Forest Hill Co-Op...

[bon3yard]

I know, I know its an old topic and yes its another whinge but for the love of God when are they going to sort this place out. I've found myself breaking out in hives at the prospect of having to enter the minimart equivalent of Hades and have taken to avoiding it completely and cycling down to Tescos instead(or Little Siberia as its been christened Chez Moi). Nice refit and all that but its every man/woman for him/herself when it comes to negotiating the teetering pallets of stock and and squeezing down aisles that seem to have been designed with Victoria Beckhams scrawny caboose in mind. I think they should level the entire arcade of shops and build a Supermarket Shed in it space...unfortunately it might mean tarmaccing the Rye to provide parking but I think you'll all agree thats a price worth paying for hassle free shopping. ;-)

[jimbo1964]

They are a bit of a shambles. The aisles are always piled high with obstructions.

[bon3yard]

Maybe its a test, we could all be being filmed for Sky Threes Extreme Shopping!

[Fuschia]

You can't go in with a buggy. It is surely not DDA compliant (wheelchairs)

[Doodles]

Yup, it is awful. In fact it seems to have got worse. They tried to charge me ?3.60 for a Guardian and a Starbar yesterday. Now unless there is a new system of fines for being a middle class liberal gannet?

I gave up trying to explain that it couldn?t possibly be that much and just bought the paper which had a price on the front which left no room for negotiation.

[bon3yard]

Blimey, I know they said that the price of food was going to increase but thats just not on...I thought they'd stopped making Starbars way back in the 80s? I dont think theres an embargo on pushchairs though.

[patricknicola]

too much garbage, long queues so you cant even get round and I am sorry but I have a BUGGY!!!!!!!

[Asset]

Oh my, get thee behind me.

[HonaloochieB]

Doodles Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Yup, it is awful. In fact it seems to have got

> worse. They tried to charge me ?3.60 for a

> Guardian and a Starbar yesterday. Now unless there

> is a new system of fines for being a middle class

> liberal gannet?

I've just checked and any combination of Alan Rusbridger edited publication and fat with cocoa in it now incurs a levy under the Snacking Liberal Bastards Act 1970. The current rate is ?3.60. So I reckon you the fellow an apology.

And the difference between the cost of The Grauniad and the Starbar.

[bon3yard]

I did see the Manager tearing strips of one of his drones for something that was patently not their fault t'other day. Poor feckers. :-S

[ruffers]

And on a detail point does anyone else struggle to know which side of the till you put your shopping?

[prdarling]

Totally agree. Even more difficult to negotiate than before. I can't get past the front door with my twin pram. I have to leave my little boys by the door while I dart in, inevitably to discover that they have run out of what I want (normally something ridiculous like bread or potatoes.) And while I am on the subject of stock control.. for the love of God, does it take a genius to work out that if you run out of organic milk 20 minutes after it has been delivered then you need to stock more. The queues are horrendous and there is now less space to stand, bearing in mind that 1 punter in every 5 has a pushchair and there are still unpacked pallets piled high at every turn.

They have managed to make it dark and dingy as well... oh and I got charged ?2.50 for two baking potatoes.

Give me the lovely Turkish shop by the Forest Hill Tavern any day. Still a bit tight with a twin pram but the lovely man sends one of his colleagues to stand with my boys while I go in. Better selection of everything and loads of 'exotic' items you won't find in the Co-op like garlic and parsley. It's a no brainer.

[Fuschia]

prdarling Wrote:

> Give me the lovely Turkish shop by the Forest Hill

> Tavern any day. Still a bit tight with a twin

> pram but the lovely man sends one of his

> colleagues to stand with my boys while I go in.

> Better selection of everything and loads of

> 'exotic' items you won't find in the Co-op like

> garlic and parsley. It's a no brainer.

That's a good tip. I am giving up on the Coop after my last visit.. i asked the till operator to kepe an eye on my buggy but she wasn't interested.. there were three buggies lined up in the doorway and a huge queue of people. It's abit of a retail hades, that shop!!!

