"sainsburys" news and stories

Well who would have thought it. Chickens are descended from jungle fowl and thus are much happier foraging around in woodland; and we all want happier chickens, don't we?

The UK supermarket chain Sainsbury's is planting over a million trees for their organic and free range hens with the plan that all of their eggs will be sourced from woodlands farms. Over 30 farms are participating in the plan with the trees covering an area the size of 80 football pitches. All the tress will be indigenous species so top marks for the environmental aspects too.

It seems a long time in coming. Concerns over the dominance of the four big supermarket chains in the UK have been bubbling along for several years.

At last, an inquiry is to be launched after the Office of Fair Trading ruled that the Competition Commission must launch a probe into their activities. The main source of concern is that the top supermarkets - Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrison's - are forcing local convenience stores out of business. Their dominance of food retailing has risen dramatically over the past few years.

While there are avenues independent retailers can take - specialism, niche and upmarket, this is obviously not suitable for every town and area. To me, the obvious step is to give substantial tax rebates (lower council imposed rates for example) to the one or two shop independents to allow them to prosper.

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