Booths

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For the Feast of Booths, see Sukkot.

Booths is a chain of supermarkets in Northern England. Most of its branches are located in Lancashire but there are also branches in Cheshire, Cumbria, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire. It competes on quality similar to Marks & Spencer and Waitrose as opposed to value.

E.H. Booth & Co. Ltd was founded in June 1847 by Edwin Henry Booth, and has remained owned by the Booth family ever since. From humble beginnings as a tea shop in Blackpool, Booths grew into the first chain of supermarkets in the area, and even though it has now been eclipsed by giants such as Tesco and Sainsbury's, it still boasts over 26 stores across the region.

In June 2005 the current Chairman, Edwin J Booth, was awarded the BITC (Business in the Community) Prince of Wales Ambassador Award for North West England. 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.

A new head office was custom built and opened in early 2006. It is in Ribbleton near Preston and boasts a wealth of environmentally friendly featues, such as using rain water to flush the toilets.

1 Current locations
2 Artisan
3 Rebranding
4 Criticism
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Current locations

As of June 2006, the companies 26 stores are spread over the following locations:

[edit] Cheshire

Knutsford

[edit] Cumbria

Kendal , home of the new 'Artisan' department / store.
Keswick
Kirkby Lonsdale
Ulverston
Windermere

[edit] Lancashire

Ansdell
Carnforth
Chorley
Clitheroe
Fulwood, Preston:The Fulwood branch is sited opposite the Royal Preston Hospital.
Garstang
Lane Ends, Preston
Longridge
Longton, Preston:The current Longton store relocated a few hundred yards down the road from its original site at the junction of Liverpool Road and Franklands, and now occupies the site of the former Mansion House in the village.
Lytham
Normoss, Blackpool
Penwortham, Preston:There were, until recently, two Booth's stores in Penwortham, one on Liverpool Road, and a larger store on Millbrook Way. The Liverpool Road store has since closed and is currently occupied by a branch of rival chain Somerfield.
Poulton
Scotforth
South Shore, Blackpool
St. Annes
Torrisholme, Morecambe

[edit] North Yorkshire

Settle

[edit] West Yorkshire

Ilkley

Locations for future stores are believed to include Hesketh Bank or Tarleton, near Southport.

[edit] Artisan

This is a recent development by Booths, dubbed 'Booths Plus' by some staff, intented to cater to a very up-market clientele. Its range is centered upon gourmet local produce from small producers, commendably; but is beyond the means of most customers.

[edit] Rebranding

Booths is currently (November 2006) in the process of re-branding the company. This has been on-going for some time, and involves replacing the former 'Booths the grocer' image, based on green and orange; with a newer look, based upon red, blue, yellow, and green colours.

[edit] Criticism

Some employees would like to point out that, in contrast to the 'traditional and caring' image the company has sought to promote, the reality can be different when seen from the inside. Some current issues of contention include:

Strict 'anti-disclosure' rules, causing many staff to be afraid of 'whistle-blowing' on dubious actions. Theoretically, even adding this criticism sub-section would be considered 'Gross Misconduct' and grounds for instant dismissal.
The standard pay rate is currently (November 2006) just 5p/hour above national minimum wage, below the industry average, and it is difficult for most staff to qualify for the rare enhanced rates. There is no enhanced rate for cashiers as in other chains.
Away from the 'shop floor'; maintenance, health & safety take a much lower priority than in areas visible to the public (However, recent changes to internal budget & funding policy have slightly improved matters by decreasing management incentives to minimise spending on branches).
Booths imposes many unilateral changes to working conditions; a recent alteration reduced the thresholds at which sickness becomes grounds for dismissal, but without consultation, agreement, compensation, or justification.
The new uniforms, introduced as part of the rebranding, are being phased in site-by-site; while the old uniform has been made unavailable. This means staff in branches not yet re-branded are experiencing even worse uniform shortages than usual.