Ordinary Gweilo

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Don’t Uselect

The Uselect chain of supermarkets, which used to sell reasonably priced products from Tesco, has closed down.

It used to be quite good, and there was a time when I could get delivery from them through Honest Bee but (unsurprisingly) they closed five years ago.

It didn't help when Tesco stopped exporting during the pandemic, and Uselect started stocking Coles products (from Australia) instead, and maybe some from Morrisons.

Last time I went looking for their branches in Tsim Sha Tsui both had closed, so this isn't a surprise.  Retail in Hong Kong isn't doing so well, and Uselect had probably never reached critical mass (plus competing with the PnS / Wellcome duopoly is hard)

Meanwhile, M&S seem to be doing well, and are expanding their food offerings.  Even Sha Tin has two branches, a small (food only) one next to the MTR station and a bigger one at the far end of New Town Plaza III.  Their prices are kinda OK for Hong Kong, though almost all the "fresh" meat and fish has actually been frozen and defrosted, presumably so they can ship it more cheaply.

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2 responses to “Don’t Uselect”

  1. D avatar
    D

    In its early days USelect had some excellent deals on Tesco’s own-label wine of which I consumed rather a lot! But it’s been a rather long time since I shopped there, not least because I stopped having reason to be near their “flagship” store at the China Resources building in Wanchai.
    So these days, it’s Wellcome/Marketplace, with a few specific items from M&S (which, through its franchisee, does seem to have cornered a big enough niche in the market to keep going).

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  2. D avatar
    D

    Er, that was from Smog, signed in through my blog, so why on earth I am appearing as “D” I have no idea!

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