they were part of co-operative retail services CRS which merged with the co-op wholesale society to then trade as co-operative food.
leo's stores were big stores selling a whole range of food and non-food products in their heyday the 80's and 90's selling clothing,diy,stationery,wallpaper,car acessories and other goods.
in the late 90's most leo's became pioneer storesw-still part of crs,trading as a "pile it high-sell it cheap" outfit-discounter
which turned a lot of previous customers away through poor store decor,bad layout,too many cheap lines and co-op pioneer setting up its own product lines againts co-op cws ones.
international stores-i can only remember one in sheffield opposite the town hall.
liptons became presto
does anyone remember presto -the first supermarket to launch "basics" range of cheaper, eggs,toilet rolls,bleach etc as opposition to brands.
they're promotions traded as red dot--to denote low prices
can anyone recall stop and shop and co-op market fresh stores with the blue and green diamond logo?
one in barnsley in wellington street closed in 93.
My grandmother used to live above a Williams Brothers in Southgate, North London who were a grocery chain. This would have been about the mid 1960s. The shop was taken over by Sainsbury's.
liptons became presto
does anyone remember presto -the first supermarket to launch "basics" range of cheaper, eggs,toilet rolls,bleach etc as opposition to brands.
they're promotions traded as red dot--to denote low prices
can anyone recall stop and shop and co-op market fresh stores with the blue and green diamond logo?
one in barnsley in wellington street closed in 93.
Yeah, I remember Presto, back in the 80s. Our store was replaced with TJ Hughes.
I think our nearest Leo's was in Falmouth, after that it was a Co-op supermarket and has recently been bought out by Sainsburys.
We had a Presto in Pool....before that it was a Mainstop and after that it was a Safeway and now a Morrisions.
I do remember International Stores from the late 70s/early 80s, we had one in Camborne, but it shut down when I was quite young and stood empty for a long time until Iceland took it over.
Earlier comments are correct in that Sommerfield was bought out by Gateway.
The other way round Gateway was bought out by Somerfield. It all started off as International Stores until Gateway took over (I think there was some other acquisition between the two companies above)
There was a Presto, Leo's and Simco in Barnsley in the late 70s/early 80s. Simco was taken over by Dunnes Stores - an irish company. All sadly disappeared some years ago from the town I understand.
Thinking back to Leos it reminds me just how much shopping habits have changed, and yet remained the same.
Leo's (I'm thinking of the Barnsley one here, presumably others will be similar) was a large modern supermarket which sold everything from food to TVs. Very much like Tesco, Asda, Sainsburys & Morrisons do now. In Barnsley however until the late 80s Leo's lead in this respect, being as far as I know the largest supermarket. The other big names which have replaced it do not do very much different, and their stores aren't that much larger.
It was never the same when CRS rebranded it Pioneer - a rubbish name for a supermarket. The refurbishment left it looking cheap and nasty as well. Pioneer took over Lo-Cost as a I remember. For a while they sold Lo-Cost brand products in their stores. All were branded Pioneer, and the remaining ones are now the lurid green Cooperative Food.
The Barnsley store was used as a car park for some time. It was recently demolished and is currently being replaced with a highly luxurious development of high-end retailers, namely Lidl and Home Bargains. Oh well.
On the same street in Barnsley were Simco and Presto. Simco was a huge shop on three levels, split by a road in the middle. It later became Dunnes Stores and then was split up into several smaller shops. Presto became Wilkinsons for a while before they moved to a larger store, and is now a furniture shop.
CRS also ran a department store chain called Living and an out of town furniture/homewares chain called Home World. All are no more. Living were big in the north, with branches in places like Pontefract (now Tesco), Doncaster (now empty, it was TJ Hughes), Huddersfield (empty), Barnsley (now Primark/TK Maxx) and Catcliffe Home World (first Woolworths, now empty).
There were two prestos in our town, one closed in 1995 and stood deralict for years before becoming an oriental supermarket and restaurant,
The other became a Safeway then Morrisons.
I never saw a Leo's in Bham and had never heard of it til i went home to Yorkshire in the 80s, and family told me the big Co-op near them was now called Leo's - but still a Co-op, apparently. When I went again it was back to being a Co-op.
I remember a Leo's in Filton Bristol, the place was usually empty, i remember as a kid, if u were paying by cheque, u had to get part of it stamped before you went around the store.
The other side of the car park was one of there of there Snobby Homeworld shops, which i dont remember going in often as it was too expensive.
Mid nineties it was changed into a Pioneer, but what they didnt think about was, there was a Sainsburys the oposite side of the roundabout from it, and when Pionner reopened, half the customers they had had gone over to sainsburys.
In the early noughties the pionner store shut down, and the building was demolished, its weird but it upset me going past that building daily, and seeing it slowly demolished, i thought a building could be pulled down in hours, but this took weeks.
There was also a Leo's in Staple hill bristol, which was destroyed by a massive blaze, in which a young firewoman called Fleur Leumbard died, the fire was so say happened due to a security man, at the shop at the time, maybe somebody on here will no more
Does anyone remember a supermarket called "Basics" ? Everything was unbranded except for the name "Basics".
There was a branch in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, in the early 1980s, but I knew of no others. It could have been a testing store by one of the big chains to see if the concept worked, though I'd be interested to know if it was independent and if there were any others in the UK.
Leo's had a large store in Dalston in East London, which was part of the Co Op. Presto, Safeway, Somerfield, Lo Cost and Kwik Save have all disappeared or been taken over by more successful supermarkets.
