‘I want the facts’ – CEN correspondence
Richard Boast wants a few questions answered by the No Mill Road Tesco Campaign, in a letter to the CEN; well, we’re always happy to help.
He might very well be right to say that the idea that Tesco will be sending 30 lorries and vans per week down a small residential street is rubbish but, if so, it’s Tesco’s own rubbish, since it’s their estimate. In fact, evidence from other similar stores suggests that the figure would almost certainly be much higher than this. Tesco say on their website that a similar-size Express store in Norwich would need up to nine deliveries a day.
As for why they need many times more deliveries than the Co-op: well, that’s for them to explain, but it probably has something to do with their ‘just in time’ policy, which means that they make more deliveries than anyone else. Tesco might think this is a plus; people unfortunate enough to live next to them are often less enthusiastic.
How can Tesco Express can be both more expensive and a threat to the local shops in the area? Well, predatory pricing is one way. Companies like Tesco have the financial muscle to use voucher schemes and other tactics to draw people in with short term, artificially-lowered prices, then hike the prices up again when the other, local stores have gone out of business. This is why an all-party group of MPs who looked at the impact of the ‘big four’ supermarkets on local shops concluded that it is ‘inevitable’ that small independent shops will close if one of these giants open a convenience store nearby.
If he or anyone else wants any other questions answered, he can always contact us directly, through our website, http://www.nomillroadtesco.org/.
Here is Mr Boast’s original letter to the CEN:
I want the facts
From Richard Boast
I WONDER if someone from the No to Tesco campaign could, through your paper, answer some questions for me. In the Newsof Monday, January 14, Sonia Cooter said: “The shopping basket comparison on our website is completely genuine. It shows that independent stores on Mill Road are cheaper.” In the letter to councillors printed in the paper on January 16, it said: ” We won’t be able to compete financially.”
Surely these two statements contradict each other.
They also say: “Tesco want to drive 10 metre lorries and other delivery vehicles at least 30 times a week.” This averages just over four a day. Now the Co-Op (not an independent shop) is bigger than the Wilco site yet has nowhere that amount of vehicles.
So where did the campaigners get their information from?
Perhaps they should just admit that some of the excuses they come out with are complete rubbish as there are already national shops on Mill Road (Coop being one ) and yet they have had no impact on the independant traders. In fact in the last few months two chains have shut down (Threshers and Block Busters). Both offered services also provided by independent shops which are still trading.
