Tesco accused of ‘squeezing’ village stores out of business

Independent retailers, many running post offices, say wholesale arm Booker is restricting supplies and deliveries, the Guardian newspaper reports.

Tesco has been accused of using cash and carry to "squeeze" village stores out of business. Independent retailers, many running post offices, say wholesale arm Booker is restricting supplies and deliveries, the Guardian newspaper reports.

They said Booker has slashed the range of items available by up to 30% at some locations, cut down on the availability and reliability of deliveries and removed shoppers favourites at some sites, such as Yorkshire Tea and Rowntree’s sweets.

Andrew Goodacre, the chief executive of the British Independent Retailers Association (Bira), said: This shows the worst of a large company bullying little shops. Communities want these small shops and these are not businesses making millions of pounds.”

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Village stores accused the supermarket giant of reducing the range of items available by up to 30% at some sites and withrdrawing customer favourites at some sites including Yorkshire Tea, Rowntree’s sweets and Colman’s mustard.

It has also been accused of reducing the availability and reliability of deliveries. When Tesco acquired Booker in 2017, rival wholesalers cautioned the Competition and Markets Authority, expressing concerns that it would grant Tesco “incontestable power over the procurement of all grocery categories in the UK”.

A spokesperson for Booker said: “We remain absolutely committed to serving community shops across the UK either through branch or delivery. Last year, we reviewed our range across all branded and own-brand products to ensure we have the right offer and in response to feedback that customers want more consistency across branches.

"As part of that review, we removed products that customers weren’t choosing, to make more space for products that really matter. Overall feedback has been positive and we’ve already seen improvements in availability.”

Another village shop owner said: “Since Tesco have taken [Booker] over it has got harder and harder to get products for the shop. Only two weeks ago they discontinued 400 retail lines.”