Waitrose in deal with Shrewsbury Percy Thrower’s
Thursday 13th October 2011, 6:00PM BST.
Up to 40 jobs could be created at a Shrewsbury garden centre after bosses reached a deal with Waitrose for a new multi-million pound development.
Percy Thrower’s Garden and Leisure store in Oteley Road, Meole Brace, said it has reached agreement with the retailer which opened its first convenience store in the town in May.
Under the plans Waitrose would buy the garden centre to make way for a supermarket while Percy Thrower’s would receive cash to build a garden centre at an adjoining site.
Waitrose has not yet said how many new supermarket jobs will be created.
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Do the Local Planners have a “Saturation Target” of Supermarkets in Shrewsbury – or are they happy to continue until we have one on every street in the areas surrounding the Town?
Their ultimate ambition seems to be to wipe the town centre off the map, with no shops at all but acres of business space and “desirable” town centre dwellings – plus the odd (expensive) Museum, of course.
WHEN IS SOMEONE GOING TO REALLY TAKE UP THE CUDGEL AND STOP THIS ENDLESS NONSENSE ??
Perhaps the real intention is to save us money trying to create a Tourist Attraction Town by offering Tours of our Record Number of Supermarkets in a town (not City!!) of well under 100,000 population ?
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More super markets the better, and stay open for longer hours as us we all lead busy lives and we need to be able to shop when it suits. competition is good and drives prices down.
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Quite agree, the selfish and brutal supermarkets are destroying our towns and small traders. Those who wish to live in bland faceless concrete towns by all means do, but leave our town out of the clutches of unethical traders such as waitrose.
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Read the ‘Corporate Behaviour’ paragraph on each of the major supermarkets in this report.
makewealthhistory.org/2009/03/10/which-is-the-most-ethical-supermarket/
Waitrose fares quite well (as does Co-Op and M+S). The same can’t be said for the ‘Big Four’. You’re tarring them all with the same brush.
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Waitrose is more ethical than most supermarkets. It’s a co-operative and insists on high animal welfare standards.
That said, I prefer to support the independents. The market is excellent.
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Great news – Waitrose has long been needed (the in-town store is pretty lame for a decent shop).
We need more relevant competition in the food industry, local suppliers simply don’t provide this. Choice and competition is good.
I believe peoples attitude towards supermarkets is unjustified. The only change we need from supermarkets is a limit on how long these companies can hold on to undeveloped land – placing a limit on this will encourage competition. Supermarkets provide a service that the vast majority of people want – no harm done.
Farmers CHOOSE to sell their milk below cost – no one forces them to. Small businesses in the market CHOOSE not to react to out of town stores. It is not Sainsbury’s or Tesco’s job to support small businesses in any way.
For the record, my meat and vegetables are purchased through local butchers and farm shops because I CHOOSE to. I do not believe any consumer should be left without choices.
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I came to live in Shrewsbury because of it’s links to the countryside and its wonderful history. Waitrose in Durham City (where I was born and bred) closed because of lack of profits. I used to shop there because of all the reasons outlined by some previous commentors. Profit nothing else drives this project! What would Percy Thrower think of this project?
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I wonder how a large Waitrose will fare. I shop in the Monmouth store which carries many more lines than our town cetre convveniebce branch. Even though I only buy for two I am often appalled by the prices of their many luxury goods. I don’t think there will be an organic goose on my table (unless I go poaching – I jest!)
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The naivety of some correspondents regarding the relative power and dominance of supermarkets is quite disturbing. The UK has the highest percentage of any country in terms of the fraction of it’s food supplies, about 80%, controlled by the supermarkets, mainly the big three Tesco, Asda and Sainsburys. They squeeze suppliers who are scared to complain and yes they compete for our spending – but at what cost? Local small traders are limited in how effectively they can react when the decisions of our planners are driving custom out of town and the buying power of these big players is so enormous. They should be regulated but of course Mr Cameron et al will never dare to legislate against their financiers in that way. Shrewsbury is a beautiful town but is in danger of becoming a consumer desert if our planners don’t stop the proliferation of out of town developments NOW. This really is the last straw.
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[planners don’t stop the proliferation of out of town developments NOW. This really is the last straw.]
Percy Thrower would have remained anonymous if he had not embraced the new technology and media opportunities offered, though the media attention and publicity was something he found, as many do today, hard to handle.
Waitrose and M&S aren’t as blind or daft as people posting here.
Ever since Alaska business park was built followed by the football stadium, all the surrounding farmland has been earmarked for development.
Shrewsbury is going to expand, so these food outlets and restaurants are getting in early.
The town is becoming more residential as offices find using Grade 11 listed antiquated dwellings inappropriate and impractical for modern communications and good customer service.
The higher influx of people wanting residences in the town should help keep small businesses going.
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@eva land … Like I said already, naive. Those of us who are not willing to see developments heading out of town are not “daft” or “blind”, nor I suspect are we the kind of people who do not embrace “the new technology”, otherwise we would not be posting on the Internet :D Rather we are simply not prepared to lie down and accept that it’s fine for our planners to continue populating the outskirts of our town with unnecessary, additional retail food developments, leaving our established, independent, town centre traders to suffer the consequences of pulling more and more consumers out of the centre. As for the hordes of people queing to buy up residential properties in our town centre, that is simply ridiculous, as anyone following residential proertty sales in town over the past year will recognise.To imagine that even a fully populated Shrewsbury town centre would be sufficient to sustain a vibrant retail town centre is not only “daft”, it’s also “blind”……… and naive.
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I think it’s important not to ‘talk down’ town centre shopping. We have a fabulous market, three great delis, a value greebrocer, wine merchant and three small supermarket. If I didn’t know the loop I would be put off exploring if I read some of the comments above.
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PS I lived in Canterbury for many years. There was only ONE food shop within the walls (the city is dominated by tourism). Cheltenham (my home town)is much the same. We are relatively lucky but of course that could change
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Come on guys! It’s worth having a proper out-of-town Waitrose just for their potted shrimps and then not having to pay hugh amounts in parking fees in Shrewsbury which then puts the cost of potted shrimps into the stratosphere. I hear mutterings – ie pot your own shrimps BUT where can I get authentic small brown shrimps? The potting of them is simple. All suggestions welcome!
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