I've been in. It's a bit underwhelming really, though better than the co-op in Forest Hill Road. I still went over the road to Honor Oak Supermarket buy my wine - it's much cheaper there and also good to offer them some support. According to Jumping Bean, they've seen an increased footfall, which is a positive sign. To be honest, the best thing about it is the free cash machine and the late opening.

Having gone in yesterday and seeing the queues for the 5 open tills 40 people deep, there is no denying that this type of place is what local residents have been in need of for a long time, I've never seen so many people walking the pavements of the High street. Somebody has already mentioned footfall in other shops has increased, and that's after the first day. Admittedly it will calm down a little when the initial intrigue has died down but I think it's obvious for the consumer this is a positive addition to the parade. A free cash machine, early morning and late night opening, fresh produce, helpful staff and a clean bright shopping experience, I love it.

lacb, it's not always possible to get to Peter James, which keeps funny hours, when you've got a toddler!

We have been round that buoy before, so I appreciate this and yes, I admit, it does take some planning.

maybe Peter J should move to the high street

Given how close he is to retirement, the loyal local following where he is and the fact that there has been a butcher on that site for at least a century now, I doubt he would go for this. Much though that would appeal to me.

Back on track, was able to source nearly everything that we normally get from FH in the new Sainsburys. The manager has noted the few items I could not get. This has just saved at least an hour of time on Saturday - great news.

They have completely underestimated the demand for fresh veg but that will be addressed apparently.

Overall, not bad at all. At the end of the day it is a local store so cannot have the range of a larger store (or the quality of a top notch deli/ Butchery etc). But I got most of the things I wanted, though it would not be my first choice for meat etc. Its better than the CoOps, perhaps a little less variety than the Budgeons (but that is now a relative hike) or the JS at FHill.
Two thoughts:
- given the local catchment area and the fact there is no other chain local within 5 mins (go to some parades, and you have a Tesco and a JS in a couple of hundred yards of each other) they are going to have a fast turnover (which probably means daily delivery)
- I agree that other local conveniance shops can find niches. I thought the selection of cooking sauces / ethnic cusines at the new JS relatively limited (see my comment re its only a Local).
Cash free ATM definitely a bonus. Be interesting to see if it raises footfall elsewhere in parade.

Heard a rumour that Peter J is hoping to open six days a week in the near future - fingers crossed everybody

I tweeted Sainsbury's and the higher welfare chicken problem will be addressed.

nice work!

underwhelmed too, but they do sell tofu, otherwise most things i can and will get elsewhere

man in the shop over the road was looking at everyone going in, while his shop was empty
i hope and expect that bubbles and brockley super will survive, but i cant imagine those neighbouring shops will

This post was last modified: 16-09-2013 01:48 AM by lillam.

My wife reports that the HOP is cheaper for a number of items, and I will continue to buy my booze from him,

The offie down from him will shut hopefully, horrible place, although he may get more business due to the footfall and with nobody using his cash machine anymore, he will have to start accepting debit cards, which might improve his chances

I am extremely happy about the Sainsbury’s opening and the free cash point. I will definitely continue to support the independents and be grateful that I don’t have to use my car to go further afield anymore for bits and bobs. But I do think a good deep clean in the grocery shops and off licence would be a wise move and maybe a rethink into their merchandising, cleanliness and floors, especially as Sainsbury’s is so sparkly and new! It doesn’t have to cost a lot of money to do a bit of rearranging and give everything a good scrub.

I do hope that the independent supermarkets use this as a boost rather than to worry that we won’t shop there anymore. They should take a chance to walk into their own shops with fresh eyes to see what we see. I have never experienced cold customer service from any of the independents or Sainsbury’s, everyone is really friendly in Honor Oak Park, so that isn’t an issue. I just think that some shops haven’t thought about taking the opportunity to reinvigorate what they already own. If they were thinking about opening their shop again would they open it looking the way it does now? The best way to see messiness is to take a photograph and look at the pictures and make notes of what needs to change. When you work in the environment every day you become blind to the everyday mess and commotion.

On Saturday afternoon I had to walk through Honor Oak Park 3 or 4 times and I have never seen it busier!!

Sainsbury's is good but could be better - what the independents don't have is good fruit, veg and fresh meat, so makes sense for Sainsbury's to make a virtue of these, but the couple of times I have been they've either sold out of interesting stuff or perhaps don't stock these in the first place. They seem to have an awful lot of spuds! I also think it is pointless to sell baking tins and wine glasses which is just taking up valuable stock space, likewise magazines. However in general I really welcome them being there, it is so convenient and increased footfall in the area is great.

The Indies should really be re-thinking their game, they can't just go on just doing what they are doing. I'd spruce the places up as has been suggested and limit stock to what Sainsbury's don't do well - spices, deli stuff, sauces, good beers and wines. Have great customer service, offer to home deliver even. I'd also have leaflet-ed the area before Sainsbury's opened to say "all this and more is at your local independent store" and do some advertising and a bit of aggressive marketing. They can't just look out of their windows balefully at all the customers going into Sainsbury's, I'm very sorry to say ..

This post was last modified: 16-09-2013 07:52 PM by Nick M.

Went to get a baguette at lunchtime on Sunday and they had none - even despite being 10p more expensive than the FH branch. Annoying. I had to go to FH anyway. I'm sure they'll sort it out eventually, but not impressed.

Sainsbury's seems to have made a pretty good start for what it is i.e. a local shop where you can top up the main shop. It has only been open a couple of days and probably needs to gauge sales to anticipate popular items. It will never be able to stock the range of goods some people would desire. As others have pointed out we have other good shops some near and some a bit further away but which might be used less frequently e.g. Libretto's butchers in Wood Vale and Soper's fish shop in Nunhead where meat/fish can be bought and frozen as well as eating fresh. Apart from Waitrose, most supermarket meat and fish is not so good. So saying, Waitrose in Canary Wharf is accessible to us, too. As people often say, it might be more fruitful to feed back to the store itself where there might be gaps as well as comment here e.g. the Guardian on Saturday, run out by lunchtime.

I popped in last night at about 6:30pm.

But just before that, having just got off the train, I decided to walk down the parade to see what was happening. To get a feeling for the buzz that is quite obvious now that Sainos has landed.

As I sauntered past Hop Scotch a group of about 4 über-trendy young things were entering. I heard the polite young lady who was working there apologetically explain that they were closing for the day.

One of them spluttered, “You’re joking!”
I grimly smiled and thought to myself, “Welcome to Honor Oak Park Parade”.

I do so love this little Sainos that has just opened.

And it is open from 7am to 11pm. Seven days a week.

And they stock Tunnock’s Caramel Wafers. And Viz magazine.

Finally, a bit of civilisation on the parade.

This post was last modified: 18-09-2013 03:09 PM by Cellar Door.

The fresh items such as veg and bread are selling like hot cakes. I'm sure this will die down after we've all had a good nose around and they've increased the frequency of "hot cake" deliveries.

I'm interested to know how this is affecting Hills and Parkes. Would any H and P staff reading be able to comment?

I'm disappointed, have found there is rarely any fresh 'oven baked' bread as advertised, have tried to buy the multi seeded brown loaves a few times (like the one plastered to the window), never any available.
Also difficult to get around with a buggy because piles of stock waiting to be restocked are blocking the aisles and staff too busy chatting to move it out of the way.
I'm heading back over the road to Honor Oak Supermarket for my shopping.