Earlier comments are correct in that Sommerfield was bought out by Gateway. Who remembers Key Markets? Or Shoppers Paradise? Bejam? Wavy Line stores?
aha, I was going to mention Key Note, but then realised seeing your post that they were Key Markets. Yes there was one in Penge, which then changed to Beejam and then Iceland I think.
I remember shopping with my mam in the first brand new proper supermarket in Hull in the first week it opened, I mean trolleys and isles of food with tills and conveyer belts and stuff. (not absolutely sure about the conveyer belt)
It seemed so big and bright and new compared to what had gone before. As far as I can remember I don't think it was called anything more inventive than "The Supermarket" but I was pretty young. The building's still there and it's tiny.
Comments
leo's stores were big stores selling a whole range of food and non-food products in their heyday the 80's and 90's selling clothing,diy,stationery,wallpaper,car acessories and other goods.
in the late 90's most leo's became pioneer storesw-still part of crs,trading as a "pile it high-sell it cheap" outfit-discounter
which turned a lot of previous customers away through poor store decor,bad layout,too many cheap lines and co-op pioneer setting up its own product lines againts co-op cws ones.
international stores-i can only remember one in sheffield opposite the town hall.
liptons became presto
does anyone remember presto -the first supermarket to launch "basics" range of cheaper, eggs,toilet rolls,bleach etc as opposition to brands.
they're promotions traded as red dot--to denote low prices
can anyone recall stop and shop and co-op market fresh stores with the blue and green diamond logo?
one in barnsley in wellington street closed in 93.
Yeah, I remember Presto, back in the 80s. Our store was replaced with TJ Hughes.
We had a Presto in Pool....before that it was a Mainstop and after that it was a Safeway and now a Morrisions.
I do remember International Stores from the late 70s/early 80s, we had one in Camborne, but it shut down when I was quite young and stood empty for a long time until Iceland took it over.
The other way round Gateway was bought out by Somerfield. It all started off as International Stores until Gateway took over (I think there was some other acquisition between the two companies above)
You're right,I stand corrected.
There was a Presto, Leo's and Simco in Barnsley in the late 70s/early 80s. Simco was taken over by Dunnes Stores - an irish company. All sadly disappeared some years ago from the town I understand.
Anyone remember Fine Fare supermarkets? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fine_Fare
Neither is Lo Cost. Cant find that no where but it was taken over by Spar in the mid 90s.
Leo's (I'm thinking of the Barnsley one here, presumably others will be similar) was a large modern supermarket which sold everything from food to TVs. Very much like Tesco, Asda, Sainsburys & Morrisons do now. In Barnsley however until the late 80s Leo's lead in this respect, being as far as I know the largest supermarket. The other big names which have replaced it do not do very much different, and their stores aren't that much larger.
It was never the same when CRS rebranded it Pioneer - a rubbish name for a supermarket. The refurbishment left it looking cheap and nasty as well. Pioneer took over Lo-Cost as a I remember. For a while they sold Lo-Cost brand products in their stores. All were branded Pioneer, and the remaining ones are now the lurid green Cooperative Food.
The Barnsley store was used as a car park for some time. It was recently demolished and is currently being replaced with a highly luxurious development of high-end retailers, namely Lidl and Home Bargains. Oh well.
On the same street in Barnsley were Simco and Presto. Simco was a huge shop on three levels, split by a road in the middle. It later became Dunnes Stores and then was split up into several smaller shops. Presto became Wilkinsons for a while before they moved to a larger store, and is now a furniture shop.
CRS also ran a department store chain called Living and an out of town furniture/homewares chain called Home World. All are no more. Living were big in the north, with branches in places like Pontefract (now Tesco), Doncaster (now empty, it was TJ Hughes), Huddersfield (empty), Barnsley (now Primark/TK Maxx) and Catcliffe Home World (first Woolworths, now empty).
The other became a Safeway then Morrisons.
I used to be a big fan of Safeways.
The other side of the car park was one of there of there Snobby Homeworld shops, which i dont remember going in often as it was too expensive.
Mid nineties it was changed into a Pioneer, but what they didnt think about was, there was a Sainsburys the oposite side of the roundabout from it, and when Pionner reopened, half the customers they had had gone over to sainsburys.
In the early noughties the pionner store shut down, and the building was demolished, its weird but it upset me going past that building daily, and seeing it slowly demolished, i thought a building could be pulled down in hours, but this took weeks.
There was also a Leo's in Staple hill bristol, which was destroyed by a massive blaze, in which a young firewoman called Fleur Leumbard died, the fire was so say happened due to a security man, at the shop at the time, maybe somebody on here will no more
There was a branch in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, in the early 1980s, but I knew of no others. It could have been a testing store by one of the big chains to see if the concept worked, though I'd be interested to know if it was independent and if there were any others in the UK.
Leo's had a large store in Dalston in East London, which was part of the Co Op. Presto, Safeway, Somerfield, Lo Cost and Kwik Save have all disappeared or been taken over by more successful supermarkets.
It's a Co-op now.
aha, I was going to mention Key Note, but then realised seeing your post that they were Key Markets. Yes there was one in Penge, which then changed to Beejam and then Iceland I think.
It seemed so big and bright and new compared to what had gone before. As far as I can remember I don't think it was called anything more inventive than "The Supermarket" but I was pretty young. The building's still there and it's tiny.
They did at one time.