THERE IS A REBELLION in Cornwall. The uprising has nothing to do with demands for independence or the restoration of the Cornish language but something far more important: shopping. The women of Cornwall, or, to be more exact, the 4,500 members of Women’s Institutes in the county, have voted to boycott supermarkets in favour of supporting their local shops “where possible”.
Such a rebellion seems doomed from its outset. All but the most strong-willed of WI members will soon come to the view that it is just not possible, or sensible, to boycott the supermarket. To have admitted to such thoughts in the midst of a meeting full of revivalist rhetoric about the need to protect communities and their shopkeepers would have been unthinkable. But on a Saturday morning, faced with an empty fridge, a hungry family and a week ahead packed with more than jam-making, the average homemaker is going to conclude that the supermarket is one of the boons of modern life not to be shunned.
Pulling their collars up and their headscarves low, members of the Cornish WI will surely be making furtive trawls around the shelves before the week is out.
They are right to be concerned about the march of the supermarkets and the risk that they will trample to death smaller retailers, but their talk of mobilising a nationwide boycott stands as much chance of success as does National Turn Off Your Televisions Day. And supermarkets provide a far superior service to their customers than does much of today’s television.
The big chains offer a range of products that would have been unimaginable even a decade ago at prices that are in many cases unbeatable for the local store. Tesco, for instance, has more than 2,000 stores and is market leader not just in the UK but in five countries. The corner shop cannot compete with that sort of buying power. The big operators depend not just on their clout with suppliers but on innovative management and sophisticated systems if they are to prosper. That size alone is not a licence to print profits has been made clear again this week as Morrisons, now the owner of Safeway, revealed that it had notched up losses of more than £70 million in the last half year.
But it is not only the members of the Cornish WI who are declaring that something has to be done about the increasing share of spending that is being channelled through the supermarkets. Sir Terry Leahy, the Tesco chief executive, must surely regret having boasted that he was now collecting £1 in every £8 spent in British shops. It made people wonder how long it would be before it was £1 in every £7. The answer to that, as Tesco piles its shelves with electrical goods as well as eggs, and wheels in racks of designer-copy frocks to sell alongside the fruit, not very long at all.
There is growing unease about the impact that the supermarkets are having, wiping out the independent corner shops and contributing to “clone-town Britain”, in which variety gives way to just a few familiar national names. The Office of Fair Trading’s misjudged ruling that the giants should be allowed to take over convenience stores has been an important factor in this. Had it not been for the OFT’s insistence that the supermarket and the convenience store served different markets, so a dominant market share in the first should not prevent expansion into the second, the shopping map would look more varied today. This week the Association of Convenience Stores launched a legal challenge demanding a review of the ruling. Too late, however, as petrol station forecourts and small high streets are now graced with the familiar fascias of the supermarkets and the customers appear happy with the arrangement.
Belatedly, politicians have woken up to the disquiet being caused in some quarters as convenience stores close at the rate of 2,000 a year. In Parliament this week the All-Party Shops Group started to examine the issue.
Parliamentary hot air, however, will not stem a trend that is international. In the United States, citizens of Brooklyn were this week mourning the passing of Lucky’s Superette, one of a chain of 11 convenience stores that have just closed their doors because they could not compete with the supermarkets.
Yet it is not just food shops that are affected by the clone-town syndrome. Independent stores have been driven out of business by national chains whether they sold clothes, wine or electrical goods. Shoppers do not feel obliged to support the underdog retailer if a Next or Majestic or Dixons offers a better choice and sharper prices. Why should they?
But that does not mean that there is no hope for a shop that is not owned by a national or international chain. There will always be a market for the business that can offer special products with service and, ideally, a smile. The customer who stocks up with washing powder and throwaway T- shirts at Tesco may well be willing to spend a great deal of money with a specialist who knows just how to rig up the latest home cinema system for her.
The Cornish WI members should not deprive themselves of the joys of the supermarket but instead determine to spread their custom beyond its tills. High quality local bakers and delicatessens thrive in our market towns; farmers’ markets heave with shoppers at weekends.
The local shop will survive only if it has something to offer beyond its location, for the internet brings the supermarket to everybody’s door. So, ladies of Cornwall, stop trying to turn back the tide and start encouraging a new generation of shops offering something special. And small shopkeepers, stop moaning and improve your offer.
