[Closed] Tesco

Does anyone think that the Co-op is any better than the other supermarkets or do they just have a clever little USP going?

(It's a serious question, I know what they claim, I just wonder if there is any real action by them to make the playing field any more fair for suppliers or is it all just for the PR).

mastiles_fanylion - Member

York (a pretty small town)

It has a Minster, it is a city.

Nah - originally from Glasgow mate. York only just makes it out of village status.

mastiles_fanylion - Member
Does anyone think that the Co-op is any better than the other supermarkets or do they just have a clever little USP going?

(It's a serious question, I know what they claim, I just wonder if there is any real action by them to make the playing field any more fair for suppliers or is it all just for the PR).

My wife works for one of the suppliers to a number of the big supermarkets and spent a number of months working out of Co-Op's HQ (the suppliers often have people based in the supermarket's operations). She's also done Tesco and Sainsbury's and she reckons Co-Op are at least trying to make a difference - don't always manage, but on balance they do.

Supermarkets Killing us with convenience. Haven't done a shop in one of those places for more than 4 years, they get in the way when you want good food. We spend very carefully on good food and save money over our friends who are adicted to convenience. These shops have you trained to buy what they want you to buy while pretending that they are customer led. They are very very clever at getting your money out of you. If you think I'm wrong then their work is done. We live in a country that throws away one third of all the fresh food purchased almost all of this comes from supermarkets. The time is comming when food will not be seen as a cheap, or do you want to continue to stuff your face with cheap food that is causing a people to starve in the third world. Cheap and easy are not the way forward, look around and whats happening in the world. Blimey! I feel strongly about some thing must get a glass of water (tap).

As a co-operative I'd have thought that they would have a vestiged interest in being equitable, certainly the co-op bank practices what they preach.

Re the Co-op - that is good then - I wasn't trying to belittle what they are trying to do, I was just posing the question as clever PR can be very persuasive.

MT - so how do you you save money? Is the produce you buy cheaper than supermarkets or is it done by simply not wasting as much of the more expensive food you buy from 'boutique' shops?

i think the mt is talking about ignoring the buy 1 get 1 free/ 50% extra free bollox that tricks you into buying whatever the big chains have overstocked on, even when you dont need it

supermarkets are allso rammed to the gills with fatty salty convenience meals that give you high blood pressure and bowel cancer

Can't be bothered reading the whole thread.
I totally agree with junkyard.
Luckily I'm a part time worker and am able to shop locally, where we have really top quality shops, a baker, butcher, 2 fruit/veg shops and a couple of deli's.

You can fight Tesco. In the nearby village of Poynton in Cheshire they successfully stopped a Tesco supermarket being built.

As I understand it, they have pockets of land all over the place, just waiting for the planning to go ahead and take over our country.

I save money by buying fresh produce at least every other day and not falling for all the hype of 'bogofs', also not walking out with stuff I don't really need at a supermarket. A bit of meal planning for the week and there is no waste.
Shop locally if you can and buy in season, the food is so much better.
Any strawberries I've ever bought in a supermarket bounce on the floor and have been inedible, the ones from the fruit shop are delicious.

Well I tend to eat whatever I can get on the special offers and stock up on them as much as I can. I do eat some convenience food (as in jars of sauces) but I also enjoy cooking from scratch. But, for me anyway, first and foremost I try to save money when I buy from these places. For example, if Lloyd Grossman sauces are on half price I will buy them. If Sharwoods are on, I will buy those instead.

I don't see how that is wasteful - jars of sauces last a long time.

We had one Supermarket up here for years, they opened a Sainsburys last year a few local traders expressed concern as it was out of town, out of town being 1/2 a mile and it effect busy.

A town few miles down the road has one supermarket is under massive regeneration in it's town centre and wants to build a supermarket out of town this time a 3/4 from the centre. Local traders, some of them who have a shop in town, expressed concern quoting the loss of trade that occurred here as an example.

They did a survey to be fair and used a third party and it came back despite the drop in economy trade in the town has gone up, trader who has shops in both towns seen sales increase by about 18%.

So all seems good to me.

the ones from the fruit shop are delicious.

*I am not saying yours are, some grocers do buy locally and in season. Others just trot to the local wholesalers and buy stuff in a very similar, but smaller scale, to the supermarkets. Bananas and apples are perfect examples - go to your grocers and they often have the same little labels on that you see in Tesco - 'Royal Gala' this and 'Dole' that. But charge more for them and not have the same turnover, meaning more older produce on the shelves.