[Lizziedjango]

I agree with much of what has been said about this Coop, but they do do good whiole chickebs which are failry well priced. However, everything else is extortionate and the range of produce dire. The Turkish shop is quite good for fruit and veg. Happily I don't have the worry of having to deal with double buggies in shops.

[Doodles]

I always think that strip, so close to the Rye, has tons of potential. Its already got a really good Italian restaurant and an excellent caf?. The barbers is good, friendly and top value, the post office/newsagent friendly, well stocked and relatively queue free. Its got a bookie, so ???? should be happy, and a helpfully DIY store with a sense of humour that must be in the running for the Ronnie Barker Four Candles Entertainment in Retail Award. And the Herne is just around the corner in case you want a good burger and a moan about the service

But?

But the co op is a nightmare and the area in front of the shops is a desolate strip of concrete littered with trade refuse bins.

A few trees, some street furniture, a little imagination and a store front for bon3yrad to flog his ready cooked meals and it could become somewhere people chose to go.

What would that take? Another thread probably.

[PeckhamRose]

Quite a few years ago now, there used to be a large wooden shed in front of the Co-op area which sold fresh fruit and veg. Bring it back!

[Fuschia]

Lizziedjango Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I agree with much of what has been said about this

> Coop, but they do do good whiole chickebs which

> are failry well priced. However, everything else

> is extortionate and the range of produce dire. The

> Turkish shop is quite good for fruit and veg.

> Happily I don't have the worry of having to deal

> with double buggies in shops.

Even a single buggy wouldn't fit... the aisles are too narrow, and that's not to mention the boxes piled high...

[Mrs Y]

Bring back the large wooden shed - it was brilliant.

[SimonM]

I continue to be surprised that the corner unit at the junction of Dunstans & Forest Hill Roads remains apparently empty and unused. You would have thought it would have great potential at the end of a strip that seems to be slowly improving...

[TheePope]

Didn't the large wooden shed burn down about 5 years ago?

[bon3yard]

I think we should raze it to the ground and rebuild the wooden shed.

[woodie]

Oh my, I see what youre all meaning. The design is so impractical.Standing in that endless queue then halfway down the freezer moment. ha! the whirr of the machinery making freeze all around you like you're in a submarine of cold.

Can you imagine i was cheesed when that little halloween torch dint work and i knew I had to take it back there.Id bought 2. one worked other intermittent. ha the queue, the muted outrage from the people lined up as both till people became embroiled in my 3 pound torch saga. In their defense the torch was exchanged but i did have to work it a fair amount. See I had no receipt as did every single person ahead of me. they took their change and left pronto. Like i originally did. So "without a receipt we cannot refund"/ didnt rub. "Ive just watched about 7 people not handed a receipt, if you dont mind me saying, thats why I dont have one, yes I should have asked" "that may well be but we cant refund without.." nope just wanted a working torch..back home there was tears going down. I was, you know, putting the torch together showing them , so reckon it took about 7/8 minutes untill i was done. thats a century in co op queue time.

a customer slapped me on the back playfully as i left . Bet it wasnt out of support.

As I say, one of the guys was really helpful , the guy who sold me it, others where protecting the business. It was just funny in a way because of the awful queue. Its just so , wrong, the layout. A shop you wouldnt dare take a buggy in? wheelchair? no way. oops.

[Lizziedjango]

What do you suggest that the Coop does to change its layout? Buy out and bulldoze down the launderette next door, perhaps? The Coop is a small(ish) space, but surely it could use that space more effectively? A few of us had high hopes when we saw it was being refurbished. Frankly these hopes have been dashed. It should just have stayed as it was!

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Does the Co-op employ people from a central place or is it more in the way of a franchise?

[PeckhamRose]

I am a member of the Co-op. I got a card and everything that says so. Why have I not been consulted. eh? Eh?

Indeed it has to be a Health and Safety Hazard the way it is, and to use the premises next door would be a good answer.