Edition 291
www.thecourier.es
Friday 30th September 2016
SUPERMARKET SWEEP
BY ALEX TRELINSKI
T
he Alcampo supermarket chain has been declared as the cheapest across 16 Spanish cities in a nationwide supermarket price survey conducted by Spain’s equivalent of the UK Consumers Association, the OCU (Organización de Consumidores y Usuarios). Alcampo was followed by Sabeco in six cities, with the Valencian-based Mercadona group in third, having the
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cheapest prices in three of the cities surveyed. The Andalucian-based Dani chain was viewed as offering the best value across the whole of the country. The OCU survey looked at more than 87,000 prices in 762 establishments in 54 different cities and on-line supermarkets. It recommends that customers ought to go for a supermarket that offers consistently good
value, rather than be tempted by special bargains in more expensive chains. The OCU also discovered, perhaps somewhat unsurprisingly under recent economic circumstances, that shoppers are increasingly buying the cheapest version of a product, irrespective of what the brand might be. Taking the whole of urban and rural Spain together, the OCU discovered that the cheapest supermarket chain in Spain was the Andalucianbased Dani store, based on a typical weekly shop which took in 132 name-brand products. Nationally, Dani was followed by Cemar, Herbu’s, Simply Market and then Alcampo. Eroski, who have now largely retrenched to their base of northern Spain, and Carrefour, were
also found to be among the cheapest supermarkets. Sánchez Romero (in the Madrid area) was found to be the most expensive supermarket (46 percent more than Dani), followed by Ercoreca (32 percent more expensive than Dani) and El Corte Inglés (27 percent more expensive). The Costa Blanca and the Murcia Region come out as being in the mid-range of the survey, with coastal cities in northern Spain coming out as the most expensive. According to the OCU, an average household spends 4,683 euros a year on food and that savings of up to 1,500 euros a year could be achieved by shopping around, especially in costly cities like Madrid and Barcelona.
HOMEWARD BOUND
British man wanted on charges of sexually abusing children in the UK has been picked up by the National Police on a European Arrest warrant in Alicante Province. The location of the arrest and the man's identity were not revealed by the National Police, with authorities saying that he was wanted by a
court in Newcastle upon Tyne over eight counts of assault stretching back to 1994 and 1995. Authorities say the man befriended the victim’s father to approach the minor, who he repeatedly abused at his home between October 1994 and the spring of 1995. Officials added the suspect abused
another boy during those years, a friend of the victim. The suspect lured the second boy into his home with promises of alcohol and tobacco. The man was detained last week, with Spanish authorities saying that he faces up to 10 years in jail if found guilty, once he is extradited back to Britain.
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