Tesco are to open a supermarket that is built to be pensioner friendly. The supermarket which is planned for Newcastle would supermarket feature extra wide aisles, anti-slip flooring and trolleys with locking wheels and built in chairs. The plans are still is the early stages but follow a similar idea that has been implemented at a supermarket in Germany.

The online ticket company Xclusive Tickets is about to go into liquidation. Around 4,329 people who brought tickets from the company are likely to be left out of pocket. However, those who paid by credit card should get a refund. The company hit problems after 18,000 tickets for the Reading, Leeds and V Festivals and the Beijing Olympics did not arrive. A creditors meeting has been called for next month and a helpline will be set up offering advice and information for customer.

Boots has opened its first drive through chemist on the site of a former McDonald's outlet. The chemist aims to fill prescriptions in under two minutes whilst customers wait at the window. It is targeting busy mothers and commuters who need to pick up their drugs quickly. Whilst drive through chemists are common in the US, they are relatively new here in the UK. This branch in Colchester will run as a pilot. If it is successful Boots are likely to  open other branches across the UK.

This article suggests that customers are losing out as some supermarket brands are reducing the pack size but are still charging the same price. Effectively this tactic means customers are paying more for their goods without realising it. Many brands are reluctant to put up prices but instead appear to using this rather underhand method to protect their profits. Some examples include Pampers which have reduced the amount of nappies in some packs whilst keeping the price the same. Dairylea, Pringles, Strongbow and Rolo has all also cut pack sizes without cutting prices.

A Government advisor has said that fatty foods should carry health warnings. Professor David Hunter has said that the NHS could become unaffordable within decades because of the cost of treating conditions linked to obesity. He said that ministers should force manufacturers put warnings on food which contain high amounts of fat, sugar or salt. He also said that warning labels could help to phase unhealthy foods and eventually lead to their withdrawal from the supermarket shelf. Its an interesting idea but personally if I saw a warning on a big chocolate cake, I would still buy the cake. I know it might not be very good for me but I will be off to the gym to work it off after I have eaten it.

The wedding list company Wrapit has called in the administrators leaving 2,000 couples without their wedding gifts. The company which is based in Wandsworth was set up in 2000 and allowed wedding guests to buy presents from an online list. It handled up to 3,000 wedding list a year but has made a loss for the last six years and has failed to honour orders worth £3.5m. HSBC has said it will ensure any guests that used their credit cards will receive a refund but an estimated 20,000 people who brought gifts using switch and Maestro debit or who paid by cheque are unlikely to receive their money back.

A Cornish creamery has become the first cheese maker to become supreme champion for two years in a row at The Nantwich International Cheese Show. The Davidstow Creamery has been making cheese for more than 50 years using a traditional Cornish recipe and milk produced in Devon and Cornwall. The Nantwich International Cheese Show has over 2,700 entries from 30 countries. Despite this Davidstow won the supreme champion, Champion UK, Reserve Champion UK and a further seven trophies and cups. This cheese sounds really good, I must get some.

Some of the leading supermarkets have recently cut their fuel prices. The cuts are as a result of the recent drop in oil prices. Asda has dropped its prices by 3p a litre, Morrisons cut prices by 4p and Sainsbury's have said they will offer a 5p a litre reduction for customers who spend £50 or more in store.

Nike has withdrawn its range of Air Stab trainers due to the recent spat of knife crime. The trainers which sell for £90 will be taken off the shelves due to the current regarding knife crime. A spokesman for Nike said 'The shoe was first launched in 1988 as a stability running shoe, hence the name Air Stab. It has nothing to do with knives or knife crime."

This article suggests that some fast food meal contain a whole days' intake of fat or salt. The National Consumer Council criticised the country's seven biggest fast food chains for not making it clear to customers what is in its food. It is calling for restaurants to print nutritional information on menus. The report was particularly critical of Pizza Express which shows no information of the levels of fat, sugar and salt that is in its dishes. Meals from KFC and McDonalds were also revealed to have high levels of ingredients linked to obesity and heart disease. A KFC Tower Burger meal contained nearly a days intake of salt whilst a McDonalds quarter pounder meal had 90% of the the recommended daily calorie intake for a woman. Personally I don't find this is surprisingly. We all know fast food is bad for us and many people only eat it every now and again. The problem comes if you eat food like this everyday.

The Co-Operative Group has become the country's fifth largest food retailer after agreeing a £1.6billion takeover of Somerfield. The takeover will mean that the Co-op will acquire 3,000 outlets across the country and an eight per cent market share.

If you are looking for a new pair of glasses you might want to check out these incredible stylish new frames from zenni. The company that makes them Zenni Optical was on FOX news a few weeks ago and received a favourable review based on their claim that they can have you seeing 20-20 for only $20. The website has a huge range of prescription glasses online including their Zenni Optical $8 Rx Eyeglasses which are great if you are on a budget. They also have tinted sunglasses, potochromic lenses and progressive lenses and because they sell their own frames directly to the customer with no middle man you can get a really low price.

