Are Tescos and alike to blame for store closures

[Wez]

Hey All,

 

I haven’t posted pointless none supra thread for a week or too so here goes

 

Anyone think the likes of Tescos have made the current problems worse?

 

If you think about the shops that are closing or struggling most of these items are now available cheaper and more conveniently at the big super stores.

 

Humans are inherently lazy, therefore if you can buy your TV, Alcohol, Food, Clothes, Toys, Garden Furniture, Cameras etc in one store why would you go to other shops.

 

What would happen if retailers were forced into selling one category, i.e. electronics, alcohol and food?

 

 

Discuss

[snake]

;)Tesco

[Wez]

[AndrewOW]

Yes. Kill them all!

[creative]

 

What would happen if retailers were forced into selling one category, i.e. electronics, alcohol and food?

 

 

Discuss

 

isnt this what its like in Oz? ie a supermarket sells just food.. another shop/department sells electrical etc?

 

personally I think its a good idea as a small shop cannot compete with the bulk buying power os a supermarket... neither can pubs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

oh and kill them all!

[Wez]

I also think its a good idea

[marc_p]

But if ASDA were not allowed to sell DVD's where would I go to on my random 'i'm bored and need a new DVD' missions at 1am

[AndrewOW]

But if ASDA were not allowed to sell DVD's where would I go to on my random 'i'm bored and need a new DVD' missions at 1am

 

 

Maybe try and make some friends and get some sort of life?

[marc_p]

Maybe try and make some friends and get some sort of life?

 

I do have fweinds, there just trapped in a T.V.

[tooquicktostop]

You have to admire the power of the supermarkets IMO, its dog eat dog in business especially during tough times, the supermarkets provide value, variety and ease of use

 

The local councils were the undoing of the high street IMO with restrictions on parking and high parking fees etc

 

The only stores I use other than supermarkets now are Local farm shops and specialist fish monger and Bluewater when I have to take the GF!, the rest are in big trouble going forward, I only see the supermarkets becoming hypermarkets in the future

[AndrewOW]

Yes, given the choice between a nice free car park and shopping under one roof, to expensive street parking and having to drag yourself around a rainy, windy high street.

 

And that's not including the competitive pricing/range of choice etc.

 

I know what I'd choose. Unfortunately.

[extendor]

Yes, given the choice between a nice free car park and shopping under one roof, to expensive street parking and having to drag yourself around a rainy, windy high street.

 

And that's not including the competitive pricing/range of choice etc.

 

I know what I'd choose. Unfortunately.

 

 

I know. We live in a very small Town and our family in particular try very hard to support the local economy. I have my office in the Town and employ three people all who spend their money in the Town where possible. My wife shops in the local shops where absolutely possible.

 

The problem is that the local council are just tits. We only have one road in the town that has free parking and everywhere else is seriously overpriced, over subscribed or is residential. The latest wheeze from the council titheads is to limit free parking on that road (approx 200 car capacity) to two hours. Fanbloodytastic. So anyone who travels into town and parks all day will have to go out every two hours and move their car to non existent overpriced car parks. The only people who park there and need to park all day are business people like me who bring jobs and money into the town or workers who keep the shops open to keep visistors coming.

 

IF they go ahead with this plan I will have no choice but to relocate and many other businesses will not be able to function and will close. So the Town will die a little bit more and those peope that do currently make the effort to shop locally will not bother and will say f**k it and go out of town for one stop convenience.

 

So, in answer to the question. Its not Tesco et al who are to blame, it's the idiotic authorities and local councils who are determined to tax local business to the hilt, drive cars out of towns and charge exhorbitant fees or make it impossible to go into towns. What a shambles. Our Town council goes all dumbstruck and wonders why the Town is full of Bookies, Tat shops and Charity Shops. Its their bloody fault.

[Wez]

So, in answer to the question. Its not Tesco et al who are to blame, it's the idiotic authorities and local councils who are determined to tax local business to the hilt, drive cars out of towns and charge exhorbitant fees or make it impossible to go into towns. What a shambles. Our Town council goes all dumbstruck and wonders why the Town is full of Bookies, Tat shops and Charity Shops. Its their bloody fault.

 

Nice post

 

To add another spin on it, would you if the facility was sufficient use another form of transport in the local town instead of your car?

[marc_p]

Nice post

 

To add another spin on it, would you if the facility was sufficient use another form of transport in the local town instead of your car?

 

No, buses smell of old people and p1ss, I vowed never to take the bus again once I got driving license and so far so good, I'm ok with trains though.

[Ark]

Tesco's and whatever can't / haven't "killed" the high street, it's just changed the way we shop. Everyone talks in terms of absolutes "the high street is dead", "the community is ruined". Rubbish, it's just changed. Supermarkets employ lots of people, offer free parking, one-stop convenience, good pricing. Frankly, there is NO need for high streets with shops constrained by odd shaped old buildings, bad traffic, poor delivery access, etc when a supermarket or shopping centre offers a better alternative for all that.

[AlanM]

Isn't the great proliferation of charity shops to blame. Every second shop here is a charity shop - they pay no rates/council tax and that sort of thing, totally exempt. How can the shop next door compete?

[extendor]

Nice post

 

To add another spin on it, would you if the facility was sufficient use another form of transport in the local town instead of your car?

 

Yes but dont make me laugh too hard.

 

To give you an example. The bus route I live on is non profitable so the service is appalling and VERY expensive. The ONLY people that use it are pensioners because its free and as a consequence the bus does not run early or late in the day. Thats not good for getting to/from work is it.

