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Eight Supermarket myths
1 “Supermarkets bring business in
for local retailers”
Not true. A
government study in Fakenham,
found that town-centre food
retailers experienced a 64 per cent
decline in market share following
the opening of an out-of-town
supermarket. The number of food
shops fell from 18 to 13, and the
number of vacant shops rose by 33%.
Is this what we want to happen to
Louth?
A 1996 survey by Somerfield of
12,000 of their shoppers doing their
main shop across 33 stores found
that for every pound they spent at a
town centre supermarket, just 46p is
spent at other nearby shops. At edge
of town stores, the figure halves to
21p per pound spent at the store.
For an out of town site it was just
10p.
That means on
an average weekly shopping bill of
£136,
those that start using a new
supermarket in the centre of a town
would have £48 a week left to spend
at local shops. For an edge of town
supermarket shop, only £23.60 of
that £136 would be spent in the rest
of the town, and for an out of town
site, just £12.36.
Louth cattle market would class as
an edge of town store, according to
ELDC. If the Somerfield case was
anything to go by, those that
switched to using the store
(assuming it was a typical size for
an edge of town) would cut from £136
to £23.60 their spending in the rest
of the town. Some spending may be
switched from the existing
supermarkets, but much would
inevitably be drawn from the smaller
shops.
2 “Supermarkets are always cheaper”
Myth.
Supermarkets are cheaper for a few
items like milk, white bread and
baked beans, though it is often
their suppliers who are forced to
supply the discount. But they are
more expensive for many other items
which we buy regularly. For fresh
food and vegetables, supermarkets
can be particularly expensive. A
2006 survey
of
Queen’s Market in East London
compared its prices with those of a
nearby Asda. It found that prices
were an average of 53% cheaper in
the market than at Asda, and later
in the day – when lines were being
sold cheaply as the market packed up
– they were cheaper still.
This is also
true for Louth. A survey conducted
in September 2006 compared Louth’s
small traders and market with the
giant Tesco in Cleethorpes
.
For fresh food, fruit, vegetables,
meat, fish, herbs, spices and
numerous other items Louth shops
were cheaper than Tesco, and that’s
not even counting the cost and time
of driving there.
3 “Supermarkets create jobs”
Not true. Supermarkets tell planners
that they bring jobs and skills to
an area, but it is actually the
reverse. A 1998 survey found that
the opening of a new superstore
caused an average net loss of 229
full-time job equivalents within a
15 km radius. The reasons are fairly
clear. Supermarkets employ fewer
staff per thousand pounds of
turnover than the local stores they
replace. Most spending they gain is
not new, but transferred from
existing stores within the catchment
area. A biased survey? No, it was
conducted by The National Retail
Planning Forum, an industry wide
body which even counts Tesco among
its membership.
4 “Supermarkets bring choice”
Another myth. By dominating food
sales, supermarkets eliminate the
freedom to shop in traditional shops
such as greengrocers and butchers;
they make it hard for new shops to
start and expand; and by targeting
non-food shops they could take away
the choice to visit a thriving town
centre. Several, in particular
Sainsbury and Tesco, are also buying
up independent convenience stores,
and thus dominate the high street
from top to bottom.
Supermarkets kill choice in other
ways. By focusing on the appearance
of produce they restrict the range
of products available. There are
dozens of variety of strawberry
grown in Britain, but you’ll find
almost nothing but Elsanta in a
supermarket. This Dutch-patented
hybrid is the only one robust enough
to survive being trucked hundreds of
miles. Its taste, smell and texture
are different from Alice, Sophie,
Florence, Ave or Symphony, but
you’ll never find out if you go to a
supermarket because you won’t get
the choice. The same is true of
apples, pears and many types of
vegetable. What kind of choice is
that?
Continued
Page 2
Keep Louth Special demolishes ELDC
retail strategy
ELDC's
plan for the cattle market
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