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Town ‘lost £3.5 million trade to Tesco’
Friday 27th November 2009, 2:30PM GMT.
The Tesco Extra supermarket in Shrewsbury
Supermarket giant Tesco took up to £3.5 million of trade out of Shrewsbury town centre by breaking rules on how much space it used for non-grocery products, it was claimed today.
A leading pressure group has claimed that the Tesco Extra store, in Battlefield Road, was to blame for some town centre stores closing over the past three years.
The chain has had to apply to vary a condition of its planning permission to allow it to stock an extra 152 sq metres of more “comparison goods” – including clothing, DIY, household and recreational goods – at the store after admitting the blunder.
But Dr Alan Shrank, of Shrewsbury Town Centre Residents’ Association, said he believed the store was to blame for taking millions of pounds from the tills of town centre shops.
He said: “The planning application said that no more than 32 per cent of the store can be used for comparison goods.
“But they have broken this and exceeded it by 152 sq m – the equivalent size of three town centre shops.
“Tesco has said in a retail assessment that in this space, which it should not have had, they have made £1.43 million a year – that is about £3.5 million in the two-and-a-half years it has been open.
“Since Tesco has opened, I believe 19 town centre shops have closed – two of them perfume shops, which Tesco has been selling in this space.
“The association cannot believe their audacity and as many people as possible should write to the council so any future planning decision will be made by committee and not delegated.”
Tesco was unavailable for comment today.
In a letter to Shropshire Council earlier this year, Helen Attewell, of Tesco’s agent DPP, said the store admitted it was using too much of the supermarket for “comparison goods”.
The store had accounted for health and beauty products “which consumers increasingly expect to purchase as part of their main food shop” in its allocation for “convenience goods”, but they should have been classed as “comparison goods”.
By Andrew Morris
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I’m sorry but this is not true, it is’nt Tesco’s fault at all Mr Shank is totally wrong. I work in the town centre and i can hands down tell you its the cost of the rent on the properties that are to blame. The people who are leasing out the properties are charging ridiculous prices for rent, that aswell as the recession etc. So don’t say its the supermarkets this time because it clearly is’nt and there is lots of proof if you ask the retailers who left.
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If they are fined £50 000 it will make a potential large proffit and those stores that have had to close will never reopen now. Nice one Tesco a good move for you, the directors will be laughing all the way to the bank
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Alan Shrank wasting peoples time again… what a farce.
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I’m pretty sure Tesco has not been open for 3 Years? The same could be said for other large retailers who sell non grocery lines on other retail parks around Shrewsbury. The real answer is Shrewsbury’s town centre is non car friendly. Park Right have seen to that!
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I think the Shrewsbury Town Centre Residents Association would be better place dblaming themselves for much of the lost trade in Shrewsbury – they seem to object to every effort people make to bring money spending visitors into the town !!!!
More improtantly, Kevin @1 is absolutely correct – greed on behalf of landlords in Shrewsbury has killed off many of the independents and forced those left to increase their prices to the point they simply can’t compete with out of town supergiants and the internet
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There seems to be many negative comments on the Shrewsbury Town Centre Residents Association. How many from residents of the town centre, I wonder?
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If it’s true this is how business works, everything moves on !.
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Just look at the size of the Tesco car park which is invariably full. This car park is free to customers. Why would anyone want to join a hideous queue of traffic into a town which charges heavily for parking.
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Dave E, possibly for the pleasant atmosphere, nice cafes and restaurants, wide choice of independent shops and beautiful buildings of the town centre rather than a warehouse with attached car park just like you can find in every town up and down the country. Tesco car park isn’t even that practical, it often gets gridlocked on exit and it can take ages to leave.
You can nearly always find somewhere to park in town, but it’s just as easy to walk or cycle in for most town residents or to arrive by bus or train for those from further away, much better than the out of town shopping where car is basically the only option.
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Tesco is the scapegoat – the town needs a better transport infrastructure so that more people can visit it and spend their hard earned cash. The bus services changed in the recent reorganisation have not helped the Town’s cause, and rents in town are far too high for businesses, particularly the smaller ones. The people in the town need to get their own house in order before slating those out of town.
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Shrewsbury as a shopping centre is blighted primarily by rip-off parking charges, all shops being on a wet and windswept hillside and the fact that the major chains don’t feel it worthwhile to have more than a token presence. Its simply not a worthwhile or pleasant place to shop. This has nothing to do with Tesco. You might as well blame Telford for being too close, with decent parking, decent-sized shops and a warm environment in which to browse.
