exercise though wheeling their trolley half a mile to the car. (tongue in cheek)

he he

there is a Tesco flavour in Melbourne - we've been seeing 2 for 1 and big price drops (etc) for quite a bit.

Id like to be a fly on the wall when you ask that Ozzie.

'Erm, excuse me sir, has your boss been imported by any chance?

Hahahaha!

I'm not sure who our manager is at ours or even if I've seen him/her. I'll keep my eyes peeled, to be honest I haven't even heard a British accent here yet , only Carolines from this forum.



Yep I agree with Britain knowing how to do a good supermarket. I always end up buying something I never intended too or even really wanted in the first place.
i.e. go in for some milk leave with a new iron. Clever tactics.











One of the first things I noticed about Willy was all the different shops and how they all seem to thrive, even though there's about 5 women's clothes shops at least, they all have customers in. The butchers and veg shop are always busy, lots of lovely little shops in the town all thriving and doing well. It's good to see.
However if a giant supermarket ever came into town that would soon change.
The big supermarkets have completely changed the face of a lot of British high streets and the same will happen here in Oz. There's nothing no-surer than Tesco coming here. I'd put money on it.

On the other hand, perhaps getting all those things in one place rather than spending the weekend traipsing round different shops to get a bargain, leaves more time to do things with the family, exercise, read etc.

That's one of the ironies of modern life. Previous generations had to cope with fewer labour saving devices, worked longer hours, had more children and yet spent more time with family, exercising, reading etc. Many of today's generation claim to be so strapped for time that they are forced to do all their shopping under the one roof and yet research shows parents spend less time with their children (who spend countless hours on their smart phones, games consoles etc).

8 hours work, 8 hours rest and 8 hours sleep (the 40 hour working week) was pioneered 2 centuries ago and we were promised we would not retire at 65 but 60 then 55. We now have the population time bomb with people living so much longer so ironically the current generation has to work not until 55, or 60, or 65 but probably 70 by the time they get older. And as we have more and more labour saving devices people will more and more choose to spend the extra time saved with their technology rather than family, exercising, reading (oh there is a Kindle of course but people read less rather than more).

Food for thought - don't buy it at Tesco though.

Am just suggesting that there is probably no correlation or evidence to show that people that spend their time shopping in multiple shops will also spend more time reading or exercising or spending time with their family, versus those that go to a supermarket.

No, but people in the past were forced to spend more time shopping in multiple shops and yet they did spend more time reading, exercising, spending time with family. How did they find the time when they worked longer hours? Conversely, with more leisure time today why do people spend less time on physical exercise and with family? They spend much more of their leisure time on other things and there's plenty of evidence to show they use technology as a substitute for exercise and for face to face interaction with friends and family.

I think you're a bit rose- tinted there. My parents took scant interest in me and my brother and I don't know where you're getting the 'longer hours' from. My husband and I have been far more involved in our kids' lives at every stage.

OK my 2 cents.

I look at my local shops here, one block from my house. A post office, a chemist, a grocer, a deli, a bakery, a newsagent, 2 cafes, a fish and chip shop and a pizza shop with about 3 or 4 other small businesses.

Massive sense of community = I always find people there I know to pass the time of day with.

My local shops one block from my house in outer London - several shops boarded up. An off licence, a double glazing company, an Indian takeaway, a kebab shop.

No sense of community, nobody I know.

And the reason for this? In my opinion - Tescos and their ilk which have ruined not only the British High Street in its true form but also these secondary rows of shops.

I really hope that Australia continues to cock up the supermarket model and does not destroy the community spirit and local environment that I think contributes so much more to life than just the shopping.

BB

Those little Tesco Metros and similar are very handy in the cities though.

I don't know your age and I'm not going to ask but perhaps I'm judging things by my parents and other parents of a generation earlier?

On the physical exercise side, I've observed 1st hand over a long time as a coach that far fewer kids come to tennis now; they get dropped off by mummy in the 4WD and she comes back to pick them up at the end; largely they used to walk, run or come by bike in the past. Many can't come on court without their phones - I've even seen junior players tweeting, texting and checking their likes on FB at the change of ends in a match!

We used to have an alarming drop off rate with girls compared to boys; to begin with at <10 girls far outnumber boys but as they got to around 15 they tended to stop in huge numbers (sniff, sniff, I'm sweating, can't have that). Now the drop off rate is even greater for girls and it is starting 3 to 5 years earlier. They'd rather tweet, facebook and they're interested in boys at a much earlier age - so they don't get the physical exercise they used to, except with boys at a younger age than they used to.

The ones who stay on, mainly boys, are not prepared to spend the time practising and playing matches like they used to - it's the only way to improve. Kids tend to just come along to coaching and don't do anything else - detailed research has shown that coaching and practice/competition should be in the ratio of 1:7 but it's 1:0 with lots. Mummy ticks off tennis and takes them to rugby, fitba', piano lesson etc and the same thing happens there - no commitment (or time?) to spend the time improving at those things.

We have a park adjoining our club and in the past kids would play there, all sorts of games; now few or none. You certainly don't see kids kicking a ball or playing cricket in the street.

I don't know that my parents spent any more time with me as a kid, than I did with mine - about the same I think. But I do agree about not seeing kids playing in the street anywhere near as much now. Kids seem far more 'sophisticated' now, they have more stuff to keep them amused and entertained. Gawd, I used to catch tadpoles in the drains that ran along each street - easily amused, me.

It's a funny thing though - on one hand kids seem to leave their childhood behind far earlier than my generation did, yet they're not marrying till much later. It's no longer even legal to get married at the age I did (17) without permission from a Court.