To wonder why are the supermarkets empty?

[TheColourofspring]

I live in a big city on the south coast. In the last few days, I have been to Asda, coop and sainsburys- mainly because all 3 had big gaps on the shelves & I couldn’t get what I needed. Asda was the worst by far- hardly any basics in stock- empty gaps on the shelves- barely any veggie stuff. Etc. Not much bread - it was really weird. The other 2 supermarkets also had gaps. Also big reductions on choice- definitely the worst I have seen.

Is it summer? Back to school madness? The dreaded B word?

If you're talking about a port city, sometimes multiple cruise ships coming in and out can mean a huge surge of people in our town over just a weekend.

Also in a large, south coast town. Not an issue here.

Sounds quite Asda related. Asda recently changed hands, and their new owners are up to their eye balls in debt:

https://www.standard.co.uk/business/pressure-on-issa-brothers-as-debt-interest-payments-jump-ps200-million-mohsin-issa-zuber-issa-eg-group-asda-b1056101.html

Maybe reducing the amount of stock they order, cutting staff, or other cust cutting measures.

On the budget side of things ALDI and LIDL are in my opinion better.

As a side note, "it's Brexit" is such a lazy, inaccurate response. It demonstrably is not just Brexit. There are many layers to why some shops may be less well stocked than others. Particularly not mentioned yet here is, if Asda is suffering it's own problems (it is) and you only have one other local big supermarket, that one is also going to have less stock as a knock-on effect of people using it more.

South Wales here and all stocked as normal, lots of choice

Not where we stay when on a visit.

What do they buy? Because you can’t take anything back on board with.

Yep in Tesco it's definitely been "bugger about with the store layout" season of annoying me recently.

Just been down to Aldi and no problems there. Place is rammed but the shelves are full too. Clearly winter is coming as the outside bit is back to selling logs and fire kindling though.

Polly- snacks and meal deals mostly. They also fill up the restaurants and cafes. Remember they might come down the day before or stay the day they arrive.

Yes! I use it for taking spatone and I'm struggling to find it in any supermarket.

And there we have the blindness of those who refuse to see.

Major contributor to cost of living crisis - Brexshit. Major cause of supply chain problems - Brexshit. Major cause of lack of cheap labour - Brexshit.

Crying "it's not it's not it's not!" doesn't make it true. Fortunately, even the ignorant are starting to realise that it was the most ludicrous mistake...

When you said empty,at first I thought you meant there were no customers! Yes,I have noticed in my local Iceland and Asda that many shelves seem to be empty or half empty. When I asked a member of staff what the problem was,she said 'supplier issues'.

I haven't read the full thread so someone else might have already said this but I've noticed huge gaps in the shelves in Asda. I went in for grated cheese a few months ago and they didn't have any at all! They usually have like 10 different varieties of it. I've been in quite a few times since and whilst they have had some grated cheese, they never seem to have the range of choice they used to have.

I can't see through the new chiller doors they've installed everywhere. They are always clouded up. It doesn't help that stock is frequently rearranged to different parts of the aisle(s), so you can't even rely on your memory one week to the next as to where (eg) the grated cheese is.

The overhead signing is a bit of a joke (if you can see it in the gloom).

Staff are genuinely lovely and very long-suffering though.

I've had no problems with orange juice, eggs or grated cheese.
I went in M&S today and they've introduced paper bags only which you still have to pay for. I didn't buy one as I have 100s of bags. But surely paper bags aren't going to last very long

Yes I’ve noticed this over the last month - I’ve went to various supermarkets and differing days/times and for the love of god cannot get my usual bread anywhere!

17-Jul-2023 - Germany
After initial forecasts in May, there is now certainty: orange juice concentrate is becoming scarce worldwide. "We are in the most difficult situation for more than 50 years. With the crop failures in the USA and the historically low stock levels in Brazil, an unprecedented market situation has developed as a result of which the availability of orange juice concentrate is currently massively limited," says Klaus Heitlinger, Managing Director of the German Fruit Juice Industry Association, describing the situation.

www.yumda.com/en/news/1181084/situation-with-orange-juice-comes-to-a-head-no-relief-in-sight.html

I tend to shop around - and use different stores - lately no matter where I go - there are empty shelves or if not empty only one layer of said products.
I did think it might be to do with the recent bad weather which has slowed things down transportation wise. Either that or that the stores are just ordering less because of the cost of living crisis and people not buying so much stuff and they don't end up with out of date products.