Most days I walk past the Co-op on Bow Road - Bow Road's Co-op. I don't shop there, it's only a garage forecourt store, nothing large or special. But it's well stocked - plenty of chiller choice, all the cereals, lots of booze.
When I was walking past earlier this week I noticed a lot of the shelves looked empty, not just scavenged but entirely product-free. And yesterday I was surprised to see an Asda lorry had pulled up on the forecourt where normally I'd expect to see a petrol tanker or a Co-Op truck. I looked more carefully and blimey, the Co-op had suddenly metamorphosed into an Asda Express.
I popped inside and it looked very similar to before - same coffee machine, same racks, same aisles. The fruit and veg were still in the same place, the ready meals hadn't moved and the puzzle magazines still faced the checkout. But the staff were in fresh green uniforms, the tills had new green lights, the meal deal was different and the macaroni cheese was suddenly from Asda's Bistro range. Even the terms and conditions for parking outside had changed. A new era had begun.
If I'd been paying attention I might have realised. Asda snapped up the Co-op's entire petrol forecourt business last September, a total of 129 stores across the UK. The Co-op hoped trimming 5% off its retail estate would deliver ready cash, and Asda had strategic plans to expand into smaller convenience stores. At the time there were only three Asda Express stores in Greater London and this acquisition brought that total up to 15. I see Bow's store wasn't on the official list of January openings which means it can't be more than two days old.
If nothing else it's good news for customer choice in the E3 postcode. We've never had an Asda before, the closest being down a mile down the Mile End Road at Stepney Green. We've never had a Morrisons either, nor an Aldi, Lidl or Waitrose, and even our local tiny Sainsbury's is barely ten years old. We are instead especially over-Tesco-ed round here.
Big Name Supermarkets in E3
• Asda Express, Bow Road E3 2AN
• Co-op, Mile End Road, E3 4QS
• Iceland, Roman Road, E3 5ES
• Sainsbury's Local, Devas Street, E3 3NT
• Tesco Express, Bow Road, E3 4LU
• Tesco Express, Vernon Rd, E3 5GS
• Tesco Express, Violet Rd, E3 3QG
• Tesco Superstore, Hancock Rd, E3 3DA
Look, I've made you a map. The A in the middle is the new Asda Express, now the closest of the big supermarket chains to my house.
The map goes much further than E3, covering about half of Tower Hamlets and the fringes of Hackney and Newham. It shows, I hope, all the outlets of the UK's top 10 supermarket brands (Tesco Sainsbury Asda Morrisons Aldi Co-op Lidl Waitrose Iceland Spar). The larger circles represent the largest supermarkets, the behemoths with maximum choice, and you'll see they're fairly few and far between. My local big Tesco is the only place within bag-lugging distance of my house with a full range of biscuits, yoghurt and sauce.
Which got me wondering how far I live from each of the top 10 UK supermarket chains. This kind of thing is important at Christmas when they're all punching out massive advertising campaigns to get you to do your festive spending there, and you think "I'd love to but you don't have a branch anywhere near me so stuff it".
The UK's top 5 supermarkets(by retail sales) 1) Tesco: Bromley By Bow Superstore (0.38 miles) 2) Sainsbury's: Bromley by Bow Station Local (0.39 miles) 3) Asda: Bow Express Petrol (0.15 miles) 4) Morrisons: Stratford (1.49 miles) 5) Aldi: Kingsland Shopping Centre, Dalston (2.79 miles)
It was all going really well there until numbers 4 and 5. Thanks to my new Texaco Asda I now live within half a mile of the UK's top three supermarkets. But Morrisons remains a proper trudge on the far side of Stratford and my nearest Aldi is so far away it doesn't even feature on my earlier map. Let's carry on.
The UK's next 5 supermarkets(by retail sales) 6) Co-op Mile End Road's Co-op (0.77 miles) 7) Lidl Burdett Road (1.1 miles) 8) Waitrose Stratford City (1.1 miles) 9) Iceland Bow Roman Road (0.6 miles) 10) Spar Chrisp Street Market (1.16 miles)
If you add up the six shortest distances, to create something I'd like to call a Supermarket Choice Index, you get 3.4 miles. That sounds pretty good going in my book.
0.15 + 0.38 + 0.39 + 0.6 + 0.77 + 1.1 = 3.4
I've also calculated the Supermarket Choice Index for somewhere in Outer London (Petts Wood), somewhere just outside London (Croxley Green), somewhere urban and northerly (Hull) and somewhere very rural (my Dad's Norfolk village).
Supermarket Choice Index
» Bow: 3.4 miles
» Petts Wood: 3.6 miles
» Croxley Green: 6.6 miles
» North Hull: 3.1 miles
» Rural Norfolk: 34.3 miles
Petts Wood is almost as good as Bow in terms of supermarket choice. Croxley's double the total distance, as you might expect in car-reliant suburbia. North Hull has the lowest score of my five unscientifically-selected locations, because it turns out my student digs were really well located for grocery shopping. And rural Norfolk is a bit of a disaster, distance-wise, with only two top supermarkets within 5 miles and three Store Finders refusing to display any closest store at all.
I have of course entirely ignored smaller grocery chains, independents and corner shops, although if you have to rely on these you likely have a lot less choice and end up spending more to boot. But hurrah, I now have an Asda within easy walking distance of my door, should I choose to exercise the option, and my supermarket choice is edging towards optimal. How's yours?