This article suggests that supermarket price cuts have helped to stem the increase in grocery bills. Although the increase is still running at 17.8% it has fallen from 19.8% and this has been attributed to special offers and reductions on a number of products including broccoli and sausages. Supermarkets have been slashing prices on some products in an effort to become the cheapest store at a time where customers appear to be becoming more price aware.

Sainsbury's has started putting electronic tags on chickens in its Eastbourne store. They have introduced the measures after an increasing amount of people have been stealing chickens. Previously tags were only used on high value goods such as alcohol but with the increasingly high costs of meat it appears that chicken is now much sought after. Anyone who tries to steal a chicken from the Eastbourne store will now set off an alarm.

If you are looking for a new pair of prescription glasses you might want to check out zennioptical.com. They have a wide range of frames includes tinted sunglasses, bifocal and progressive frames and even goggles. Personally I quite liked their range of rimless frames. Most of their frames come in a choice of colours and once you have selected one you can also select the lens size and shape, add an anti reflection coating, choose whether you want a lens tint and also add a clip on sunshade. You also need to enter your prescription. They currently ship within the US at a cost of $4.95 per order and most orders are received within two weeks of ordering. 

eBay have been ordered to pay 40 million Euros in fines for selling fakes. The company will have to pay the money to LVMH, a French luxury goods group because they have allowed fake versions of their products to be sold on the eBay website. LVMH demanded 50 million Euros in damages after claiming that eBay's French business has not done enough to prevent users selling counterfeit items. LVMH also told the court that in 2006 90% of the LVMH branded goods for sale on eBay were fakes. eBay plans to appeal against the decision and says it quickly removes any goods that are found to be counterfeit.

I found this website the other day that sells a range of personalised jewellery. One thing that they have which is slightly unusual is a section devoted to medical ID jewellery. The nice thing about this site is that you can pick a medical id bracelet and then customise it. You start off by selecting the bracelet type from a traditional design or a charm bracelet. You can then select what sort of chain you would like to have on your bracelet and you can even select which clasp you would like. You can also choose the length of the bracelet and can add an alert charm. The next stage of the process allows you to choose what you want engraved onto to your bracelet. Once you have entered the text to be engraved you can run it through the spell check and preview it before checking out. Despite the fact that all the items are made to order you can still get them fairly quickly, the standard service takes approx 3 weeks or the rush service costs £5 extra and items are made with 3-5 days. Shipping to the UK costs an additional £4.00 by Royal Mail first class or just £8 on the DHL express option.

It appears that real ale is enjoying something of a revival as shoppers cut back on lager in favour of the more traditional British beer. That's according to this article which says lager sales fell by 5.7 per cent last year whereas ale sales increased by 3.3 per cent. One reason for the change could be that's supermarkets have started to stock a bigger range of premium bottled beers. Tesco for example now stock 300 bottles ales instead of only 50 two years ago. All Hail the ale.

Some of the leading supermarkets have announced cut price promotions as customers start to move to discount stores to save money. Stores like Aldi and Lidl have seen strong growth as they sell items such as bread and eggs for as little as 50p. In response Tesco has said it will cut the cost of 3,000 items on Monday with some items being cut by as much as 50%. Sainsbury's has also responded with temporary price cuts on summer items such as strawberries.

Sales of frozen food have risen by 4.2% in the past year. The rise has been put down to the fact that food costs have soared leading shoppers to look for cheaper alternatives. After five years of little growth, the frozen food sector appears to be enjoying a growth spurt with fish products seeing an 11% increase in sales and frozen vegetables a 5.5% increase.

Concerns have been raised about the safety of microwave heat packs after an elderly died whilst using one. Doreen Ghiloni had used a heat pack called a Hottie rather than a traditional hot water bottle. Heat packs are heated in the microwave and are made to slowly release heat over a period of time. In this case the item caught fire in her bed and it is thought she was overcome by the fumes. Firs investigators in West Yorkshire have dealt with six other incidents involving heat packs in the past year and Mrs Ghiloni's family are now campaigning for the instructions of the packs to be changed to try and prevent any further accidents.

I tried a new shampoo from Lush the other day. It is called Curly Wurly and according to the lush website it is meant to "calm curls and tame tangles. It has quite favourable reviews on their site but I hated pretty much everything about it. Firstly the smell and texture of the shampoo is fairly awful. It contains lots of pieces of coconut and after applying the shampoo it took me over an hour and half to try and remove these from my hair. I can only think that it is meant for people with thin hair, but if you have thick hair, be warned that coconut will take a long time to wash out. Secondly rather than removing tangles it seemed to add them to my hair, it also dried it out leaving it more fluffy and if possible thicker than usual. The only thing I liked about the shampoo was that the next day my hair smelt really nice but I will not be using this again.

