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1. uplink - Member

   Tesco owns lots of land that they haven't been given permission to build on. It isn't making them a profit, so by your logic they should sell it, but that's not the way these people work.

   they can do what they want with it - it's theirs

   Uplink, you're overlooking the fact that a supermarket is a chain. If a privately owned local shop isn't doing well, then it will close. If a supermarket isn't doing well, then its parent company can suck up the loss.

   
   I don't disagree with that but if the store was consistently empty - they'd eventually close it, all the locals need to do is stay away & use the corner shops etc.

   Posted 2 years ago #
2. Nick - Member

   If that's what people want why shouldn't they have it? - have you tried telling them they're all wrong & you're right?
   If a supermarket isn't wanted by the locals, they won't use it & it'll close PDQ, the fact that most stay open pretty much points to the locals wanting them.

   All makes perfect sense, until you consider the impact of maybe just 10% of shoppers moving from the local shops to the supermarket, the local shops can't absorb the falling revenue this causes so some close, then more people are forced to go to the supermarket, and so it goes.

   It's not about right and wrong, it's about considering the wider implications and making the best choices you can, not just for yourself but with consideration for the kind of society we want and the kind of places we want to live in, if more people want to live in a society where personal interaction is not the norm, where we all go to one of half a dozen huge corporations for almost everything we buy, where those corporations try to maximise their profits by squeezing the last penny out of their suppliers and by the introducing more and more self service checkouts (won't have to talk to anyone then, how wonderful) then I think that is incredible short-sighted and desperately sad.

   Posted 2 years ago #
3. Mr Agreeable - Member

   M&S is a perfect example of a large business that has sustained massive losses and bounced back.

   Posted 2 years ago #
4. uplink - Member

   All makes perfect sense, until you consider the impact of maybe just 10% of shoppers moving from the local shops to the supermarket, the local shops can't absorb the falling revenue this causes so some close, then more people are forced to go to the supermarket, and so it goes.

   Where I am there are 3 large supermarkets within 2 miles + a handful of of Aldi/Lidl type shops - there are also quite a few small shops, butchers, bakers etc. I don't see the wholesale closure of any of them happening - they all appear to be thriving, in fact the butchers & bakers near me has been there at least as long as I have [50 years] & the supermarkets have been there 20 or so years, if not more [my memory is not good at my age ]

   Posted 2 years ago #
5. Bunnyhop - Member

   I wished they closed all the 'Gregs' down.
   Around the corner from out local Gregs is a fantastic bakery, their pasties cost a few pence more, but have better ingredients and are totally delicious.

   Posted 2 years ago #
6. Mr Agreeable - Member

   Greggs is amazing. I think I would go there if I needed to fatten up for the Iditabike, or if I wanted to commit suicide by ODing on lard.

   Posted 2 years ago #
7. mastiles_fanylion - Member

   I wished they closed all the 'Gregs' down.
   Around the corner from out local Gregs is a fantastic bakery, their pasties cost a few pence more, but have better ingredients and are totally delicious.

   
   That I agree with. What certain contributors on this thread seem to be missing, is that by shopping at supermarkets, you don't HAVE to exclusively buy ready meals, crisps, pop and cake. And some supermarkets produce is, in my opinion, every bit as good as the stuff available in some local shops. The fact is, people are free to shop where they want and can each make their own choices based on what quality they want versus the value they put on it versus the convenience they need.

   Of course, some shops may be a victim of the supermarkets existence, but that will be because a significant number of people have made their own concious decision that the produce does not represent value for money - and why should anyone shed a tear for a business that is unable/unwilling to adapt.

   Of course, good local businesses will thrive. For example, there is a great deli in Northallerton, North Yorkshire that has won national awards and is fantastically successful, because rather than trying to compete with supermarkets, it has developed its niche and people appreciate it and therefore spend money there.

   I just don't see why anyone should prop-up businesses unwilling to adapt to market conditions.

   Posted 2 years ago #
8. Mr Agreeable - Member

   you don't HAVE to exclusively buy ready meals, crisps, pop and cake.

   Of course not, but that is what they're geared for. Compare the selection of potatoes in your average supermarket to the selection of crisps.

   Posted 2 years ago #
9. mastiles_fanylion - Member

   Of course not, but that is what they're geared for.

