On the business of food retail
Supermarkets are killing the shopkeeper we are often told. Whilst many butchers and greengrocers have found themselves shutting up shop over the last twenty years or more, I believe there still exists a niche for small businesses in food retail.
As other retail businesses have sought to expand their services to cope more effectively with the competition provided by online retailers, grocers must seek greater attractions for their customers beyond sheer convenience of location and opening hours.
Following the closure of Woolworths' Penarth branch, the main shopping area of the town seemed to have more empty frontage than becomes its status as an independent identity next to Cardiff. However, its address has now been adopted by Sainsburys. The building work has, this week, reached the point at which the wooden hoardings hiding the site could be removed, exposing the new glass and the display units protected by them to the eyes of passers by.
The location of this new diminutive supermarket is a curious juxtaposition, sandwiched, as it were, between branches of The Co-operative and Greggs. As such, the new supermarket offers no additional competition to independent retailers, since it is no more convenient than pre-existing competition. The number of alcohol sellers in the town is also not increased, since the branch of the off-licensing chain The Local which was located less than 100 yards away also ceased trading before Christmas. This new branch of Sainsburys offers competition only to the Co-operative with which it shares a wall and the Tesco Metro which exists a few streets away.
I therefore welcome Sainsburys to Penarth and my range of lunch options. I much prefer their stores to Tescos, whose attitude towards planning committees and general proliferation dull my mood whenever I have to resort to them for my needs.