INDEX	April 4 2015
End of a little extra
There was a fire engine parked outside. At the doors the police were arresting someone; presumably the last shop lifter. On the tannoy there was 'Never Can Say Goodbye' though since it clearly was not sung by anyone of the stature of Gloria Gaynor or the Communards, it made you want to. This was the last moments of one of Tesco's largest and least successful stores: Chatham. The staff were in civvies (no overalls today just cardigans by the look of it) except they proudly wore the badges that told how long they had been employed by the company. The check out lady I selected had a badge which said 'Linda 1984' and was accepting cards and small gifts from shoppers. Apart from being severely damaged by competition (not least from Chatham's wealth of pound shops, Argos and Iceland), there were self inflicted wounds: the normal Tesco problem of spasmodic availability of key low price goods plus some of its own like putting chicken in the vegetarian section! It will be missed all the same.
INDEX Jonathan Brind	April 4 2015