   
   I can't disagree with that, but I don't see why that means we should shun them - I am a supermarket whore - I just buy (in general) the stuff that I need which is on offer. And other convenience things like baby stuff on the way home from work, which just gets bunged in the back of the car.

   Posted 2 years ago #
10. Nick - Member

    Where I am there are 3 large supermarkets within 2 miles + a handful of of Aldi/Lidl type shops - there are also quite a few small shops, butchers, bakers etc. I don't see the wholesale closure of any of them happening - they all appear to be thriving, in fact the butchers & bakers near me has been there at least as long as I have [50 years] & the supermarkets have been there 20 or so years, if not more [my memory is not good at my age ]

    I'm sure there will always be exceptions, I was in Bridport & Axminster last week, Bridport is thriving and had a great vibe about it, saw a Morrisons a little way out of town, think there may have been a Waitrose in the centre too. Axminster, with a Tesco and Co-op within walking distance of the centre, looks like it's on it's arse, maybe it's always been like that, never been there before. Bridport is certainly much bigger and can probably sustain two supermarkets better.

    I just don't see why anyone should prop-up businesses unwilling to adapt to market conditions.

    It's not just that though is it, you're not propping up businesses, you're maintaining a town centre community where people met and interact and socialise, leaving things to marktet conditions alone (pure capitalism) will mean smaller businesses will suffer, Tesco's own research says that there is a net reduction in jobs in an area where a Tesco is built for a start, but hey that's ok, it's market driven!

    Posted 2 years ago #
11. GEDA - Member

    Don't people go to supermarkets as they have free parking and open long hours? Make people pay for parking and encourage the local shops to open longer hours and jobs a good un. Well maybe not that simple. I do think that you should not be able to be able to park for free though at a supermarket or any out of town shopping center. The whole of the western by pass in Newcastle could be seen as just a slip road for the metro centre for example.

    The only way anything is going to change is for the government to do something but they are going to do sod all for a number of reasons. Politicians live in London which seems to have a better range of small shops than anywhere else I have been, Feels more like a village than a village now, supermarkets probably keep inflation down, and the super markets are a very powerful lobby group. For instance how can small grocers shops be termed a different market to superstores?? (so that they can get around competition laws. )

    Posted 2 years ago #
12. Bunnyhop - Member

    I agree with your parking comments.
    The village local to my Mum introduced pay and display in the 2 small carparks at the very same time as they opened a large Sainsburys/John Lewis, with free parking just outside the village.
    It's taken a few years for the village to get back to how it used to be.
    They have a pork shop, which feels like you're stepping back in time. The ladies that work there are the same shop assisstants that served when I was a child. The shop looks awful, however the food is superb and all local cheese, pies , cooked meats and all sorts of goodies that you hardly see now but remember having as a child. This is how it's survived.

    Posted 2 years ago #
13. mastiles_fanylion - Member

    Make people pay for parking

    
    Make Tesco charge people for parking on their land? Just so a pork pie shop may survive?

    Posted 2 years ago #
14. aP - Member

    mastiles_fanylion I think you should go and live in the US or a while - say Alabama and see what its like living in a small town where the only shop is WalMart. Then come back and tell us whether you like bland cheese and bread as your free market increased choice then.
    I used to go to Piggly Wiggly instead although I never got the nerve to buy the pickled Pigs cheeks.
    Actually for breakfast the local family diner did fantastic biscuits and gravy - once they got to know me then the coffee got better as well.

    Posted 2 years ago #
15. Bunnyhop - Member

    m_f I'm taking your comments tongue in cheek.
    Having had to shop in America I am thankful that we do still have shops that serve real food.
    Everything over there is produced/manufactured with double the sugar and salt contnet of products over here, imo.

    Posted 2 years ago #
16. ebygomm - Member

    mastiles_fanylion I think you should go and live in the US or a while - say Alabama and see what its like living in a small town where the only shop is WalMart. Then come back and tell us whether you like bland cheese and bread as your free market increased choice then.

    In my experience of small town America (rural Missouri) the local shops had already gone before the Walmart appeared. Before that we used to make an 80 mile round trip to buy food, toiletries etc.

    Posted 2 years ago #
17. aP - Member

    ebygomm - that certainly sounds rural!

