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[Mr Skrunts]

As a kid in the 70's we used to get the ice cream van every day, a fletchers bakery van evey week, pop deliveries on a weekly basis, fruit and veg van once a week, daily milk deliveries.  Plus the daily paper and we were allowed a weekly comic (3 kids so 3 comics)

Our village had 2 chippies, no other food out lets, 2 supermarkets, 1 newsagent. 1 fruit and veg shop.  2 petrol stations, 3 butchers

Same village has
1 chippy
2 x indian restaurants
1 x indian take away
1 chinese res
1 chinese t/a
1 cantonese t/a
3 bistro cafe/bars
1 intalian res
1 pizza shop
2 newagents
1 supermarket
0 petrol stations
2 fruit and veg shops
1 butcher (plus he added a deli)

and has lost all the mobile pop, fruit, bakery, and ice cream delivery servives.




I have now moved to a rural vilage, that has allways had 2 pubs, difference is they now do food, there was a village shop but thats gone, no fuel stations, 3 farms and not a single food out let.

I have lived here for 3 months and for the 1st time yesterday an ice cream van came up, neighbers say it's about 12/15 years since they last saw one. plus there have been 2 seperate mobile finh mongers been up since I moved here.  All we need now is a mobile bakey and fruit and veg, and we will be sorted.


Plus where I used to live.  Has

2 x co-ops localy.
Morrisons
Tesco Mini shop
Sainsburys Mini Shop
Asda
Mini Netto

all within 2 mins by car, and just shows what a difference they have all made.

With in 5 mins

McD's
Subways
3 sarni shops

Within 10 mis add 2 x more McD, a KFC, BK and annother SUbway  and none of this includes anything at all in the town centre or a lot of the next door local villages. :-/

[Lizzie_Zoom]

That is what is called progress and meeting the demands of the market Skruntie!   It is apparently what people now want

[Mr Skrunts]

That is what is called progress and meeting the demands of the market Skruntie!   It is apparently what people now want

Or assumed they want, as there are no other choices anymore.

I personally dont do supermarket shopping, the reason being as it keeps me out of jail from stopping me from murdering someone.  So my option is that I have a supermarket delivery, sadly not one from my 1st choice as they dont deliver.

[Lizzie_Zoom]

That is what is called progress and meeting the demands of the market Skruntie!   It is apparently what people now want

Or assumed they want, as there are no other choices anymore.

I personally dont do supermarket shopping, the reason being as it keeps me out of jail from stopping me from murdering someone.  So my option is that I have a supermarket delivery, sadly not one from my 1st choice as they dont deliver.

That is not altogether true I'm afraid.  The reason why you still do not have parades full of old traditional type shops everywhere, if at all, is because their customers in the past decided not to pay their prices, accept the limited range of product, and instead go to bigger and bigger supermarkets, especially after RPM (retail price maintenance) was abolished around 1971, and other changes in retail practice took place, especially in regards to monopolies.  

Frankly it is now so often not possible as a single trader (with poor buying power) to pay the rent, rates, taxes, the wage bill and maintain a retail property, whilst making a living, in a small under 1,000 sq. foot unit, certainly in the old confectionery, newsagency, stationery trade, or grocers, green grocers, butchers, etc, trades.  As for hardware stores, well their death warrant was signed in the mid 1970s with B&Q starting the large DIY store revolution.

Only fish & chip shops, Chinese, Indian, and other takeaways / resturants can still make it, plus a few lucky traders who have not felt the wrath of the 'local' superstore influence on their business.

Internet shopping will only exasperate the problem for those who still rely on local shops. 

 

[Varche]

It is quite rural where Ilive here in Spain. There are a lot of similarities with England of yesteryear.

Tradesmen (hardly anyone does DIY or their own vehicle repairs)

Rural petrol stations with more or less the same price as anywhere else. However some of the supermarkets have started the thin end of the wedge with discount on fuel on purchases over x euros and further discount if bought using their store card.

Independent shops. The Spanish shop locally and often for their produce and non food items.

Very little Internet shopping

Crucially villages have their own little supermarkets generally run by an outfit called Coviran. This is actually the biggest supermarket by turnover in Spain despite the presence of the bigg boys like Carrefour of France. The Coviran prices are pretty comparable to the other supermarkets BUt with limited choice. In fact the Spanish as far as I can see aren't into a hugely varied diet or "foreign food"!

Now I think The Co Op in Britain missed a huge trick as they had shops everywhere but now their prices are quite high from memory compared with your Asdas etc.

Finally hardware stores here are a revelation. They are just like olden days in Britain. One near us carries 24,000 different lines and none of it is computerised. The boss knows the price of everything in his vast shop. Course the B&Q type places have started to show up. You can't beat being able to have a look around at stuff!

El tienda varche