Small Shop Closures Are Progress - NOT!

Sir Terry Leahy the former boss of Tesco has described the closure of small shops and the dominance of supermarkets as 'part of progress'. No-one would deny that the continual closure of small shops who simply cannot compete with the buying power of the huge supermarket chains as a consequence, but 'part of progress', really? This comes after a month in the UK retail sector that has seen the death of Blockbuster, HMV and Jessops. Hardly small corner shops and maybe supermarkets creeping into their traditional markets wasn't entirely to blame for their demise but there will have been an element of that. After all, there is very little you cannot buy in supermarkets these days. If it isn't actually in the store itself you can probably order it on the supermarket's own website. Who's next to be killed off by the supermarkets I wonder?

The benefits of out of town supermarkets 'far outweigh the costs' was something else that Sir Terry said. Well, they do I guess if you have your own transport and don't want a High Street in your local town that resembles a High Street. Many supermarket chains have even opened their own stores back in High Streets, probably in premises they vacated 10 or 20 years ago, so they are recognising a public demand to some extent. Wouldn't it be good though if we were assured that the prices they charged in these 'local stores' were the same as in all their larger stores. Come on Tesco and others, give us a promise on price that means something.