• Retailers fear collapse of lines of supply
• Bailiffs prepare for busiest Christmas as shops go under
Zoe Wood, retail correspondent
Fears that scores of supermarket suppliers will go bust next year have led the country's major chains to draw up emergency plans to replace them, The Observer can reveal.
Separately, on the high street, bailiffs are getting ready for their busiest Christmas ever, with a slew of retailers expected to go into administration.
Supermarket chain Asda, led by Andy Bond, is working on 'worst-case scenarios' across the board - combing its supplier base and examining alternatives to them. 'Suppliers are under a lot of pressure and there will be casualties,' said a senior executive at another store chain, which has already stepped in to pay troubled suppliers ahead of schedule. 'We need each other, it is not a zero-sum game.'
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This is the article that panicked Peacenik yesterday into setting up a Google Alert. Peacenik has to confess that Peacenik's search strategy yesterday may have been too precise. Peacenik has received no alerts since yesterday. After re-reading this article Peacenik is going to add another alert: +food +shortages. Again Peacenik will share the results of Peacenik's early warning system with Punditman readers. But Peacenik is not in a state of total panic. Peacenik has not purchased a portable water filtration system yet. Peacenik has however gotten a few bags of rice.
