Here in the UK the three biggest supermarket chains, Sainsbury, Tesco and Asda (Walmart) have grown in to such huge corporations that they are totally dominating the retail sector in the entire country. Town centres have become ghost towns as more and more shops close down, unable to compete with the buying power, prices and range of these supermarkets. Supermarkets were originally grocery stores but have branched out in to selling everything that is available on the high street. This direction is being taken even further, with the supermarkets now selling mobile phone contracts, broadband, banking and insurance services. I have heard they are planning to start estate agency businesses, what next funeral services? I think it is a real shame that the traditional high street in Britain is dying out, soon the supermarkets will be the only stores there are, it will be so bland and dull. These giants are so powerful that they can bully local councils in to giving them planning consent to build new stores wherever they like, uprooting whole neighbourhoods and changing the face of the country for ever. I think this relentless takeover of Britain should be restricted before we lose the high street for good.
One of the oldest and longest standing supermarkets, the CO-OP do actually do funeral services already! While I agree that its a sad sight to see town centres becoming less and less popular, while a lot of it IS the fault of big business, I don't think local council and independent shop owners are helping matters either. I can walk into my local town, and there's empty shops all over because people can't afford to rent them as the council as set the rent too high. The only ones that can afford it are the charity shops as their rent is subsidised anyway. When you so eventually find a shop with something worth selling, the prices are that high that you can't afford to buy it.
At least the CO-OP do have proper funeral parlours, i have visions of coffins being on display in Tesco next to the kippers! I agree that the rent is sky high for most of these traders and of course they have to pass on these charges to the customer. The supermarkets offer convenience and cheap pricing but at the expense of local business and communities. Realistically this situation will only continue and intensify, i just worry where it will all end. The immense power these supermarkets seem to have makes me wonder if they will start to influence other sectors rather than just retail.
There's nothing quite like shopping in a local family run shop but yeah unfortunately due to supermarkets they are all closing down. There's something special about shopping in a family owned shop, they are so friendly and you get to personally know them whereas supermarkets just seem to ran by mindless robots that have been told what to say and do. It's a real shame :\
I don't like the way that supermarkets are systematically closing our high streets down but at the same time, I can't afford the prices charged by the smaller stores so it's a bit of a vicious circle. I'd love to be able to support the smaller stores more but I just can't afford to. I expect many people get stuck in this trap.
I agree, they shove the little guys out of business because they can and it is really unfair. I would love to have my own furniture store but I know there is so little point because 2 of the big 3 now do furniture and Aldi seems to be following suit!
It's now how society has developed. People would not be able to afford the things they have if these stores didn't offer lower prices. I have a local Co-op and it is the heart of where my parents live, everyone uses it and they compete on prices rarely as they know they have no competition. In town there is Morrisons, Sainbury's, Lidl and a new Aldi is being built, so this is where the money goes, plus it creates jobs. The days of the smaller High Street stores are rare, but survive in some communities. It's like Costa and Stabucks taking over the local cafes. I would rather have a local cafe and support it.