And buying from your local shop helps how? Do you think that paying 20% more for a jar of Dolmio sauce and some bog paper will somehow save our planet?

It won't, that's a fatuous suggestion, however, it's our attitude to consumption that the Supermarkets pander too that is most definately hurting.

On top of that we seem intent to have as little to do with each other as possible, everything is so impersonal, it might be more convenient but I'm convinced it's having a detrimental impact on our society.

I don't really blame Tesco, although some of the practices leave a lot to be desired, it's us wanting so much but not willing to pay for it in terms of time or money.

it's our attitude to consumption that the Supermarkets pander too that is most definately hurting.

I'm convinced it's having a detrimental impact on our society.

I know that Lampeter said no to Tesco's. Just wish there was an Asda nearer to Carmarthen.

I wish people would stop using cheapness as an excuse for shopping at supermarkets.

What happens in real life is that supermarkets win because they create a convincing illusion of good value. Certain key products are kept cheap as "loss leaders", and you can pick up cheap stuff you don't need, like alcohol or £5 jeans. You can also get a "bargain" if you buy way too much of something, e.g. buy one get one free on fruit that then gets thrown away in a few days.

The real factor that keeps people coming back is laziness - not having to walk around different shops, not having to deal with small fiddly amounts of change, and knowing that you can buy the same things week in, week out, regardless of problems that might affect smaller businesses or what time of year it is.

Supermarkets aren't evil, but they certainly aren't your mates. Bribing you with miserable 1% discount "loyalty" cards, vouchers that might get your kid's school a tennis ball if you spend £500 there, or participating in tedious national charity events doesn't make them any more ethically sound. They will still shaft their suppliers, build 500 car parking places to every 5 bike racks and wastefully package their goods while paying lip service to environmental concerns.

They're even trying to phase out their human staff in my local ones, and to be honest it rankles to spend 15 minutes of your life queueing, scanning your own shopping in, having to get the staff to override it because you want to buy some of their discount booze or it won't let you use your own shopping bags, and finally be told "Thank you for using the fast lane..." 🙄

I wish people would stop using cheapness as an excuse for shopping at supermarkets.

Anyone else watch the series on where our cheap food comes from?

There is another thread on this forum about our troops in Afghanistan and the rise of Islamic extremism.

We have too much, others have too little. Unavoidable result = Conflict

Because we have too much and thus have too much to lose to willingly risk our lives, they ultimately will win. Basic rise and fall of Empire stuff. Pretty much inevitable due to the inherent selfishness of the human condition.

For some stuff, e.g. bread, they are cheap. But some things are more expensive (eggs are consistently about 50p less in my local greengrocer's, unless you buy battery eggs that look like they've been laid by a wren). When you factor in random impulse buys and having limited choice over the quantities that you purchase, it's a lot closer.

Re- strawberries, I tried to google the varieties grown in the U.K. couldn't find out, however our fruit shop sells 3 differnet varieties, they don't all look the same shape and size and they smell like strawberries. Most supermarkets apart from M&S sell El-santa which travel well. SO taste rubbish but will keep fresh in you fridge for longer.
Whoops gone on a bit too long there 🙂

Assuming they don't actually level every small convienience store, butcher, baker etc within say, a 5 mile radius (and I'm pretty sure they don't) it now becomes up to those indignant people who said "no" to now resist the temptation of lower prices, and continue supporting those small businesses that they were so keen on in the first place.

No one is gonna twist your arm to go to tesco, and there will always be small shops that survive initially, so how many of those "no" people would honsetly have the moral integrity to stick to their principals and support the small business's, against saving themselves money?

Exactly. The arrival of Tesco doesn't instantly shut down local businesses, it's the local people choosing to shop there that does that. Nobody's forcing the poeple of Mach to use Tesco and if they're so set against it I'm sure they'll vote with their wallets and continue to use the independents... won't they?

Supermarkets have done one thing; freed women from having to drag around 4-5-6-7 shops to buy things on a saturday while the auld fella sits in the bookies/pub/social club.

Or goes out on his bike.

I haven't read everything here, but from an employment point of view - ie jobs lost, does one tesco employ less staff than multiple one man band shops?

I haven't read everything here, but from an employment point of view - ie jobs lost, does one tesco employ less staff than multiple one man band shops?

i seem to recall reading somewhere that yeah this is true.
certainly in the case of that massive tesco in stockport that's actually 20% bigger than they had planning permission for, and when challenged one of the things tesco said was that if they were forced to resize then people would "lose jobs"; tescopoly looked into the net effect of the tesco store's existence on the local jobs market and i believe they determined that there was a negative overall balance. however, this is somewhat hypothetical and some would say an expected finding given who did the 'research'.

