The reply from Mr Morrison...

In August 2007 I got the reply from Mr Morrison!

I couldn't believe he'd actually read my letter (See previous blog post), let alone replied! Definitely one of the highlights of my Morrisons journey, although there's been a few others since!

I still have the list of stores he sent me, although it is 6 years out of date now. Came in very handy though for finding the stores before we invested in a Sat Nav.  

Mr Morrison was very kind and even sent me £20 in gift vouchers with the reply - as you can probably imagine, they soon got spent! 

I have had a surprising amount of interest since my first post, it's been great hearing from people who work at Morrisons and have read my blog.  Many people keep asking whether I've visited a store near them, so my next post is going to list all 99 stores that I've visited so far.

The Beginning!

A lot of people have asked what the story is behind this crazy obsession of mine so thought I'd start a blog to tell my story...

2007

My +Morrisons journey first began back in 2007, when I was 14.  Sadly my Nanny was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2005.  It soon became clear that the highlight of her day was to visit a café at one of your stores mainly at Cleveleys and Blackpool because her favourite meal was 'Afternoon Tea - Ham Sandwiches and Egg Custards'.  I have very fond memories of this, particularly when my Grandad had to swap the cream scone for Egg Custards - my Nanny was very particular about what she wanted!

Back then, I was at school in Fleetwood and every weekend both Saturday and Sunday my grandparents would collect my sister and I and take us for lunch at Morrisons.  This was a great opportunity to spend time with them and eat some PROPER food (School food wasn't great & as soon as Monday came the countdown would begin until Saturday was around again!)

During the Summer and Easter holidays my family would accompany my grandparents on holiday to one of our favourite destinations, Devon.  Days out were planned out around a trip to a Morrisons, even on the journey we would stop at a Morrisons for lunch - this was usually the one at Bristol Cribbs Causeway.  To make this job easier, before everything became so 'online' we invested in one of the Maps which had a little 'M' symbol which indicated where the Morrisons Stores were.

After accompanying my grandparents so many times, I started thinking 'I wonder how many stores I've been to?' (At the time it was something like 18!) I then thought, 'Wouldn't it be cool to visit every store, of the 368 they then had!' (This has now increased to 400+ making my ambition a lot more difficult, although I am very pleased they are expanding!)

In August 2007, My sister and I wrote a letter to Mr Ken Morrison explaining about our interesting hobby and thus began the journey,


11-08-07

Dear Sir Ken Morrison,

I am writing to tell you about our hobby. It is like no ordinary hobby. My sister and I are at boarding school in +Rossall School, Fleetwood near to where my grandparents live. Every weekend they collect us from school and take us to lunch at your Clevelys or Blackpool branch.

Our hobby started because of my nanny who sadly has Alzheimer’s. The highlight of her day is to visit your café mainly at Clevelys and Blackpool because her favourite meal is the “Afternoon Tea – Ham sandwiches and Egg Custards”. After accompanying her many times this started me thinking that, I would like to visit every single one of your 372 stores and eat in the café if they had one. Recently I have found out that the number of stores has gone down to 368 and we were very disappointed that you had sold your Poole store to Sainsburys! So far, my grandparents and I have been to 33 of your stores and I have started to collect receipts from them. It brightens up our time together and my grandad (who is 80) is always planning trips, which include a trip to a new Morrisons where possible. So far, I have been to:

1. Chester 12. Rhyl 23. Skipton
2. Blackpool 13. Kirkham 24. Bangor
3. Clevelys 14. Bridport 25. Shrewsbury
4. Preston 15. Kendal 26. Weymouth
5. Southport 16. Crewe 27. Ellesmere Port
6. Winsford 17. Morecombe 28. Bodmin
7. Paignton 18. Nantwich * 29. Gloucester
8. Bristol 19. Yeovil 30. Tavistock
9. Totnes 20. Plymouth 31. Tewkesbury
10. Rochdale 21. Congleton * 32. Taunton
11. Haywood 22. West Kirby 33. Tiverton

The ones which have stars by them have no café, which we were very disappointed by and we were wondering whether you could open a café up seeing, as they are very popular at your other stores?

This hobby has become very absorbing to us and we have also become interested in the store layouts, the merchandising and staff, attitude and behaviour. As my grandfather spent most of his working life in the wholesale and retail trade, he has been able to enlighten us about all the aspects of retailing.

Because of our “obsession”, we are wondering if you have facilities at the head office for people like us to come and view your management operations.

I look forward to hearing your observations on our unusual hobby.

Yours sincerely,

Janine and Elise Schofield

(Aged: 14 and 12)