It is known as ‘the Harrods of the north’ and has won countless plaudits for its artisan stores and high-quality produce but upmarket independent supermarket Booths has become the latest chain to wade into the supermarkets’ 50p price war.

Despite being known as a fine food retailer, the supermarket chain has joined Asda and Morrisons in slashing the price of a selection of products to just 50p.

However, unlike the multiples, whose 50p offers ran for a limited time only, Booths has launched a ‘50p Price Guarantee’ on five different veg and salads every fortnight in its 26 stores.

The first offer, which ended last week, included spring onions, cucumber, cauliflower, broccoli and iceberg lettuce for 50p each, while this week the offer, which will run for the next two weeks, has been changed to a 250g pack of tomatoes, green cabbage, celery, aubergine and crisp lettuce for 50p each.

If a customer bought all five items, they would save £1.91, pocketing 49p for both tomatoes and aubergine, 39p on cabbage, 29p on celery and 25p on crisp lettuce. All the products were Class I quality and, bar the tomatoes, had been sourced from local suppliers, said Matthew Bruno, vegetable and salads buyer for Booths.

“This summer is very different to last year and customers are more conscious of their spending,” he said. “Even though we are a high-quality, premium retailer, we wanted to reward our customers but also offer quality, local products at good value.”

Customer reaction had been positive and there had been a significant uplift in volume, Bruno said. He denied the offer was a direct response to Asda and Morrisons’ campaigns, which have slashed the price of fresh foods to 50p.

“Obviously we are aware of what is happening in the market, but we concentrate on our own offer,” he said.

Although Bruno would not reveal whether Booths was absorbing the costs, he said Booths was taking advantage of high seasonal availability for products such as cauliflower.

Topics