Supermarkets pushing out 'small' shops

I'm not very keen on supermarkets stocking every single possible item, from telephones to tvs, from credit cards to cabbages and everything in between. It does impact on all other businesses and once they have driven the competitors out of business and become the sole supplier they can in effect control the economy.

My point of view may be tainted by being the owner of a small retail chain though.

Price fixing is part and parcel of retail though. You can't escape it. Wholesalers have different prices for buyers, so the big chains can buy cheaply and small suppliers, buying from the same wholesaler, pays a much higher price. Of course we can't sell it for higher than the chain, so our profit margins are much smaller, driving more and more small suppliers out of business. Small businesses can't simply swap wholesalers since they tend to be sole distributors, and have control of that item no matter where it goes.

So perhaps the issue isn't with the giant chains like walmart and tesco but with the greed of the manufacturers and distributors.

hmmmm well i must say i hate it but them i am one of those suckers that gets drawn in to all the big chains, it's just so easy to be able to go o one place for all my stuff. I must make more effort to ahop locally and support the smaller businesses. I do shop at my local market stall for my fresh fruit and veg every wed morning but our butchers is soo expensive! I nipped in to get some chicken breasts for tea the other day and 2 small ones cost me nearly £5! It is a catch 22 situation though as until more people start to shop locally they can't reduce their prices. I do tend to shop at lidl's a lot though and in enviromental sort of terms it isnt good as all of their produce is shipped from abroad.

I do think the general public will come to regret letting the big chains take over the world! It must be terrible for the small businesess.

I will simply say, if I could get away with firebombing Tesco to the ground, without harming anyone of course, I would do it. Of all the big four supermarkets Tesco is the most pernicious, most invasive, most insidious and most driven to take over the whole High Street.

need a widget, where to go? small is beautiful, wnat variety, gis a choice, quirky ways, treasure rooms, know my name, little chat, cu next time. ta ra

I agree that in an ideal world we would all use high street shops, however when I only have 2 hours to get everything I need for the week, and clothes etc etc I go to the supermarket.

The nearest one to me is a small Tesco and a Waitrose, Unfortunately I tend to end up in Tesco's more. Just better value.

On paper I'm all like "go small businesses death to the big corperations that steal your trade" but I still shop at Asda or Tesco most of the time. They're cheaper. They have more stuff in one place. I don't really have time to go round several different shops for things. The only thing I ever actually buy from small independant businesses is fruit and veg which we get from a market stall in town. And that is primarily because they're cheaper.

Anybugger wrote:I agree that in an ideal world we would all use high street shops, however when I only have 2 hours to get everything I need for the week, and clothes etc etc I go to the supermarket.

The nearest one to me is a small Tesco and a Waitrose, Unfortunately I tend to end up in Tesco's more. Just better value.

The thing is, Tesco isn't better "value", it's just cheaper. But that's because the quality of the stuff is cheaper too When Tesco can sell a chicken for a quid, you have to ask yourself about the background of where that chicken's come from and how it's been reared for them to be able to sell it at that price because you can be sure they won't be making a loss on them.

Waitrose has recently introduced a budget line, a lot of their normal brand stuff is no more expensive than the other big four supermarkets and it's really only their meat which is expensive. But when you look at what the meat is, it's expensive because it's quality produce. I know a farmer who breeds Aberdeen Angus for Waitrose and I know how well looked after his animals are. Morrisons used to fly their steak beef in from either South America (land of foot and mouth disease) or from Australia. How can it be better to have meat that's been flash frozen and shipped 12,000 miles than something which comes from a farm in Lancashire via a finishing farm (Waitrose own Dovecot Park) in Yorkshire?