Asda has pledged to rollout its ‘Smart Price’ value range to all stores across the UK following social media.
The supermarket chain’s value range has always proved popular with shoppers keen to keep things on a budget as it includes items such as a 15 pack of eggs for £1.18, a can of peas for 21p, carrots for 20p, and 500g of pasta for just 29p – but many have pointed out its limitations in recent weeks, and have raised questions as to why it’s not available in every branch.
The ‘Smart Value’ range is currently made up of 200 items in total, and 150 of those are only available in 300 stores.
Asda says its decision to extend the rollout of the range comes after food writer and anti-poverty campaigner Jack Monroe – who began her career back in 2015 sharing recipes she had created as a single parent with a young son to feed families for less than £10 – took to Twitter back in mid-January to give examples of price increases she had noted at her local supermarket in the past year.
Jack said in her initial tweet: “Woke up this morning to the radio talking about the cost of living rising a further 5% [and] it infuriates me the index that they use for this calculation, which grossly underestimates the real cost of inflation as it happens to people with the least.”
She continued: “The system by which we measure the impact of inflation is fundamentally flawed [and it] completely ignores the reality and the real price rises for people on minimum wages, zero hour contracts, food bank clients, and millions more”.
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“The margins are always, always calculated to squeeze the belts of those who can least afford it, and massage the profits of those who have money to spare,” she added.
Crucially, she claimed that “nothing demonstrates that inequality quite so starkly as tracking the prices of ‘luxury’ food vs ‘actual essentials’.”
Jack’s Twitter thread not only went on to amass thousands of likes and retweets, and generate an important conversation, but it also inspired Asda to make some changes to “help our customers”, and so the retailer confirmed in a statement that it would almost double the number of stores that offer the ‘Smart Price’ range to all 581 of its locations.
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Asda is rolling its ‘Smart Price’ value range to all stores across the UK / Credit: Flickr
Announcing the range rollout in a statement this week, Meg Farren – Chief Customer Officer at Asda – said: “We want to help our customers’ budgets stretch further and have taken on board the comments about the availability of our Smart Price range made by Jack Monroe.
“We are taking steps to put our full Smart Price and Farm Stores ranges in store and online to make these products as accessible as possible.”
Jack has welcomed the retailer’s response to the conversation, sharing news of Asda’s cheap food promise on Twitter saying simply: “Well, that went rather well.”
The supermarket has already added 100 Smart Price and Farm Stores products to its website this week, increasing the total online range to 187 products.
This will rise to 200 by the end of February, with all 200 products in stores by 1 March.
Featured Image – Asda Corporate
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Home Bargains has announced a special two-day closure of all UK stores
Emily Sergeant
Home Bargains has, once again, announced it’ll be closing all its UK stores on both Boxing Day and New Year’s Day this year.
And it’s to make sure staff get a ‘well deserved break’.
After what has been yet another busy year for the retail industry, many workers have been left feeling like they could do with a little extra time off, which is why Home Bargains is following on with what has become a now-annual tradition by shutting up shop on two bank holidays.
All of our stores will be closing for Boxing Day & New Years Day.
Announcing the move in a post on social media, the discount retailer confirmed: “All of our stores will be closing for Boxing Day and New Years Day. We would like to thank all our colleagues for how hard you have worked this past year, and want you to relax and enjoy the Christmas break with your loved ones.”
Of course, this isn’t the first time the retailer has kept its doors shut on bank holidays.
Many shoppers will recall it has made the same decision to give hardworking staff a break every year since 2019.
Explaining a little more about the decision taken to close all its stores, Home Bargains said: “As a family-run business, we know the importance of being together at Christmas with those we care about most, now more than ever.
“This is our way of saying thank you to our colleagues for their continued hard work and dedication.”
Featured Image – Geograph
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Two Greggs in Manchester will be serving their breakfast menu in the evening next week
Emily Sergeant
Who says breakfast has to end at 11am?
In news that’s set to be music to the ears of breakfast lovers in Manchester, Greggs is giving them exactly what they want.
We all know that brunch is a ‘thing’ by now, so now it’s time for brinner to make a name for itself instead, as Greggs has teamed up with Heinz to bring its much-loved breakfast menu back for tea time, kicking off from 4pm onwards.
The move comes as a new survey has found that the majority of Mancs (69%) admit to enjoying eating breakfast food in the evening, saying it’s ‘convenient and comforting’ – even ranking breakfast as a ‘more important’ meal than tea, as well (38% vs 36%).
Two Greggs in Manchester will be serving their breakfast menu in the evening next week / Credit: Greggs (Supplied)
Greggs says it has ‘lost count’ of the amount of customers that have tried to order breakfast items after the usual cut-off time, especially in Greater Manchester.
But luckily for those breakfast-loving Mancs, they can finally get their favourite breakfast and sauce pairing long after the morning rush is over next… but only at two Greggs branches, and only for a very limited time.
On Wednesday 14 and Thursday 15 October, the Heinz x Greggs Brinner collab will be available at Greggs St Mary’s Gate and Greggs Oxford Road, from 4-7pm only.
“We’ve lost count of the number of customers who have tried their luck ordering breakfast after 11am, so when Heinz came to us with the idea of making Brinner a reality, it felt like the perfect excuse to give the people what they want,” explained Zoe Harris, who is the Customer Director at Greggs.
“And let’s be honest, a Greggs Bacon Roll just wouldn’t be the same without a squeeze of Heinz Tomato Ketchup.”
Emily Sergeant -
9th February 2022 
