Supermarket DominationWhat Supermarkets have done for us? In the mid 80s when I started butchering there was 20+ butcher shops in our town and the same again in greengrocers, newsagents, cake shops and the list goes on and on. In our shop there was two lads from school that cleaned and did the burgers etc. One apprentice which was me, four full time butchers, two part time butchers and three girls that served on. The area was a buzzing with people and businesses. It was great, hard work but great. Then the first supermarket arrived, within 3 months a 20% drop in trade and people were laid off but trade was still there and one or two butchers closed. Then the killer blows rained down, the council let Morrisons, Sainsburys, Netto build in our town over the next few years and shops closed one by one till there is no newsagents left, no greengrocers left and three butchers shops which are run by one or two people. The area dropped to something you see in a city slum. Shops boarded up, people left in there droves to be replaced by drugs, prostitutes, drunks and general lazy scum. It was tragic, it was brought on by short sighted councilors and their greed. It can never be the same for our town but if you are reading this and there is a supermarket opening near you, THINK CAREFULLY OF THE COST TO YOUR COMMUNITY. |
In my town of a population of roughly 50,000 there is Asda, Morrisons, Lidos, Sainsbury's, Tesco's, Aldi and Netto. You tell me how are you suppose to compete with that!.