The Best of Carlisle seeks to promote the very best of local businesses to its residents. That’s not to say that we feel that there isn’t a part for bigger businesses to peddle their trade. But it sometimes feels that those with clout will use that clout for their own good rather than the greater good.
Take for instance the recent article that appeared in the Times & Star in which it was reported that Tesco has agreed to buy five convenience stores in Cumbria from the north east-based Mills Group. The shops in Newtown Road in Carlisle, Moorclose in Workington, King Street in Wigton, Main Road in Seaton and Main Street, Cockermouth, will trade as One Stop – a brand owned by Tesco.
Is this something that we need here in Cumbria when it is quite possibly at the expense of our local, privately owned businesses. We all know that in times when we are juggling money we will alternate between the bigger and smaller stores satisfying both our and their needs. But it starts to unravel when the bigger stores start to infiltrate the smaller high streets.
If you feel that Tesco/One Stop ought to be stopped now’s the chance to say so, before they take up residence. Log your comments on thebestof Carlisle blog. As James Lowman, chief executive of the Association of Convenience Stores, argues: “The competition authorities have repeatedly failed to grasp the implications of the continuing growth of Tesco’s shadow brand.
“The Office of Fair Trading allowed the original acquisition by Tesco of over 1,000 stores without adequate scrutiny in 2002 and the Competition Commission failed to address the issue. They must not make the same mistake again.”
