Will ASDA go to the wall?

[Fridayhermit]

My nearest big supermarket is ASDA and because I no longer drive due to disability, it is convenient. I have shopped there since I moved here over 30 years ago (and even worked there for a couple of years while having caring responsibilities). But I went in today and the shelves are half empty there are so few staff about and there is no vibe or buzz about the place which I remember it definitely used to have. Is it just my local store or are all branches equally devoid of staff and stock?

Asda are in a mess since the Issa brothers took over. They made 500 redundancies at their head office last week and the credit insurers are reducing their cover which isn’t helping stock levels.

Stuart Rose (ex-M&S) has moved into a more hands on role to turn things around. He certainly has the grocery retail experience, unlike the Issa brothers, so let’s see.

They are so expensive compared to most of the other supermarkets

Not Asda but both Tesco & Waitrose near me are both having big stock issues.

My local ones are always busy.

I'm located near 3 asdas. All big sites. 2 over 2 floors.
The stock levels are laughable. One is slightly better than the other. The biggest is constantly out of everything, I get annoyed every single time I go in. Even basics. Loads of space for tat for Christmas though. 🙄
One didn't even have bags for about 4 weeks, then they ran out of baskets! Security guard said its because people were just walking out with them as there were no bags 🤣🤣
Online is hit and miss, 100%depends on when you order for.
It's a shame as when they are stocked, I find they have a better choice/value than my local (small sainsburys) and I can never be bothered to go to Tesco or m&s as they're about a 35 min drive away.

On Monday my delivery was 1.5 hours early and when I queried it, I was told them couldn’t see when due so were just bringing them in turn. They also couldn’t process returns for substitutions. They had to leave all the crates with me so as to rush off.

Something seems very wrong.

Ours focusses on "events" rather than what people need. 2 full isles of Halloween tat, now replaced with Xmas tat, but rubbish for fruit and veg or (God forbid) fresh fish!

I haven't been in an ASDA for a very long time (all Tesco, Waitrose, Aldi and Lidl where I live now) but used to live near a big one many years ago. It was extremely crap during the early 1990s (couldn't even buy cooking salt in there) so I began using Tesco and Sainsbury's, both of which were much further away.

Then ASDA became part of US giant Walmart, and the change was absolutely incredible. Suddenly it became a good and useable store again and I doubt ours was the only one that happened to.

I think ASDA did well under Walmart, but they are no longer its majority shareholder (only 10% now, I see) and it seems to have gone back downhill again.

I saw a TV programme about it a few days ago charting all of its ups and downs over the decades. ASDA is no stranger to being in this sort of trough and came through it before when partnered properly with Walmart. Can it do it again? Not sure. We shall see. I'd not be surprised either way.

from Retail Gazette:
Asda is planning more job losses after it made nearly 500 head office employees redundant without a consultation period.
The supermarket is thought to be targeting the staff working on its IT overhaul, which is expected to complete early next year, in its next wave of redundancies, The Telegraph reported.
Asda refused to confirm how many employees would be affected but stated the number would be “meaningful”.
It follows the grocery chain’s decision to make hundreds of head office staff redundant last week in efforts to “remove duplication and simplify structures”.

They have been trying to get a CEO with retail experience for ages, but the environment at the top is ‘problematic’ 🤪, so no one wants it. It’s currently being ‘run’ by the chap who ran M& S but left ( retirement age) in 2011.

The future doesn’t look rosy.

@bohnerific69 my delivery to Wainfleet comes from the same store and I've always had a few substitutes which tbf I'm usually ok with.
What I've had the past couple of months though is the substitution notifications after the delivery, often the next day. They've been really weird substitutes that I wouldn't keep too! The driver hasn't mentioned any substitutes and my DH or DD has just out the shopping away oblivious because nothing's been said.
I'm going in store tomorrow to shop, I can't say I'm looking forward to it 😂

Our huge Asda seems to be doing just fine, certainly no empty shelves. There aren’t as many check outs as there used to be but lots of people use the scan and go and it’s usually full of shoppers and shelf stackers. Weird how it can differ from store to store.

Out of all the supermarkets I do find Asda the most depressing.

Our one has no one manning tills, staff that look like they are hostages there, bare shelves.

It looks like a hideous environment to work in

The Isa brothers have pretty much destroyed Asda. Should have stayed connected to Walmart.

Ex-Asda worker from years back and used to use Asda for the weekly shop.
I eventually stopped due to bad stock levels were. Basics constantly low and a lot of empty shelves.
Clearly a cost cutting exercise of only ordering the bear minimum....and struggling with that

Ours is a shit hole and deserves to close down. Shelves always empty, staff that are there stand around chatting in the far aisles while the checkouts are closed and 1 poor bugger runs around like a blue arsed fly trying to deal with all the red lights on the self scan machines. I go in as infrequently as I can and only because they sell 1 item that I can't find in other supermarkets.

I think we live in the same place, if not, you could be describing the Bearsden one too.

I think they have had a shake-up at the top recently and Stewart Rose, who used to be with M&S has been brought in to try to resolve the issues, which were partly down to trying to disentangle themselves from Walmart systems, and partly due to the two brothers at the top being out of their depth and falling out with each other.

My elderly dad usually shops in Tesco or Aldi, he thought he would try our local Asda this week.
He came back and said he'd never return because half the shelves were empty and there was such little choice. Thought it was just our local one as it's not in a very affluent area but maybe it's a nationwide issue.

This! Had a £75 delivery booked which just didn’t show up and have had to chase and chase for a refund. Not doing that ever again…

I read yesterday that they were struggling.

How is Ocado cheaper than Asda? I feel like I'm missing something here.

My local big asda has looked the same for as long as I can remember- probably 20 years or more. No re-fits, no redecoration. It's been there for about 40-50 years. Also never any staff to hand- on 23rd December last year there was one person on one till handling all shoppers. That was not fun!

The local tesco extra is less than 20 years old and has had multiple re-vamps, smart and tidy and plenty of staff. And the staff actually look somewhat happy.

Ocado doesn't "do" Scotland so I can't compare. Asda is much better value than Sainsburys/Waitrose, marginally better than Tesco, on a par with Lidl/Aldi. Our local store has a big clothes section, and until recently was a one stop shop for everything from groceries to packs of knickers and a new frying pan. Supply issues seem to be more on ambient jars/packets than fresh food. Cleanliness was an issue for a while but seems to be resolved now.

I dint shop at asda. Went in a while ago to get a loaf. Looked around and half filled shelves, young clueless staff. Music blaring over the tannoy.
its a massive corner shop nowadays

I shop at Tesco but went to ASDA this week and the vegan and vegetarian food range is fab. I found vegan honey and Kitkats which I've never seen in other supermarkets.

The Asda has been dreadful ever since the consortium takeover.
The ones local to me are just full of shoplifters and bagheads, the staff look miserable, so many empty shelves.

My one is a depressing place to shop. I’m not fancy my main shops are done Aldi and Tesco. I might grab the odd thing but it’s not my go to for anything.