The death of the corner shop.

gettingtheresometime

I've often said we'll get the high street that we refuse to pay for

lincroft1710

FOREVER21 wrote: »

"The death of the corner shop" this brings back memories and raises a smile from me. The demise was first predicted in 1948 when the first supermarket was opened in the UK, and as we all know they still soldier on.

But they are dying!

As Pennywise said, hundreds of thousands have disappeared. In my hometown, in a back street in a residential area were a general store, post office/newsagent, butcher and fish and chip shop, with a fruiterer/greengrocer just up the road. All gone, only shop a hairdresser.

George_Michael

I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that one thing that has had a large effect on the number of small shops closing down is petrol stations.
20 or so years ago, you generally bought fuel, cigarettes, sweets and soft drinks and a few car accessories from most of these.

Nowadays, many of them are basically food markets that also sell fuel and these places have easy access with free parking and after you've done your shopping and filled the motor, you can sit down and have a bite to eat.

kwikbreaks

ARandomMiser wrote: »

Curiously I often find that the worst for hardware prices are the big chains such as Homebase or B&Q

Toolstation or Screwfix if you have one near beats both of those many times over. I've found for plumbing bits a local builders merchant beats both of those.

It really boils down to how much time you are prepared to invest to save a few quid over getting convenience. For me 90% of the time it's Toolstation as they are pretty close. B+Q and Homebase virtually never.

pendragon_arther

George_Michael wrote: »

I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that one thing that has had a large effect on the number of small shops closing down is petrol stations.
20 or so years ago, you generally bought fuel, cigarettes, sweets and soft drinks and a few car accessories from most of these.

Nowadays, many of them are basically food markets that also sell fuel and these places have easy access with free parking and after you've done your shopping and filled the motor, you can sit down and have a bite to eat.

Plus the small versions of Tesco and Sainsbury have helped the corner shops' demise. The evolution of society sometimes goes against my grain.

Pennywise

pendragon_arther wrote: »

Plus the small versions of Tesco and Sainsbury have helped the corner shops' demise. The evolution of society sometimes goes against my grain.

I think the worst part of it is that all the "Spars" and other small chains stock virtually the same narrow range of goods. We've completely lost any sense of diversity or product range.

In decades past, different "corner shops" would stock different products. I remember 3 sweet shops in our village back in the 70's when I was very young. Depending upon what sweets I fancied, determined which shop I went to. I remember one of the shops had a massive range of crisps - virtually all manufacturers and all flavours whereas the others just had the basic Smiths ready salted and salt and vinegar. But only one sold the bubble gum packs with a sticker, only one sold Waterhouses bottled sweets, etc.

Now, whichever of the three "mini supermarkets" I go to within a few minutes drive of home, they have exactly the same range of sweets, chocolates and crisps, etc. Eg they all have McCoys cheese & onion crisps but none have McCoys ready salted. They all have Cadbury flake but none have Cadbury Time Out. They even have an identical range of sandwiches and the same make of pork pies.

suki1964

My local town is tiny, most of its hoarded up. Most of the shops still open are charity shops interspersed with beauty salons and eating houses

However we do still have a bakers, 3 butchers, green grocers , and two fantastic hardware/homeware shops

We also have on the trading estate an electrical shop, a car parts shop, a furniture shop and pet care centre - all independents

They actually wouldn't survive if it wasn't for the tesco. It's not a huge place but it's in a good position and has a massive big free car park where as the Main Street is now yellowed lined and we now have traffic wardens There are always more cars then there is patrons. Same in the next town, big tesco, car park full,not a sinner in there. People here do use local independents over the big names. The locally owned supervalu store is bunged all day. They price match tesco as does the spar the other end of town ( also bunged)

I buy as much as I can from the local independents. They price match, or at least do you a deal. Any problem further down the line they are straight on the ball, no messing about as they have their reputation to think about. The owners are our neighbours, part of our community, not faceless nameless suits that put profit before customer service

I can go into any shop, stand at the counter, tell them what I want, the shop assistant gets it, wraps if if needed, bags it, takes it to my car. I bought a tv once and asked if someone could set it up for me, the guy was home before me, set it up, showed me how to work it and took the rubbish with him, no extra charge.

That's why I support local independent shops. The customer truly is looked after, they know who you are, call you by your name and go out of their way to get you what you want. If it cost a bit more then so be it.

takman

suki1964 wrote: »

My local town is tiny, most of its hoarded up. Most of the shops still open are charity shops interspersed with beauty salons and eating houses

However we do still have a bakers, 3 butchers, green grocers , and two fantastic hardware/homeware shops

We also have on the trading estate an electrical shop, a car parts shop, a furniture shop and pet care centre - all independents

They actually wouldn't survive if it wasn't for the tesco. It's not a huge place but it's in a good position and has a massive big free car park where as the Main Street is now yellowed lined and we now have traffic wardens There are always more cars then there is patrons. Same in the next town, big tesco, car park full,not a sinner in there. People here do use local independents over the big names. The locally owned supervalu store is bunged all day. They price match tesco as does the spar the other end of town ( also bunged)

I buy as much as I can from the local independents. They price match, or at least do you a deal. Any problem further down the line they are straight on the ball, no messing about as they have their reputation to think about. The owners are our neighbours, part of our community, not faceless nameless suits that put profit before customer service

I can go into any shop, stand at the counter, tell them what I want, the shop assistant gets it, wraps if if needed, bags it, takes it to my car. I bought a tv once and asked if someone could set it up for me, the guy was home before me, set it up, showed me how to work it and took the rubbish with him, no extra charge.

That's why I support local independent shops. The customer truly is looked after, they know who you are, call you by your name and go out of their way to get you what you want. If it cost a bit more then so be it.

I think a lot comes down to personal preference when you choose where to shop. When I buy a new item I always research it online to understand exactly what I need and what the best one is for that need. I then look online and buy it at the cheapest price and get it delivered. I prefer to setup any items myself because I know exactly what I want it to do so it's better if I do it myself.
If I go into an independent shop then I feel like I am just wasting their time because I don't need any advice and if they are not the lowest price then I know I'm not buying it from them.

Obviously sometimes the independent shops are cheaper (especially when it comes to car parts) so then I will shop there.

lincroft1710

As well as the Tesco Metro/Express and small Sainsbury, and various petrol stations (some which have M & S concessions), another major player is McColls

patman99

When I used to work in a handyman role in a small market town, I had no access to the big names when making small item purchases as they did not have any outlets within 7 miles.

I got to know the local indie hardware stores very well. I discovered that they sold a good range of branded tools and fixings that the likes of Toolstation and Screwfix just didn't.

Where I work now, if I need screws and stuff, I have the choice of and indie or a Screwfix. The indie is way cheaper than Screwfix and since Screwfix opened earlier this year, has seen an increase in trade.