Dissertation Chapter 5 Writing On Tesco

But high streets have more to be anxious about than stores. The propagation of retail estates and edge-of-town shopping centres is also enticing shoppers from their old plodding grounds. Nick Bubb, a retail market analyst at Evolution Beeson Gregory, said: "Consumers want the ease of car parking that you get from out-of-town shopping centres." He said the innovative Westwood Cross centre in Thanet, Kent, will make Margate's high street pretty much outdated. Attach in the rising internet threat and you begin to appreciate why, according to the IGD, an industry think-tank, the number of self-governing convenience stores has fallen 11 per cent since 2000.

While Mr Dowd's all-party group is sure to generate painful headlines for Tesco and its like, in the end it has no control over government rule. And as shopkeepers in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, who have applied pressure cruelly against the opening of a contentious new Tesco in the centre of the town, know all too well, painful headlines are not sufficient to discontinue the supermarket giant from putting their stores out of business by 2015. Small traders living in the darkness of a new multi-million-pound superstore say they are being put out of industry.

The Tesco Extra at Failsworth has been proclaimed by Oldham Council and the Government as providing a new daylight for the region – transforming a run down district centre, and regenerating the financial system with jobs. But bakers, florists, opticians, grocers and sandwich shops in the direct vicinity have this week spoken out to declare that from the time when the store opened a month ago, the only alteration has been for the worse. Many dread that they face a miserable future – and perhaps ruin.

Although a direct challenger of these industries, Tesco says it will act with small retailers to assist them expand their businesses and that it is too early to judge the supermarket’s influence.

But for Nigel Fay, the boss of Ashton’s Snax Bar, the 88,000-sq-ft department store has had an instant impact.

"I’ve run my sandwich shop for five years but never experienced a summer like it," he said. "I know all about the school holidays and we lose about £60 per day from the kids, but we are losing £180 per day.

"There was and is no strategy to help local businesses. It’s ‘wait and see’, but by then it’ll be too late. The florist around the corner doesn’t know if she’ll be open next week and I don’t know how long we can last. Tesco are wiping us off the map."

Tesco has fended off disapproval that it is not a local company boasting that approximately 40 per cent of 390 staff at the new store are Failsworthians, with a further 50 per cent from within a three-mile radius.

In a nasty turn, Tesco has a recruitment centre at the end of a line of businesses in Partington Street who are severely against to it.

One of these is Harry Panchani, proprietor of Mace All in One shop, who says his earnings are losing by 30 per cent. "Tesco made out that it would bring jobs to local people but the jobs lost by local businesses counter this," he said.

Grocer Matthew Tunaley remembers a period when he shared clientele with three greengroceries, but when Morrisons arrived they slowly closed. He asserts Tesco has all but killed off his passing trade, but continues resolute to stay.

"My regulars are my bread and butter and they have been very loyal," he said. "I am really up for a good fight. I am still here for the people of Failsworth."

Also in the lead for the brawl is Rodney Harrop, whose bakery in Dunkerley Avenue has served three generations. "It’s unfair competition and it’s making life really hard," he said. "I expected a little difference but it’s been much bigger. We have lost 10 customers a day and a massive chunk of profits. We can’t afford to keep doing that."The frame of mind among the traders appears divided between acceptance and a strength of mind to stay on and fight.

Although Tesco upholds that it is resolute to work with the traders – even offering to link a local business medium and assist train staff and perk up marketing opportunities – chat among small traders has turned to setting up their own organization, giving them a greater say and the opportunity to flex their collective might.