Local retail chain, supermarkets only, member of stour. When the big free-for-all grab of the 90s and the naughts came, their wealth of 100+ supermarkets was grabbed or sold cheaply to whoever was the next big chain dealer.
I remember them by two things: the cashiers never had the change, so they'd offer the change in chewing gums, or would send you to the next shop to break the money into smaller. Now, why did they have no change? Well they have to count it at the end of the shift, which is exactly why they open 6 to 13 and then 13:30 to 20:30, so they have half an hour before and after to do that kind of thing, and the shifts overlap in the middle for that. But no, they start stacking and packing the coins half an hour in advance, so they're out of there by 13:35. I got pissed off enough that I've once left a basketfull on the cash register's desk, went off to the butcher to get the change, and didn't come back. Ever.
Also, during coffee shortages they'd pronounce their grinder broken. Yo get a kilo of coffee grain smuggled from somewhere, go there to grind it, and for pretense's sake fill your basket with things you didn't quite mean to buy then, but would eventually, so just not to come empty to the cash register. And then you say „and to grind my coffee“. „The grinder is kaputt“. Then I preferred to pretend that I forgot my wallet, again left the full basket at the register. Let them cancel that at their leisure. I didn't really say I'd be back, just „oops, no wallet, never mind, I'm with a bike, two blocks from here“. Which was all true, didn't lie. And, BTW, I never had a wallet. Got them as present a couple of times, but never managed to keep them in my pockets longer than one day.
The other thing was in 1986-89, when my salary was somewhat dependent on theirs, to my disadvantage. And they could steal unpunished, where all I could take home was waste paper and one plank.
The chewing gum gimmick was ubiquitous, pretty much any supermarket cashier would do that, anywhere in the country. Even in 2023, in some guessing game, the „change“ and „chewie“ were paired, and many have guessed one based on the other.
16-XI-2019 - 13-V-2026