How Difficult is it to Buy a 9-Volt Battery?

You'd think it'd be easy wouldn't you? Walk into the super market, find a big sign dangling from the ceiling that says "Electricals" in big letters, pick up said battery, take to tills, pay and job done. What could go wrong?

Unfortunatly, in a West Leeds suburb, it's actually very difficult, given the incompetencies of the businesses tasked with selling such products.

For those of you unaware with the area of Bramley, we have a small local shopping complex whioch consists of a supermarket, about 30 smaller shops and an office tower, all housed in one of the most hideous buildings in Yorkshire.

At one time, Morrisons used to be the tennants of the supermarket complex and it was fine. Morrisons are the forth biggest supermarket chain in the country and it's fair to say that they know what they are doing.
However, when they build a brand new flagship store 2 miles away in Kirkstall, it looked as if competition laws would mean they'd have to leave. In the end, only local pressure got them to stay. Five years later though and they were gone.

After Ken Morrison decided to buy out Safeway, that left Bramley with two Morrisons supermarkets. Anti-monopoly legislation ordered them to close/sell one of them and so Bramley Centre lost it's supermarket.

But then, after a few months, in stepped Somerfield to take the crown and Bramley Centre had a supermarket again, horray!?

Well not quite.

You see Somerfield arn't a supermarket, however much they might like to think they are. They are more the "mini-mart" type of business, think of a big Spar and you're probably on the right lines.
Because of that, they place is empty. They don't have the buying power of the "big four", so practically everything on the shelf costs more than elsewhere, the are no staff - none at all, there is no signage, the product choice is sparse to say the least and the overall "shopping experience" is just, well, dull.

The fact of the matter is, even though it's a small unit (by supermarket standards) in an area that could hardly be described as affluent, they have taken on something that is far too much for them. Where the old Morrison's supermarket was consistently busy and always well-staffed, this Somerfield effort is akin to a ghost town.
I suppose it's a classic case brand loyalty. The old "Moggies" was well-loved by the locals. This new upstart is just shunned.

So anyway, back to the battery. From entering the shop to leaving took 14 minutes - just for a 9v PP3 battery.
After spending around 6 minutes trying each and every unsigned aisle, I managed to find a shelf, incompletely priced and ticketed, with the said battery.
From there, of the 20-some cash desks, two were open - that's right - two. The other 8 minutes were spend queuing at one of the choice of till counters.

Somerfield have been in that unit for about six months now. By my reckoning, they'll be gone in from there in another 18.