I haven't read everything here, but from an employment point of view - ie jobs lost, does one tesco employ less staff than multiple one man band shops?

well yes, it's all in the link I posted...

But the superstores’ own research shows that every large outlet causes the net loss of 276 jobs(8). That’s hardly surprising: independent shops employ five times as many people per unit of turnover (9).

The big problem seems to be that Tesco will keep reapplying and appealing when a council turns them down. Councils say that they cannot afford the legal costs.

I'd like a council to put their money on the table and threaten Tesco. Keep turning down the appeals and if the council runs out of money then Westminster or Cardiff would HAVE to step in to stop the bullying tactics.

We can't have one company hold our democratic processes to ransom.

Mfannylion

but I also enjoy cooking from scratch. But, for me anyway, first and foremost I try to save money when I buy from these places. For example, if Lloyd Grossman sauces are on half price I will buy them. If Sharwoods are on, I will buy those instead.

I'm a big Tesco fan, from a customer's point of view they are fantastic. Good range, good prices, beats all the other supermarkets and much quicker than going round all the local shops to buy stuff in dribs and drabs.

Really looking forward to their 14th store in Cambridge, just round the corner from me and hoping it puts our local useless Coop store out of business (useless staff, obscene prices, crap opening hours and out of stock of most things).

My-ex GF moved to just outside Mach 5 years ago and she, like a lot of local residents, has been praying for a Tesco and an M&S for years. The one general complaint is lack of decent local shops in Aber and the surrounding region. Only tourists (and George) can afford the prices in all the local eco-friendly 100% organic shops.

GM is only representing one faction of the local community.

she, like a lot of local residents, has been praying for a Tesco and an M&S for years

Really when [ok if] I pray I ask for world peace and an end to poverty.
I feel so silly now 😳

" when I pray I ask for world peace and an end to poverty "

[img] [/img]

Junkyard

I've only skim read this whole thread but this quote stood out:

I would rather consider the eventual effect on my wallet.

If you want to fight the Tescos of this world, you need to change the political landscape.

1. No financial contributions to political parties except from registered voters in the respective electorate. This may stop our politicians being bought by large corporations, although I'm sure they would find a way 🙂
3. No one allowed to represent an electorate unless they have lived in it for a few years.
2. A requirement that legal battles be between equals. ie Tesco not be allowed to spend more on its case than the council.

Yup, I shop at Tesco.

This thread puzzles me. On the one hand you moan about all the 'tripe' that Tescos et al. shovel about improving choice, lowering prices etc, yet on the other hand, most of the same people on here are happily following the myths about food miles and 'organic' food.

Have a read of this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_miles

And more specifically this paper: [i]Edwards-Jones, G., Milà i Canals, L., Hounsome, N., Truninger, M., Koerber, G., Hounsome, B., et al. (2008). Testing the assertion that ‘local food is best’: the challenges of an evidence-based approach. Trends in Food Science & Technology, 19(5), 265-274.[/i] (I don't seem to be able to find a free online version of it, sadly, but will happily email you one from work tomorrow if you're interested enough)

Anyway, aside from policies and politics, I'm rarely out of work before 8 pm, leaving me with two shops within a logical distance between work and home in which to buy food - Londis in Bethesda (which only has the basics), and you guessed it, Tesco in Bangor. I'd love to shop at the local butchers, greengrocers etc, but they're not open when I can shop, so I don't. I suspect the convenience of Tescos being open at more useful times than traditional shops suits most of us who work and don't want to spend their Saturdays fighting their way through the high street. Perhaps if the highstreet opened later and closed later, more customers would be able to shop at their local stores. As it stands however, most are probably at work when the local shops are open, leaving only the supermarkets by the time they finish work.

It really isn't rocket science (or any science for that matter), simply common sense...

Really simple case of supply and demand

Tescos is a clever company, they know where the demand is and the supply will follow. If your community is really that opposed to it, they will will continue to support local shops. In reality, most of the outspoken petition signing nimby's will soon be shopping in Tescos becasuse it is cheaper, quicker and better than tramping around local shops.

Its just the way shopping and the high streets are changing. And we, the consumers are demanding it.

Tescos is a clever company

They are flipping geniuses. They're open at times when I can go shopping, unlike the greengrocers, butchers, bakers, and candlestick makers who all shut at 5. Just need the bank and post office to get their act together now!