    Posted 2 years ago #
18. Tijuana Taxi - Member

    Tesco have just announced they are going to open their 15th shop in and around Cambridge

    Lots of opposition to the last one and it has been refused an alcohol licence
    Also faces fines for its lorries delivering, narrowing the road and posing a danger for cyclists

    Personally hate big supermarkets, can't stand the feeling that i'm being ripped off everytime I go shopping and need to be on my guard at every turn

    For instance their noble promise that if you catch them not honouring their deals you get a refund plus the goods
    Yeah, great so they pay out to the first customer who catches them and rip all the previous ones off

    Don't even get me started on the fire glow bulb above the Tomatoes so they look ripe or the extra slice of meat they always slip in on the deli and that I know is policy

    Posted 2 years ago #
19. showerman - Member

    1st i shop at tesco every week and every week i never get everything i want cos the shelves are empty.
    Now this country wants to go back to a land of shop owners (i do not) that personal service (if you was a toff) workers just got the scrag ends.
    Everybody wants a pub (i do not)and they are closing down cos of cheap booze from the supermarkets. How much is a pint or a short OR a coke in a pub these days.
    Love em or hate um If it was not for the super markets prices would be very much higher and everywhere would be closed by 430 and mostly closed at weekends And you would all be moaning on here about gready little shop owners

    Posted 2 years ago #
20. MrSalmon - Member

    Personally hate big supermarkets, can't stand the feeling that i'm being ripped off everytime I go shopping and need to be on my guard at every turn

    For instance their noble promise that if you catch them not honouring their deals you get a refund plus the goods
    Yeah, great so they pay out to the first customer who catches them and rip all the previous ones off

    Don't even get me started on the fire glow bulb above the Tomatoes so they look ripe or the extra slice of meat they always slip in on the deli and that I know is policy

    Well, don't shop there then! They're hardly ripping you off since you're free to go elsewhere.

    Posted 2 years ago #
21. aP - Member

    Well, that's fine then, looks like you're getting what you want.
    Some of prefer shops where you deal with the people who have a vested interest in making their business work.

    Posted 2 years ago #
22. GEDA - Member

    I think the problem with supermarkets is not that they are cheap it is that they lead us further down the road of our lives being controlled by large corporations. They are cheap due to the fact that they screw suppliers and operate as a monopoly. They have too much control now to be private enterprises and should be owned by the people and run in a sustainable and fair way that is good for the benefit of the economy and the environment. How they work at the moment is totally unfair for any meaningful competition.

    Posted 2 years ago #
23. uplink - Member

    or the extra slice of meat they always slip in on the deli and that I know is policy

    That bit's lost me - what you on about?

    Posted 2 years ago #
24. mastiles_fanylion - Member

    or the extra slice of meat they always slip in on the deli and that I know is policy
    That bit's lost me - what you on about?

    
    I assume it is when you ask for, say, half a pound of ham and they slice it and say 'it's just over, is that okay?' thereby getting their evil paws on more of your money and feeding your insatiable salt-lust until you no longer have the will to say 'no thanks, I'll have one less slice', you eventually hand over your passport and bank account details and their chief executive comes round your house every morning to bang one up the wrong 'un as he wrings his hands in the joy that their monopoly has destroyed all competition and sees that they are almost at the point of ambivalence about healthy eating, that they can feed the nation on crisps and pop, fat junkies begging them to feed them more, no matter what the price.

    Or maybe I misunderstand?

    Posted 2 years ago #
25. Tijuana Taxi - Member

    No I mean when you say two slices of ham please they always slip three in and you don't realise until you get home
    Know from a former employee they were told to do this

    Don't worry if they say its just over, is that ok
    no it bloody well isn't

    Posted 2 years ago #
26. grumm - Member

    Love em or hate um If it was not for the super markets prices would be very much higher and everywhere would be closed by 430 and mostly closed at weekends And you would all be moaning on here about gready little shop owners

    I don't think many people are complaining that supermarkets shouldn't exist at all, just that they have far too much power already and it's increasing all the time.

    Posted 2 years ago #
27. mastiles_fanylion - Member

    no it bloody well isn't

    
    Get some balls and say 'no thanks, one slice less will do.'

    Is it that hard to do? And are no independent delis guilty of doing exactly the same?

    Posted 2 years ago #
28. Tijuana Taxi - Member

    you don't realise until you get home

    Get some glasses then you won't write a load of old balls, is reading properly that hard to do.

    Posted 2 years ago #

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