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Bad parking, moaning residents, rip off landlords, people not having money to spend, local shops that are not competitive on pricing, the list is endless. many of Shrewsbury’s problems are self inflicted. If they ever brought in this scheme to pay in order to drive in, it would prove to be the final nail in the coffin. I used to go to shrewsbury all the time, but now its very uninviting.
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John Howard, are you serious?!
Given the choice between a town with character, history with a raft of independent and local shops where you can buy unique items, catch up with friends in gorgeous locally sourced cafes and pubs yet still get your high street shop fix if you really really can’t do with out it and a town with one retail park after another, an artificial soulless so-called ‘town centre’, cookie cutter shops that could be in any town up and down the country where you struggle to get to the shelves because of the swarm of 14 year old pregnant teenagers, I know where I’d rather shop, windswept hill or no windswept hill. Shopping in Telford makes me want to gouge my eyes out.
Those obsessed with parking, why not write to the council about it, use park and ride or better still, realise how much nicer the town would be without all the cars and get off your bums and walk.
And as for Alan Shrank…. don’t get me started!!!
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John Howard, your completely right, Becky you haven’t got a clue..
Town full of blue rinse fascists determined to stop all smiling by 2010, elitist chavs who think they are middle classed, and wouldn’t know a good sculpture if it jumped out of the river and sat on the riverbank next to you.
good car parking and roomy shops any day..
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I live in the Town Centre. The decision by the council not to use Gay Meadow will haunt them for generations. 1-0 to the council in the first game for defeating STFC, but lose, 36-0 against the voters of the town now they realise the huge potential lost. The theatre is totally out of place. Narrow mindedness has won the day I guess. Like other posters state it is the crazy car park situation in the town and the high rent, primarily the first as this puts off the shoppers from the word go. In Warwick for example you can park for FREE for the first 45 mins or something (it could be as low as 20) but the point is – it keeps the town centre alive and kicking.
Lastly as for the Town and Residents Association I am suprised they are not celebrating in the closing down of shops in the town – surely this means less noise, less pollution and less visitors – or thats the huge impression I get which they want when every innovative idea is turned down by the self elected bunch of busy bodies.
How I wish I want to grow old now and have their power when Im 60 and have nothing to do in life. How can such a small minority hold such power?
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If people genuinely think that Shrewsbury should bulldoze its town centre with its hills, narrow streets and shuts, individual shops and buildings, awkward parking and history to simply build a giant consumption unit like telford shopping centre or an identikit edge-of-town retail park in its place then I might as well give up on humanity.
Luckily most people are not so soulless, I was in Shrewsbury town centre on saturday and the place was absolutely heaving with people.
Yes, the town centre does have more empty units than a couple of years ago but hey, newsflash, we are in the middle of a recession, most towns around the country of similar size are certainly no better off than we are. It’s nothing new either, I remember when the Charles Darwin centre opened around 1990, we went into recession very shortly afterwards and the centre was half empty until things picked up in the mid 90s.
The economy is cyclical, having zero empty units is not healthy as new businesses have nowhere to start up or expand into, over the past ew months several new shops have opened in town and others are expanding. The reason that landlords can charge a lot for town centre rentals is that shops there are in the heart of a vibrant and busy shopping area.
The people of SHropshire and Shrewsbury need to appreciate just what they have in the loop of the severn, they will be the first to complain if we end up with just an enormous amazon warehouse and a tesco extra on the edge of yet another soulless dormitory town.
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Mark J.. I agree with your sentiment & granted Shrewsbury is a lovely town albeit that it looks the same now as every other shopping centre.There are some magnificent buildings if you walk with your nose in the air.
As for wide choice of shops could you point me in the direction of a fishmongers or butchers in the town centre other than a market stall? I am a cyclist and a resident from a local village who needs shopping rather than a day out & I find the Tesco’s store and other large stores in the area useful. The free parking at these premise is a great attraction in that I can roll upto the premises and load my purchases.
No one in their right mind would purchase anything bulky or heavy from within the town due to the limited, expensive parking charges coupled with the over zealous parking people who seem more concerned with revenue rather than free traffic flow. I also mention the local speed cameras on route to your town centre.
Shrewsbury was in demise prior to this recession mainly since 911 and loss of tourists and the emergence of internet shopping. This is a long term planning problem which was foreseeable and still the town do nothing to attract custom or encourage,other than erect some hideous concrete thing!
Sad I know but that’s the way it is. I will continue to cycle to Tesco’s ta!
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