It's a marvelous legacy of Thatcher (sorry) that so many people seem to think allowing naked market forces to run wild is some kind of beautiful natural thing to be welcomed whatever the cost. The fact that Tesco can bully and threaten their way to such a huge market share isn't a good thing for anyone except their shareholders.

Will you all still be happy if there were no shops left except Tesco? 'But it's so convenient and cheap'

Cooking from scratch does not mean you opened all the jars and packets yourself.

Perhaps I was not clear enough in my post but I like to cook from scratch, using fresh ingredients and from my wide range of spices (I have approx 50 Indian and Thai spices). I generally do not cook from recipes either, just create what I feel will be nice dishes.

But when time does not allow, I use jars.

shopping in Tescos becasuse it is cheaper, quicker and better than tramping around local shops

The general public are a funny bunch. There will be concern expressed about local food/shops/organics/food miles/sustainability etc, but they'll mourn the loss of a chain like Woolworths!Most people don't genuinely care about the health of their high street, or they only care once it has all but gone. TBF, given the state of the economy it is unsurprising people shop where it is cheap and convenient.

Same as Scuttler, I'm in Holmfirth and don't want to see a Tesco built. I think that a lot of the local small shops stay in business because at the minute people can park in the town centre and there is one of most kind of shops within an easy walk. I suspect that a lot of people do "top up" shopping when going to the bank or hairdressers, but also as the carpark is at an existing (not very big and poorly stocked) coop, you can do whatever shopping you want in there and then pop to the greengrocers for your better priced and higher quality veggies. (Or the butchers, hardware shop etc).
Some of the small shops also supply the local eateries (meaning that they have a comparatively high turn over of stock, and the more random herbs or whatever that they may otherwise not stock) and this is where I think a Tesco is a bad thing.
As people start to use the Tesco rather than the Morrisons or Sainsburys some miles away, the top up shopping in the town will dwindle as people cannot just walk from there car, they now have to add a another leg to the trip - not much, but enough to put folk off. The little shops see trade dropping and it might be enough to force a couple into shutting up (I haven't seen their books, so this is speculation). I would assume that the coop couldn't survive and will close, leaving a large abandoned site in the middle of the town, which already has an oversupply of retail units. So a few less shops, an empty site in the middle of the town and suddenly Holmfirth is a much less nice place to be, not just for us residents, but crucially to all the visitors we get (Last of the summer wine and all). These visitors must pump a large amount of money into the local economy, making many of the pubs,restaurants, bakers and sandwich shops viable. Without this money some of them are bound to close, leaving more empty shops and pretty soon I'll be living in a ghost town and nobody wants to spend their saturday visiting one of them do they?. At the minute I have a choice of places to go on a saturday night to eat and drink, but I just can't see that this will continue to be the case.
I live where I do because my local town is still a small market town with a buzz and some life to it, a Tesco's (or any other supermarket built on the same site) will inevitably drain that out of the town and whoops, where did our community go?
No thanks.

For the record, I shop at sainsburys 7 miles away and when I get the chance (my working and their openening hours dependent) use greengrocers, bakers and butchers either near home or where i work.

We grow a lot of our own fruit & veg & keep chickens too, we use a local butcher that delivers for meat - other than that, pretty much everything else comes from a big supermarket [usually Asda]

Try nipping around local shops when you're shopping for 7
You usually can't get parked anywhere near them & the logistics of hauling that amount of stuff from various shops back home is too onerous

Long may the supermarkets reign - if nothing else, they certainly allow people to have a much more varied diet if they want or 2p sausages if they like eating crap [their choice]

Within 5 miles of where I live I can buy food from local stores which specialise in 4 or 5 different continents' food types. All without going to [i]The shop formerly owned by Dame Shirley Porter[/i].
But then I don't live an idyllic rural lifestyle - but if I did I'd probably start expecting weekly Red Cross parcels to be airdropped.

Is there such a thing as a 'supermarket only' town that everone in this thread seems so worried about? i dont live out in the sticks but most towns (with a supermarket) that ive been to still have butchers, bakers, corner shops etc. Its not like its a one way thing where youll end up with only a supermarket, other shops will still be around, sure the poorly run ones who blindly plod along will prob go but youll still have choice.

But unless the smaller shopkeepers can compete financially, the vast majority (me included) will vote with their wallets and go to the supermarkets.

