burnage super survey year 1 report

8/3/2019 Burnage Super Survey Year 1 Report

1/6

Page 1 of 6 Burnage supermarket Survey 1 Year Report

The Study:

Manchester Friends of the Earth have visited Burnage on 4 occasions since September 2005, the day

before the opening of a 24 hour Tesco store roughly one mile from another 24 hour Tesco store.

The visits have taken in Lane End Road, Fog Lane and part of Burnage Lane leading up to the site ofthe Tesco superstore on Lane End Road.

The purpose of the visits has been to identify the businesses present, canvass their opinion of the storand its impact on their businesses and to track changes in these factors over time.

Findings:1) The Tesco store in Burnage has reduced retail viability and vitality in Burnage2) This impact is felt by more than just the Grocery Sector

3) Three stores are already closed as a result of the stores opening with others predicting they willfollow.4) Shopkeepers identified goods being sold at less than wholesale prices and provision of freeparking as the main factors driving the distortion of the local market.5) Residents complain that despite a large car park at the store many customers park outside theirhouses and use the pedestrian entrance to the store.

While the new Tesco store appears to offer convenience and is able to undercut traders already preseand provide cheaper goods this seems to be leading to loss of retail vitality and viability in the area asbusinesses are forced to close or alter the type of trading they carry out thereby reducing choice for thconsumer and altering the street scene and community in Burnage.


2/6


Report:

When Tesco recently won planning permission for a new 24 hour store in Burnage only a mile from thelarge 24 hr Didsbury store Manchester Friends of the Earth took the opportunity to find out just whatimpact a new store would have on retail vitality and viability in the surrounding area.

In advance of the opening of this store Burnage Councillor Marilyn Taylor said

This [store] would create jobs and attract other retailers to the area[1].

However, The National Retail Planning Forum, financed by the supermarkets, has found that there is anet loss of over 200 jobs within 15Km of the opening of a store

In short the pressure on the local economy caused by the supermarkets forces small businesses toclose. Partly this is because as large businesses the supermarkets can artificially lower prices but alsothey employ less people per pound of turnover than independent shops [2].

Repeat visits have revealed that in the 9 months since the store has opened the survey has had anegative impact on retail viability in the area. This impact has been felt across the range of retailers inBurnage not just those traditionally regarded as in competition with a grocery retailer.

Referring back to the prediction that other retailers would be attracted to the area it is noticeable thatthere is only one new business in the area. This is the same owner converting part of his storeCalifornia Wines into a Nail Bar in response to falling profits since the opening of the new Tesco storemaking it necessary for him to halve the size of his existing store. There is also an empty retail unit in aprime location that has remained empty since before the new store opened.


3/6


In the first visit, one day before the store opened, nearly 60 businesses were found in a half mile stretcproviding a very wide range of services that all had different opinions on the new store. Feelings rangefrom horror to happiness as some shopkeepers expected an increase in passing trade and othersexpecting unbalanced competition that they would not be survive.

Within a month local residents were featured in Manchester newspapers complaining about the impacthe store was having on the area. Residents reported that the store is lowering house-prices; generatinconstant traffic and causing noise and light pollution. [3]

After six months and with the release of High Street 2015, a parliamentary report calling for controls onthe supermarkets and the grocery sector, a second visit was carried out to see what had changed.

There were still the same number of businesses but the wide spread of views was gone. At this visitnone of the businesses had a positive view of the store. Two traders reported they were likely to closeSeveral had found turnover halve since the store opened and one store, California Wines, opposite thenew Tesco store had had to close half of the shops floor space in order to survive (see above).

California Wines proprietor, Dat Vo, told us he was happy to diversify and to compete but asked

How can I compete when Tesco can sell cheaper than I can buy at the wholesaler?

Paul Millington the local butcher said:

It is unfair that they can offer free parking. Our passing trade has fallen as people drive past toTesco.


4/6


At Broomhall Domestic Appliances who, at the start of the survey, hadnt anticipated being affected bythe Tesco store they said,

We can offer repairs and services and hold a wide range in stock but Tesco stocks just onemodel of Dyson vacuum and can undercut us so we have lost customers. If they start to selldomestic appliances it will devastate our business.

After a further three months these results were revisited in light of the inquiry into the proposed Tescostore on Chester Road

It was clear from that visit that Tescos detrimental impact on the small traders in Burnage wascontinuing.

Linda Cunliffes card store on Burnage Lane opened roughly a year ago but after financial losses of

around 2000 in the first 6 months of the Tesco store opening her store is now for sale.As a whole year approached it was decided to visit again. This last visit was particularly depressing foManchester Friends of the Earth. In just a few weeks three businesses had closed and another wasrunning a closing down sale.


5/6


Local business owners said:

Business is very quiet since Tesco moved inBig Saver, Fog Lane

Nobody is stopping hereA&A Newsagents, Fog Lane

The lane is a lot quieter. Is there anyone else that has two 24 hour Tescos so close together?Corrys Butchers. Fog Lane

My son had to close his grocers across the road.Super Buy, Fog Lane

We offer a specialist service so can rely on our regulars since the new store opened. Theycant do what we do.

Lemon Tree Florist, Burnage Lane

It is positive that the derelict warehouse has been replaced and the streets improved but thestore has had a negative impact on all the local shops

S&A Newsagents, Lane End Road

Theres much more traffic since the new store opened. Traffic often queues waiting to turn intLane End Road. Its quicker for me to walk home now.

Broomhalls Domestic Appliances, Kingsway

Conclusion:

It is clear from the stores first year of operation that it has had a significant negative impact on smalltraders in Burnage. For future applications elsewhere in the country it is important for councillors andcouncil officers to note that there are other sites in this area where a smaller store could have beenbuilt.

This would have given a better chance for a mix of retail to have been available and to have remainedavailable for residents. Tesco however seems determined to build large stores. In Stockport it has builthe Portwood store 20% larger than it has permission to and in Trafford is looking to replace a playing

field with a store so large it needs to be built on stilts over its own car park.

Visit www.manchesterfoe.org.uk or contact [email protected] to find out more about thiscampaign and others. Or visit www.realfoodguide.org.uk to find out how you can change your shoppinand save the planet without costing the Earth.
http://www.manchesterfoe.org.uk/food/index.htmmailto:[email protected]://www.realfoodguide.org.uk/http://www.manchesterfoe.org.uk/food/index.htmmailto:[email protected]://www.realfoodguide.org.uk/


6/6


Before:

After:

High-Resolution copies of these photos are available from Manchester Friends of the Earth on reques

References:1) Tesco must wait for store ruling Manchester Evening News, 09/06/03

2) 'The impact of out of centre food superstores on local retail employment' - Porter and Rastrick,The National Retail Planning Forum, January 19983) Tesco motorists are driving us to despair - South Manchester Reporter, 20/10/054) Friends of the Earth briefing Good Neighbours? Community Impacts of Supermarkets.http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/good_neighbours_community.pdf

burnage super survey year 1 report

Documents