What's in a name?

Sainsbury's made a bid for the top Job Centre site at the bottom of St James's Street in Brighton last year but lost out to Taj Natural Foods, which will open its doors in two weeks.

Business groups and traders said the family firm, run by the same team as the Bedford Place and Western Road stores, was more suited to the area than a corporate chain. Liz Barrett, of the Kemp Town Village Business Association, said: "It is good the space has gone to a local shop rather than a big supermarket. There's enough of them already and Taj offers more choice and will be better for the area."

This is yet another example of a growing trend in the UK to battle against big supermarket chains. Websites such as Friends of the Earth give instructions on how to defeat supermarkets.

Why would anyone be against supermarkets?

Many supermarkets now open 24 hours/day; offer the choice of up to 40,000 lines (everything from economy to niche products) at competitive prices; they provide free car-parking, home deliveries and internet shopping; you can get "seasonal" vegetables all year round. Still, in the US, supermarket giants are having a tough time as well. Ahold is posting a mediocre performance. The company's sales, now at US$55.719 billion, are expected to average 3.5% to 4% in growth over the next five years, short of its 5% annual goal.

Local markets and shops, many argue, tend to stock fresher local produce rather than the standardised symmetrical blander vegetables you will find in supermarkets. So, in order to compete with the growing popularity of organic stores such as Whole Foods, Pathmark and A&P have launched revamping efforts. Pathmark has been removing clutter from its stores, increasing selection of fresh foods, fruits and vegetables and adding new merchandise categories in toys and books.

A&P plans to spend more than US$500 million on remodeling over the next two years, abandoning its middle market approach and going after the discount and up-market segments. Some locations will be turned into Food Basics stores and will target the low-income demographic with affordable prices, while others will become A&P Fresh Markets. A&P Fresh Markets, introduced in 2004, put the emphasis on organic foods and feature elaborate product displays similar to Whole Foods. The Food Basics stores are based on a concept introduced by A&P Canada in 1995. The remodeling will affect 75% of the company's portfolio.

The Metro Group (Germany), has had tremendous success by opting to have individual banners for each store format (e.g., Metro Cash & Carry, Real, Extra, Media Markt, Saturn, Kaufhof), making one of the world's largest retailers. Loblaw (Canada) has not only a different banner for each format, but for each format in each region.

With the exception of the stores that it will open in the US (Fresh & Easy), Tesco has chosen to keep it's banner names on all store format (e.g., Extra, Superstore, Metro, Express, Total), and faces much of the same opposition as Sainsbury's, on both sides of the Atlantic.