March of the megastore: Fears for high streets as the Big Four supermarkets expand at record rate

December 23rd, 2011

FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

By
Sean Poulter

Last updated at 12:13 AM on 23rd December 2011

Supermarkets are building stores at the fastest rate in history despite warnings this will destroy town centres and thousands of small businesses.

The retail giants are building or planning 44.4million square feet of new supermarket space, up 54 per cent in five years.

The big four – Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons – are winning planning permission for new outlets at a rate of one every working day. They appear to be racing to win permission for as many new stores as possible ahead of any government measure to restrict their expansion.

Tesco supermarket in Ashbourne Town Centre. Thousands of new supermarkets are set to open in out-of-town developments

The rise in the number of big stores and the range of goods and services they offer is threatening to suffocate town centres.

A study on the future of town centres by retail guru Mary Portas, backed by David Cameron, called recently for new controls.

However, there are doubts the Government will stand up to the huge lobbying power and financial muscle of the supermarkets.

In 2008, the Competition Commission
recommended that planning rules should be changed to prevent any one
supermarket gaining a monopoly in a particular area. Nothing was done to
implement this by either the last Labour government or the Coalition.

TV presenter turned government adviser Mary 'Queen Of Shops' Portas campaigns for the return of the high street. She says there are 'too many' supermarkets and would no likely be unhappy with the current report's findings

TV presenter turned government adviser Mary ‘Queen Of Shops’ Portas campaigns for the return of the high street. She says there are ‘too many’ supermarkets and would likely be unhappy by the current findings

In her review, Miss Portas called for a
change in planning rules to support town-centre development ahead of
new malls. She said planning permission for all large out-of-town
shopping developments should be referred to ministers for scrutiny and
approval.

On the threat posed by supermarket
expansion, she said: ‘What really worries me is that the big
supermarkets don’t just sell food any more, but all manner of things
that people used to buy on the high street.

‘My concern extends to the progressive
sprawl of the supermarkets into needs-based services such as opticians
and doctor’s surgeries, which were once the exclusive preserve of the
high street.

Out of town Tesco Extra in Llansamlet, Swansea. Grocery development is offering a financial boost to small towns as speculative development remains low

‘These critical high street and town centre services must not be simply gobbled up by major supermarkets.’

The figures on supermarket expansion
have been collated by commercial property experts CBRE after an
exhaustive study of planning applications lodged with UK councils.

This shows that 3.88million square
feet of new supermarkets are currently under construction. There is
planning permission for another 21.45million square feet and proposals
for a further 19.08million.

The total of 44.41million square feet
of new supermarkets in the pipeline is up by 54 per cent on the amount
planned five years ago and a 25 per cent expansion on the current
171million square feet.

CBRE suggested local councils were approving supermarkets because they were desperate for jobs and construction projects.

A retail analyst at Evolution
Securities, Dave McCarthy, said the supermarkets’ expansion was the
‘biggest in the history of retailing’.

However, Stephen Robertson of the
British Retail Consortium said the expansion was ‘modest’ and brought
investment, jobs, training and choice for customers.

Here’s what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts,
or debate this issue live on our message boards.

The comments below have not been moderated.

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Haven’t all the commentators who complain about car parking any public transport in their area? Or is it beneath many of them to use their Freedom passes?
– Ted (Freedom pass holder), Coventry, 22/12/2011 23:28
some people unlike you do not have the choice of three bus companies and an exellent local transport system and so have to use their cars Mal (non car owner who knows how lucky he is)

– mal wilford, bedworth west mids, 23/12/2011 05:46

Just because they build them doesn’t mean you have to there to shop. There are alternatives like street markets, on-line buying and second hand goods stores where you can still buy British made goods and not junk from China. Boycott the big malls – you have a brain don’t you and freedomof choice. Also make do with a little less and save the money (preferably under your mattress)!

– Grace, Colchester, 23/12/2011 03:30

I recently spent half an hour queuing for a parking space was charged £7.60 for 2.5 hrs to use my high street NEVER AGAIN!
I voted with my feet did all my Christmas shopping on line, saved a bundle, plus no jostling of searching different shops.
High streets are redundant. Let them die, if people wanted them they’d use them. They no longer suit peoples lifestyles.
I personally love the new ways of shopping, and am not nostalgic for the ‘Good Old Days’ I remember in the 60s 70s having to queue for service, being patronised by sales staff. Shops closed at 5.30 plus an hour a quarter for lunch, 1 afternoon in the week Sundays. They thought they were doing people a favour serving them. Good riddance to the high street. I want more out of town shopping centres… “build it they will come” 🙂

– Mr Positive, Southampton Hampshire, 23/12/2011 02:58

The easiest way to stop this is for us, the consumers, to stop using the supermarkets for all our shopping!
They’re not always cheaper, their stuff certainly isn’t fresher, and the customer service is terrible!
As for Shaun – I’ve a question for you, have you ever run a business, had to work out profit margins and keep them to an absolute minimum, try and make sure all the bills are paid to keep that business going, and then watched a larger supermarket sell stuff for less than you (as a business owner) can buy it for????? Well I have!!!

– Chrissue, Yorkshire, 23/12/2011 02:50

Its a free market, local stores are losing out because on the whole they offer poor selection of goods, terrible stocking(Try buying a loaf of bread after 12pm!), high prices, poor service and are rarely open. Supermarkets up the ante by offering the consumers what they want. If local retailers are to survive they need to up their game , simple things like reliably stocking milk, bread and offering a friendly service cost little but are seeming beyond the reach of many local stores.

– Shaun, Dorset, 23/12/2011 02:06

McDonald’s CEO once said What am I? The interviewee replied, you are a fast food company, McDonalds CEO replied, No I am a Property Owner. This is the same for Tesco, they buying all the land for property so other rivals cant buy and compete.

– faz2k, Watford, 23/12/2011 01:10

Our local butcher shop sells chicken breast, cut trimmed and cut to my specification for Â£4.99kg. Tesco sell pre- packed breast from Holland forÂ£9.99pk kg. They dress it up as a packet for Â£3.50.. But only give 300grams.

– faz2k, Watford, 23/12/2011 01:06

Councils (run by complete amateurs) are to blame for the demise of the traditional high street not supermarkets. For example supermarkets offer free car parking, councils charge extortionate on-street or car park rates and try and zap you with a massive fine for a minor indiscretion. Also in supermarkets you will get free clean toilets, compare these with grimy stinking unhygenic loos run by without a clue councils. For people with families or the elderly these two factors are important, I could go on but in essence we need people running Council services who have had a proven track record in a private sector business such as business, instead we have time servers who have done nothing but work for the council for 45 years, mostly sat at home on flexi-time one day a week.

– TDLeeds, Leeds,UK, 23/12/2011 00:54

Haven’t all the commentators who complain about car parking any public transport in their area? Or is it beneath many of them to use their Freedom passes?
– Ted (Freedom pass holder), Coventry, I am about two miles from the nearest public transport and four miles from my local shops if public transport was convenient carrying about six bags of food shopping is quite an ordeal and if you’re a young mother with two or three children it must be an nightmare going shopping, not many of us can go shopping each day it’s certainly not beneath many of us to use public transport would be a pleasure to use public transport have no worries when you leave your car about damage to paint work, theft, or car thieves etc

– Robert, Norfolk, 23/12/2011 00:14

Haven’t all the commentators who complain about car parking any public transport in their area? Or is it beneath many of them to use their Freedom passes?

– Ted (Freedom pass holder), Coventry, 22/12/2011 23:28

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