What grocery store is getting rid of self-checkout?

This article is about Booths Supermarkets. For other uses, see Booth (disambiguation)

High-end supermarket chain in Northern England

Booths is a chain of high-end supermarkets in Northern England. Most of its branches are in Lancashire, but there are also branches in Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire. It has been described as the "Waitrose of the North" by sources such as The Daily Telegraph.[3]

History

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Booths Central Office, Ribbleton, Preston

E. H. Booth & Co. Ltd was founded in June 1847 when 19-year-old tea dealer Edwin Henry Booth opened a shop called the China House in Blackpool.[4] In 1863, he added the sale of wines and spirits, and branches were opened in Lytham in 1879 and Blackburn in 1884. The business was incorporated as a private limited company in 1896.[1]

Edwin's son, John, opened cafes in the stores in 1902 and invited all staff to become shareholders in 1920.[5] It has remained owned by the Booth family and staff ever since, comprising over 250 shareholders in 2011 and with no individual having more than 12% of the total shares.[6] The current chairman, Edwin J. Booth, is the fifth generation.

In a feature article in The Guardian in 2008, David Webster, the former chairman and co-founder of Britain's Safeway chain (which had sold out to Morrisons in 2004), said that he had tried to buy out Booths several times over the years, as did several of his rivals: "One thought Booths would have disappeared ages ago but it jolly well hasn't. It is obviously doing an outstanding job for its customers".[7]

In 2008, Booths was under pressure by Waitrose with rumours of a takeover,[8] which was later ruled out. Booths and Waitrose then formed a buying group together.[9]

Today

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In June 2005, the current chairman, Edwin J Booth, was awarded the Business in the Community (BITC) Prince of Wales Ambassador Award for North West England.[10] This is given to individuals whose leadership and commitment to responsible business practice and the actions they have taken personally have created a positive impact both inside their company and on the wider society. He was also finalist for the Ernst & Young Master Entrepreneur of the Year (North).[10]

In 2006, Booths achieved second place in the list of the World's Greatest Food Retailers.[11] The panel of top designers, architects, analysts, journalists, suppliers and retailers was brought together by national trade publication, The Grocer, and asked to rank their favourite food retailers from anywhere in the world. They were impressed by the quality of the company's offer, its focus on local sourcing and head for innovation. Simon Bell, retail director of foodservice firm Leathams, voted Booths' Chorley store first above Selfridges in London. He applauds its excellent customer service, knowledge of products and friendly staff.[12]

A new head office was opened in early 2006 in Ribbleton, Preston and includes environmentally friendly features, such as using rainwater to flush the toilets. In 2011, Booths opened two new stores in MediaCityUK[13](Salford, Manchester) and Penrith, Cumbria.[14] A new Booths store in Milnthorpe opened on 14 November 2012 and one in Barrowford opened on 4 December 2014. A branch opened in July 2015 in Burscough, followed by a store in St Annes in September and the Poulton-le-Fylde store was renovated.

Booths commissioned Small World Consulting to research its carbon footprint and the resulting report was published in 2012.

In 2015, Booths was named Independent Retail Chain of the Year at The Grocer Gold Awards. As of 11 October 2017, Amazon Fresh sells a range of Booths branded products for home delivery in selected areas.[16]

In November 2017, it was reported that the supermarket had been put up for sale for between £130m and £150m,[17] but this was later dismissed as "speculation" by the firm.[18]

In the 2019 Birthday Honours, Booths' executive chairman Edwin J. Booth was appointed CBE "for services to business and to charity".[19]

In 2021, it was confirmed that the MediaCityUK branch was to close within months due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. After 10 years, it closed for trade in February 2021, bringing the total number of Booths stores to 27.

The same year, the store introduced ice cream for dogs as part of its range of frozen desserts.[20]

Store list

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[21]

Lancashire

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Cumbria

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Booths in Windermere

Yorkshire

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Booths in Ilkley Booths in Ripon

Cheshire

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Greater Manchester

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Fair Milk

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In May 2014, the store rebranded its own-label milk as Fair Milk, increasing its farm gate milk price to a yearly average of 34.4 pence per litre, and thus paying farmers more for their milk than any other UK supermarket.[22] In 2015, Booths became a finalist in the Responsible Business Awards, organised by the charity Business in the Community (BITC), the UK's longest-running and most respected corporate responsibility awards. Booths was one of only four companies shortlisted in the Samworth Brothers Rural Action Award, which recognises businesses which support rural communities.[23]

Cafe 1847

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The Artisan speciality food shop and restaurant is a recent development by Booths. The first one was located at the Kendal store; its range is mainly local produce from small producers.[24]

See also

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References

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Go beep yourself.

Customers of popular British grocery chain Booths found out this week that the company is scrapping self-checkout lanes, just six years after rolling them out in their 28 tony stores, mostly located in the north of England.

The decision goes against a decades-long trend, where human beings are increasingly becoming a rarity at the front of supermarkets and other big box retailers — a shift most industry watchers agree is unstoppable.

“We’re not great fans of self-checkouts,” Booths managing director Nigel Murray told U.K. trade publication The Grocer. “We pride ourselves on great customer service and you can’t do that through a robot.”

The do-it-yourself approach first seemed like an appealing way of managing labor costs and increasing efficiency, Murray said. But he also noted that the technology could be finicky, detracting from the shopping experience.

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The upscale Booths chain has decided to do away with self-checkout lanes over concerns for the customer experience.

Alamy Stock Photo

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A self-checkout lane at a Booths store, which the company will be doing away with.

Alamy Stock Photo

Booths were founded in Blackpool in 1847, reportedly with a philosophy of “sell the best goods available, in attractive stores, staffed with first class assistants.”

A company spokesperson told The Guardian that the company will remove the controversial lanes from every one of its stores except two in the touristy Lake District, where staff can become overwhelmed during the warmer months.

“We believe colleagues serving customers delivers a better customer experience and therefore we have taken the decision to remove self-checkouts in the majority of our stores,” the spokesperson said.

“We have based this not only on what we feel is the right thing to do but also having received feedback from our customers. Delighting customers with our warm northern welcome is part of our DNA and we continue to invest in our people to ensure we remain true to that ethos.”

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The tony chain of stores located throughout Northern England is bucking a trend some watchers say is inevitable.

Alamy Stock Photo

The news comes as other retailers have publicly revealed their own struggles with automating the checkout and payment process — Walmart recently removed self-checkout options from some of its stores without explanation, while Wegmans, a cult-favorite grocer based in Rochester with two stores in New York City and a handful in the nearby suburbs, recently ditched a popular self-checkout app, citing abuse. 

“SCAN users have told us they love the app and convenience it offers,” Wegmans said in a statement to the New York Times. “Unfortunately, the losses we are experiencing prevent us from continuing to make it available in its current state.”

According to a 2016 study quoted by the Grey Lady, retailers in the United States and Europe offering self-checkout options experienced a loss rate of approximately 4 percent — more than double the industry average.

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King Charles (then Prince Charles) visited a Booths store in Kendal, Cumbria, back in 2008.

Shutterstock

The trend toward automated checkout has been partially blamed for the so-called “loneliness epidemic” said to be plaguing some Western countries, where a chat with a checkout clerk might be the only human interaction some people experience in a day.

While self-checkout options were first introduced roughly twenty years ago, many companies leaned heavily on the concept during the pandemic, when customers were suddenly eager to minimize contact with other human beings.