Phil Gillam: Does Shrewsbury need any more new shops?

These are just a couple of the slogans that pop up on social media every now and then, posted by people in love with consumerism.

And these are the kinds of people who are possibly now rubbing their hands with glee that Shrewsbury might yet get that proposed £150m New Riverside development which most of us had thought had been well and truly shelved and forgotten.

Shrewsbury’s shopaholics might also be happy that the town is to get yet another supermarket in the shape of Lidl on land at the football ground - although this scheme has been hit by a delay after a contractor went into administration.

Now, the thing is this. I realise the world has moved on a fair bit over the last half a century, and, for most of us in this country, our standard of living is considerably higher than that endured by our parents.

When our mum thought about going shopping back in the 1960s, she would have conjured up images of frozen fish fingers, tins of baked beans and a loaf of Mother’s Pride.

Even if her budget had stretched much beyond this (and it didn’t), the range of choice on offer in the shops she frequented would not have been sufficient to tempt her in any way.

Nowadays, however, alongside the true necessities, we will also pick up from the supermarket perhaps a couple of CDs to listen to in the car, a new pair of trousers that we don’t really need, some scented candles, a pretty vase that’ll look nice on the mantlepiece, and far more confectionery than can possibly be good for us.

We’ll get back home, unload all this stuff onto the kitchen table, and we’ll say: “Can’t wait for all these new shops to open in Shrewsbury.”

Well, in all honesty, I don’t have anything against new shops opening (nor even new supermarkets, although we do seem to have quite enough of them already).

What I do worry about, however, is the building of new shopping complexes nobody needs and perhaps few people will actually use. There are already plenty of empty units in our town centre and this really is of concern.

Empty shops can be a signal that a town (or an area of the town) is in decline. Even if true decline is not on the cards, these empty units are unsightly and bring down the mood, creating an unwelcome impression.

This makes me question if Shrewsbury actually needs more town centre shops at all.

Experts on demographics, shopping habits, footfall and all that malarkey, will doubtless have much to say on this subject. Over to you, ladies and gentlemen.

The slick and amusing slogans continue:

"No decision should be made on an empty shopping bag."

"Just let me shop - and no-one gets hurt!"

"Monday ….. nothing a bit of shopping can’t fix!"

And I get that. We all have to “feed the child within” every now and then, treating ourselves to new clothes, something pretty, a big bar of chocolate.

All I’m really asking is: Does Shrewsbury need any more new shops?

And this question is largely fuelled by one of the things that makes Shrewsbury so lovely - its myriad of small, independent shops and businesses.

Many of these can be found on Wyle Cop, Dogpole, and High Street, as well as in The Parade.

It strikes me that an all-singing, all-dancing precinct (this New Riverside development) might end up driving customers away from these historic and beautiful parts of town, killing off dozens of gorgeous little shops.

The notion is to link a redeveloped Riverside centre to the two other big centres with a large department store as an “anchor tenant”.

There does seem to be an appetite to get this back on track.

Am I being unnecessarily pessimistic about this?

I remain to be convinced.