Depends on what you value as important. People value local services and will pay a fair price to keep them. It's a community thing. The rest however are like you.

What local shops need to do is going the french way: open at 8:30 in the morning, stop at 12 and reopen at 2:30 to close at 7pm. So you can go shopping when you go back from work. But yes, where are you going to buy your sandwich at lunch time then? I guess Tesco wil still be open.

People value local services and will pay a fair price to keep them

In the main they won't IMO

How many small indie filling stations survive on locals valuing their [more] personal service over the cost of a litre of unleaded?
Most people with families can't afford to use the small shops for the majority of their shopping - have you tried kitting a couple of youngsters out for going back to school via the local clothes shop? - there's no point buying good quality clothes/shoes, they'll have ruined/grown out of it in 3 months anyway

Well we don't have a choice for clothes, there is nowhere (other than charity shops) that sell them in the nearest town, which is most definately suffering from shoppers going to the two Tesco's within 8 miles.

In the main they won't IMO

No, because they value convenience and immediate price over the possibility that their local community is suffering.

It's really sad.

But yes, where are you going to buy your sandwich at lunch time then?

make them the night before for a quarter of the price then use the change to make up the difference when you go an support your local community, if it really is anymore expensive anyway.

No, because they value convenience and immediate price over the possibility that their local community is suffering.

It's really sad.

I don't understand why the importance of a flourishing local community is difficult to grasp.

Towns with a good mix of independent stores, that sell a wide range of products, where people mix, chat and feel part of a community, where they know the shop owners and the other shoppers are dwindling (we even built a few, Telford and Milton Keynes for example), the vacant shops look crap, the remaining ones struggle to survive, the town becomes run down and dilapidated, people start to lose a sense of pride and stop caring about the place they live in.

People demanding convienience and the cheapest price on everything are what is driving the incredible expansion of out of town superstores, starving towns of their vital commerce.

When I found out Sainsburys were opening a store in my village I was dismayed, as it has a flourishing market and several butchers bakers etc. I had a chat with one of the butchers a couple of weeks later. He thought it was great - no need to drive 8 miles to the nearest affordable supermarket! I didn't know what to think then. Turns out nearly all the local shop owners and staff do their shopping at Sainsburys!

m-f, what you describe is exactly how I feel. I like the people in my deli, for example. I want their business to survive, so I'll spend in there even if it's more costly than Tesco. Their shop helps to make the street look nice, bonus IMO. And whilst Tesco profits dissappear into some random offshore fund, some part of the profit from the deli is reinvested in my community.

Also, how is Tesco convenient for me? It's 5 miles away, whereas I can walk for everything I need here. Can't get fish unless I get up early on a thursday though, or go into Salisbury on Saturday morning.

I don't understand why the importance of a flourishing local community is difficult to grasp.

And whilst Tesco profits dissappear into some random offshore fund, some part of the profit from the deli is reinvested in my community.

*I appreciate that some things are specialist and not available in supermarkets and those are the sort of shops I like to visit and they are the sort that have more chance of surviving the onslaught of the supermarkets as they are not trying to compete, they have diversified and found a USP.

to spend more on stuff just because some bloke in his corner shop might suffer otherwise

You're paying £2 a pop for a small jar of adulterated tomato puree, and you're worried about value for money? 😛

You're paying £2 a pop for a small jar of adulterated tomato puree, and you're worried about value for money?

Is that not what Lloyd Grossman sauce is? I bought some a while back for a 24 hour race, can't remember how much it was, but it was ming.

Is that not what Lloyd Grossman sauce is?

*I appreciate that some things are specialist and not available in supermarkets and those are the sort of shops I like to visit

Would that be shops for 'discerning gentlemen' 😉

People demanding convienience and the cheapest price on everything are what is driving the incredible expansion of out of town superstores, starving towns of their vital commerce.

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.

Would that be shops for 'discerning gentlemen'

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.

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.

you have to compare like-for-like

If you do that, the supermarkets will always win. What you should be doing is comparing what you actually need - i.e. the essentials - with the overpriced overprocessed shite that supermarkets like Tesco try and punt to you.

If a supermarket isn't doing well, then its parent company can suck up the loss.

If you do that, the supermarkets will always win. What you should be doing is comparing what you actually need - i.e. the essentials - with the overpriced overprocessed shite that supermarkets like Tesco try and punt to you.

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.

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.

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

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 😀 ]

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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!

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. )

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.

Make people pay for parking

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.

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.

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.

ebygomm - that certainly sounds rural!

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

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 😕

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.