Do smart supermarkets herald the end of shopping as we know it?

Welcome to the supermarkets of the future. They may look and feel like the supermarkets we are all used to – and stock the same bread, butter and bananas – but these shops are now fitted out with more than £1m of the latest technology that their bosses promise will put an end to our biggest frustration (queueing) and our most persistent crime (shoplifting). Jill French, a legal secretary in her 30s, wearing a sharp navy suit and matching beret, has just left a Tesco Express on London's Holborn Viaduct empty-handed. It's coming up to 6.30pm on a Thursday and, like dozens of others, French has popped in for a few essentials on her way home. "I just went in to grab pasta, milk and some broccoli," she says.