Somerfield takeover

[Sue]

This is from AOL news - anyone know what is happening to the Lordship Lane branch?

The Co-op has been given the green light for its takeover of rival Somerfield after reaching an agreement with competition authorities to sell off more than 130 stores.

The move comes after the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) said it would not refer the takeover to the Competition Commission.

Stores in areas across the country are to be sold as part of the acquisition, which is now set to go ahead at the beginning of March.

Co-op said it had found buyers for a total of 90 stores, including 24 outlets that were sold to upfront buyers including Lidl, Spar and Morrisons, as part of the OFT agreement.

It said it had entered into purchase agreements with major retailers for the other stores and has so far sold 13 to Waitrose, seven to Tesco, six to Spar and six to Musgraves.

As previously announced, a further 34 stores are to be sold to Morrisons.

A spokesman for the group said: "There is considerable interest in the stores that the OFT has required us to sell."

But he added that more stores could go in the merger.

"Inevitably there would be some stores we needed to sell because the OFT required us to and others we would need to sell because they did not fit our model," he said.

Co-op and the OFT had indicated 133 areas where competition concerns could arise, including Aberystwyth in Wales, Whitby in North Yorkshire and Bath Road in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. The OFT said there would be no time limit on the sale of the remaining stores.

[Applespider]

Lordship Lane isn't one of the 13 that Waitrose bought :'(

[Louisa]

Tesco will not be buying the site when it already has a store on East Dulwich Road. I put my money on Lidl ;-)

Louisa.

[Sue]

I would be happy if it became a Co-op :)

Can't see it being a Lidl, there is one in Peckham, anyway.

[Stephen]

I would've thought Tesco might be quite happy to move to the bigger store on Lordship Lane.

Shame about Waitrose, but there's still Ocado.....

S

[HonaloochieB]

LIDL?!! In ED. Lordship Shame.

[PeckhamRose]

Snob! You got an Iceland!

[Louisa]

I find it quite amusing that Waitrose have opted not to pick LL as one of the Somerfield buyouts. We had the same hype not so long ago when M&S were buying a large number of Iceland stores, all the yummy brigade were dribbling at the mouth at the thought of having a Simply Food on their doorstep, in fact a few people were so certain that LL would be picked that they even started giving us dates for opening lol. I have said it before and I will say it again, LL never has been and never will be a big enough retail space for large names to want to move in and open up. ED may have become fancy dan in recent years, but in terms of it's geographical location and indeed it's next door neightbourhoods, there is more chance of being struck by a cloud produced organic sausage roll than there is of a big name opening up along the lane. I hope now that we have all come to terms with the fact that LL never has been, and never will be, a place for big shops, that we can start to ponder the possibility that this Somerfield store may just be one of the stores that is staying with the Co-operative and perish the thought my yummy friends, may actually carry the name along your beloved LL... hehe...

Louisa.

[Sue]

Co-op is brilliant. At least, there's a great one in Oxford.

Ethical, good value, good choice, fair trade wines, etc..

Though I've never been quite sure what that Co-op pharmacy in LL is all about .... strange place.

[Louisa]

The Co-op pharmacy is a remnant of the fact that a Co-op convenience/grocery store was located along the space which was previously Woolwich and the bookies next door right up until the late 1980's. I think the Co-op still owns the building and lands along this strip of shops, though I may be wrong now. It would be odd if the Co-op transfered the Somerfield into their name though when they still own the buildings on the opposite side of the street. I often go into the Co-op pharamcy and I find them very friendly and helpful, far superior to Lloyds just round the corner.

Louisa.

[HonaloochieB]

PeckhamRose Wrote:

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> Snob! You got an Iceland!

Enough PR, we don't speak of such things.

[Applespider]

Bear in mind that the Co-op only have to sell stores where they already have a major supermarket in the area so since there's not a big Co-op around ED, then it's likely that LL Somerfield wasn't actually up for sale for anyone else to cherry-pick.

And if they did want to re-open in the area, it would make more sense to do so into a store that's already a supermarket than having to reconvert old offices even if they do already own them.

[Michael Palaeologus]

My thoughts exactly Applespider. The nearest Ccop I believe is in Camberwell so there will be no need for them to sell the Lordship Lane premises. The Ccop have a strategy to increase their presence in the Supermarket sector, especially the type of local store that this site represents.

Lidl is unlikely as their no car parking.

Of course the Coop may chose to move their Funeral Home from across the road .... :))

[dulwichgreen]

is there not a Co-op on Forest Hill Road? That seems pretty close...

[Drxyster]

Co-op in ED on the Forest Hill Road, near the Post Office.

[Sue]

It's a very very small one, isn't it?

[Michael Palaeologus]

Teeny - tiny one.

[Jeremy]

And not particularly close.

I would guess that many ED residents rarely venture up Forest Hill Road...

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

I love the fact that if the Co-op pharmacy can't handle the problem, the Co-op funeral parlour can!

[karter]

Louisa Wrote:

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

> The Co-op pharmacy is a remnant of the fact that a

> Co-op convenience/grocery store was located along

> the space which was previously Woolwich and the

> bookies next door right up until the late 1980's.

> I think the Co-op still owns the building and

> lands along this strip of shops, though I may be

> wrong now. It would be odd if the Co-op transfered

> the Somerfield into their name though when they

> still own the buildings on the opposite side of

> the street. I often go into the Co-op pharamcy and

> I find them very friendly and helpful, far

> superior to Lloyds just round the corner.

>

> Louisa.

My source tells me that the co-op pharmacy may not have their lease renewed due to a rental price hike to 50k p.a. so this would mean that they do not own the freehold and they would go but i could be wrong too. Macy's did a brilliant deal and at the right peak time selling the business and property to Lloyds Pharmacy for 2.5m a little while ago, again i could be wrong, you know, sources, landlords, that sort of thing.

[mikese22]

Lordship Lane is definitely not on the list of stores to be sold - the full list is on the OFT website

[Sue]

So does that mean it will definitely be coming a Co-op then?

Hurrah!

:)-D

[joey2]

I've heard that it's definitely going to be co-op taking over.

[Sue]

Where did you hear that joey2?

And do you know when it will be?

Sooner the better as far as I am concerned!

[joey2]

I heard it from a friend saying that he thought it was a done deal about three months ago. He's pretty convinced so let's hope he's right. I'm not sure when it'll be though.