I was looking around for some gift ideas and found this website that sells silver jewellery. They are based in the UK but can ship items all over the world. The interesting thing about their range of jewellery is that the items are not available on the high street. They are sourced directly from the jewellery makers in Thailand and sold through the keysilver website. As they are not available at any larger retailers and are not produced in large quantities  you can you can find something a little more unusual and exclusive.

Their range includes silver bracelets and bangles, silver necklaces and silver pendants. All of their items are stamped with a quality mark of 925 to indicate the purity of the silver and most items are available for shipping within 24 hours. I particularly liked their range of silver bracelets especially the silver star bracelet (pictured) which costs £15.00. Many of the items also have matching necklaces and all items are sent packaged in an organza jewel bag so are great to send as gifts. They currently offer free shipping within the UK on orders of £10.00 or more and they offer a 14 day money back guarantee. Its certainly worth bookmarking this website for future use especially as they are adding new products all the time.

This article suggests that supermarkets are profiteering from the huge rise in the price of eggs by taking the greatest share of the 47.4% increase in prices. Although supermarkets claim to be protecting shoppers from the rising prices of food, they have taken the bulk of the profits made from the rise in egg prices. Eggs have gone up by 47.4% or 83p since last May but farmers have seen only 12p of this which is barely above the cost of production. In contrast the supermarkets and packers get 71p of the rise.

Carphone Warehouse will offer a free laptop with broadband. Customers will be able to choose from six different models of laptop when they buy a broadband package from one of seven providers. Customers will be able pay more if they want a higher spec laptop. The offer is currently available at 100 of their stores but will be rolled out across all 800 stores this summer.

This article suggests that the CD single might have had its day. It is based on the fact that the leading high street chain Woolworths plans to stop selling them and instead concentrate on music downloads. The store will not sell CD singles from August although it will stock some one off event singles that are guaranteed to be large sellers. It has launched its own website for music, video and games to offer downloads. I wonder whether other high street stores will follow their lead.

Diet Coke will drop the additive known as Sodium benzoate or E211 in response to customers demands for a more natural product. The additive has been linked to damage to DNA and hyperactivity in children. It is used to stop fizzy drinks going mouldy. By the end of year no can or bottle will contain the additive. It will also be replaced in some other products once a suitable alternative has been found.

This article suggests that some brands of vegetarian sausages and burgers contain more salt than the meat equivalent. Researchers found that some vegetarian burgers contain six times more salt than a meat burger with others containing as much salt as five packets of crisps. Fry's Vegetarian Traditional Sausage contained 2.8g of salt, more than four times the pork equivalent meaning that just two sausages would provide the recommended daily intake for an adult. Other leading brands also fared quite badly in the test.

According to this article music can enhance the way a wine tastes. Research by psychologists has shown that people perceive a change in taste when different music is played. Researchers found that cabernet sauvignon was most affected by powerful and heavy music whereas chardonnay was affected by zingy and refreshing sounds.

Tesco has recently spent nearly £1 billion to acquire stores in South Korea. It has owned stores in Korea for nine years but is now buying 36 Homever discount hypermarkets. Tesco already runs the Homeplus chain in South Korea which comprises of 66 hypermarkets and 72 Homeplus Express stores but the new stores will put Tesco neck and neck with Shinsegae who are the current market leader in the country.

Waitrose has been experiencing a pasta shortage after it ran out of suppliers of its own brand dried pasta at the start of April. The problem was caused by a row between the supermarket group and its supplier in Italy over quality issues. Waitrose customers have for the last few weeks only been able to buy other branded pasta from the store, most of which costs more than the own brand alternative. The supermarket chain has now said that the issue has been resolved and that the shelves would be fully stocked within two weeks.

A man in Suffolk has found a baby tarantula in a bunch of grapes he brought from Asda. He caught the spider which was later rehomed at a local reptile centre. I hate stories like this, they always make me a little wary when buying fruit.

Tesco is currently having talks about selling its property website. The website was launched in June last year with a view to undercutting traditional home sellers. At the time some estate agents took legal action to stop properties they were marketing appearing on Tesco's website. Now one of those who originally criticised the website are having talks regarding buying the business. Spicerhaart is the UK's largest independently owned estate agency network. They would own and operate the business with Tesco marketing it.

Well, maybe not world domination but lots more coffee shops. Whitbread plans to double the number of Costa coffee shops and increase the number of Premier Inn rooms by 50%. The company announced the plans after it unveiled better than expected profits. There are currently 992 Costa coffee outlets worldwide but Whitbread will increase this to 2,000 in the next five years with half of the new shops being in Britain.