 

I sometimes use a bike in Summer but to be honest a few close shaves with school run Mums has made me give that up as soon as school restarts in the Autumn. I would rather drive than die under the wheels of a Chelsea tractor driven by a mum more interested in keeping eight kids under control than two ton of metal. The same goes for most motorists I am afraid - just to keep the record straight.

 

What we need is a strategy that embraces the need for long term affordable parking so registered business users can stay in and develop Town centre business. But once again what we need and what we are reliably informed we want are totally different. Oh how I love the people we elect to serve us.

[Wez]

[extendor]

Frankly, there is NO need for high streets with shops constrained by odd shaped old buildings, bad traffic, poor delivery access, etc when a supermarket or shopping centre offers a better alternative for all that.

 

Not 100% correct IMHO. The large retailers only sell you what they want. The Town centre shops have the opportunity to sell the other specialist and exclusive and funky and edgy etc stuff we all like as individuals. Thats one of the purposes of the small independant retailer. Just think how it would be if you could only buy fashion at Asda, get a haircut at Tesco or get your pub lunch in a plastic theme pub buried in a shopping centre and which doubles up as a kids day care centre.

[GazB]

Isn't the great proliferation of charity shops to blame. Every second shop here is a charity shop - they pay no rates/council tax and that sort of thing, totally exempt. How can the shop next door compete?

 

I think the same thing happens with the large supermarkets, they get planning along with deals on rates for example a 5 year period, then after 5 years they try to negociate another deal. If they fail they sell or move.

 

The local rate payers must then take on there share of the council expenses as they have been doing during the 'deal' period they will not even notice.

 

So when the rate payer complains about the amount of rates he pays it's for the conveniance of having a large supermarket somewhere within their district

[hogmaw]

Not 100% correct IMHO. The large retailers only sell you what they want. The Town centre shops have the opportunity to sell the other specialist and exclusive and funky and edgy etc stuff we all like as individuals. Thats one of the purposes of the small independant retailer. Just think how it would be if you could only buy fashion at Asda, get a haircut at Tesco or get your pub lunch in a plastic theme pub buried in a shopping centre and which doubles up as a kids day care centre.

 

Which is pretty much how it is in the US. And where the US leads, we follow. Town centres in the US are dead, depressing places. Much like how UK town centres have become, and it's getting worse.

Tesco & out-of-town malls/plazas are parasitic, but loathe them as we do we flock to them like sheep.

[AndrewOW]

Not 100% correct IMHO. The large retailers only sell you what they want. The Town centre shops have the opportunity to sell the other specialist and exclusive and funky and edgy etc stuff we all like as individuals. Thats one of the purposes of the small independant retailer. Just think how it would be if you could only buy fashion at Asda, get a haircut at Tesco or get your pub lunch in a plastic theme pub buried in a shopping centre and which doubles up as a kids day care centre.

 

 

Ah, but 'individuality' is now cared for within the ample bosom of the warm and lovely internet.

[Matt H]

Humans are inherently lazy, therefore if you can buy your TV, Alcohol, Food, Clothes, Toys, Garden Furniture, Cameras etc in one store why would you go to other shops.

 

Don't know how you have worked that out based upon what you have said. If something’s cheaper in a superstore why buy from somewhere else? Maybe money conscious would be the right phrase rather than lazy.

 

 

 

This problem has been common place for years though, nothing to do with the economys current situation. Little shops have been shutting for decades in the wake of supermarket competition. Nothing new.

[Max Headroom]

The problem lies in the fact that we have allowed it to come to this, we are inherently lazy and as such if it is easier to do the shopping under one roof then we do. The big supermarkets know this and that is why they now have us over a barrel. When you go into a supermarket, do you really have a great choice, sometimes it is Brand A and shops own to choose from or they dont have it at all!! In the push to make everything look the same, do you buy your fruit from the supermarket because it looks nice and shiny or it tastes lovely, in my experience the two do not go together. In the rush to conform to what the supermarket wants, red apples with smooth skins and no blemishes or pears that are all the same shape and colour et al the producers have lost the battle in producing fruit that actually tastes of something.

 

Tesco are losing market share and have started attacking the budget end of the supermarket chains (Aldi,Lidi) with their own cheaper branded foodstuff. And Tesco "Express" filling in a gap that they created when they pushed the smaller independants to the wall.

[extendor]

Ah, but 'individuality' is now cared for within the ample bosom of the warm and lovely internet.

 

Partly. But that is fraught with problems relating to delivery and collection of missed deliveries etc. How many times have you waited for a parcel, been sold a dud, worried about card fraud and only really experienced the true quality of something after it has been received.

 

T'internet is Ok but you cant really beat a friendly, well informed competitive and enthusiastic shop keeper when it comes to the crunch.

 

The big issue is competitive. IF shops were allowed to be competititve by being given the same grants and incentives as larger retailers and the high streets properly managed then it would be a different story.

 

If they were given convenience as well then it would also be a different story.

 

NEWSFLASH - I went out for lunch. Town was deserted. Rang my Mrs at work on the mobile. She works in the next biggest town along. She said that was deserted at lunchtime as well. Just had a chat with lady in the post office passing the time of day and she said "you could not move in Tesco's this morning"

 

Why is that.

 

In the town we have two butchers selling game, fresh local meats and sausages, three greengrocers selling all organic veg produced locally and two bakers with an amazing array of hand made cakes, logs and pastries. we also have a herd of traffic wardens prowling about making sure everyone does not overstay the 30min spaces. Fantastic.