No baskets, no branding, no warehouses, no advertising, no shelves, no social media. There’s a word for Mere and it is ‘austere’. “You won’t see any frills, shelves or points for convenience,” says ...

Aldi and Lidl are facing a challenge from a Russian ‘hard’ discounter, described as ‘one step above a food bank’. With no warehouses, few staff and products on pallets, could it take off in the UK?

Given that we all place such a huge emphasis on the retail environment and all that goes with it in this Instagram/social media heavy world we are in, it was strange to visit Mere, the Russian ...