The death of the corner shop.

shaun_from_Africa

Pennywise wrote: »

Obviously, you don't value convenience or the probably better service of a small independent. That's your choice.

On the contrary, I do value convenience hence my using the shop in question in the first place.
However, I don't value it enough to pay a 330% premium for any future purchases.

vikingaero

Small shops/corner shops in some areas thrive especially if there is a dense population in both numbers and intelligence! We forget that most Toolstations/Screwfixes/B&Qs etc are on industrial estates and there are a lot of people who don't drive or don't have access to a car.

As an example when we go on a caving trip I prep and buy from a supermarket. I'll buy enough snacks/drinks for the whole trip. Probably around £20-30 worth. My friend who is never prepared doesn't bat an eyelid at buying from Premier/Londis/Spar and will probably have spent £50+.

shaun_from_Africa

daytona0 wrote: »

It just so happens to be that you live within 3 miles of a TLC store, so does not impact *you* that much...

So, whilst you have a point about your circumstance, I can't see how you can apply that to every scenario across the country!

One size fits all approach doesn't work here. Sure, you have a point about your circumstance but it doesn't apply to other people's circumstances. It is just one of them!

Agreed on all points, hence my posting a personal opinion and saying on a few occasions that I won't be using the place in question again and not trying to convince others to avoid small shops.

The-Truth

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

Agreed on all points, hence my posting a personal opinion and saying on a few occasions that I won't be using the place in question again and not trying to convince others to avoid small shops.

At the end of the day until you know the actual facts pf what the national chain makes on the item in profit and what the local shop makes you're just making a massive assumption.

I'm sorry but I can't help but feeling you're almost bound to be wrong.

maisie_cat

I live 2 miles from a toolstation, B&Q and travis perkins but I always try the hardware store in the village first. The traffic means that the trip will be a minimum of 30 minutes and frankly I wouldn't do the trip to save £4.
This is a single transaction, but if we don't use local shops we'll lose them at which point we'll have no choice and the remaining shops can charge what they like.

[Deleted User]

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

The shop in question has B&Q branded merchandise, Homebase branded merchandise, Kirkland (Costco) branded merchandise etc on their shelves so it looks like they purchase some or all of their stock from wherever they wish.

He's probably buying his stock retail from B&Q. A lot of small traders complain that the wholesale prices they pay are more than the retail prices at a supermarket.

shaun_from_Africa

The-Truth wrote: »

At the end of the day until you know the actual facts pf what the national chain makes on the item in profit and what the local shop makes you're just making a massive assumption.

I'm sorry but I can't help but feeling you're almost bound to be wrong.

How can I be wrong when all I have posted is an opinion and I have made no assumptions whatsoever.
All I have stated are the facts regarding the shelf price of the goods.
Opinions are neither right nor wrong, simply a person's viewpoint and my opinion is that a 330% difference in price is too much for me to balance out the convenience factor.

Some people will have the same opinion as me and will choose to shop elsewhere, some people will disagree with me and buy stuff from shops such as the one I described and due to possible transport or time constraints, others will have no option but to stick to local shops.

pendragon_arther

Personally I don't mind paying over the odds to keep the corner shops alive. I don't buy my weekly shop there, but a newspaper, sweets, milk etc. Supermarkets have great buying power whereas the little man doesn't. In fact where milk is concerned for the supermarkets it's a loss-leader and they pay the dairy farmers a pittance. If I bought the milk from supermarkets I'd rather pay more to give the farmers more of their worth.

JReacher1

Although in percentage terms it's a massive difference in actual money cost it's only £4.

For the convenience of going there and then as opposed to ordering online and waiting for a delivery I would pay the £4 extra.

molerat

I used to work for a large national specialist retailer and had a good relationship with the local indies. I remember once in a conversation that we were retailing an item at 25% less than they paid for it, quite a difference. The items were bought and delivered direct by the manufacturers own transport, simply down to the volume discount.