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Asda gets go-ahead to take over Kings Heath Somerfield/Coop

The Somerfield supermarket in Kings Heath town centre is about to take on another new identity after a takeover by Asda has now been cleared by the Office of Fair Trading.

It means another change of uniform for the supermarket staff. The store changes initially followed the demise of Safeway. Since then the High Street supermarket has been taken over and re-branded first as Morrisons, then as Somerfield, then as part of the Coop ‘family'.

The Coop plans to sell its Kings Heath branch was picked up by the Office of Fair Trading because its share of the local market was greater than 25 per cent. The OFT ruling published this week also looked at a potential overlap with the catchment of the Asda superstore in Small Heath.

The fair trade body has ruled that "less than one per cent of the population" will suffer a significant reduction in choice of supermarkets. It announced it will not refer the Kings Heath takeover to the Competition Commission, clearing the way for yet another new name on the local High Street.

What do you think?  Is the latest change of name likely to be good for Kings Heath town centre or not?

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Comments

Sweep

At 12:53 on 12th January 2010, Sweep commented:

I feel sorry for the staff as they face yet another change of ownership, but I'm also sorry the Co-op haven't kept this store (presumably they were forced to sell by the OFT?) as the Co-op have much better values, principles and ethics than the other big stores

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