Supermarkets in Shetland - prices, ethics and experiences

[shoormal]

Why should the Shetland public exist just to line the pockets of the Lerwick town centre shopkeepers?

 

It's far too easy to point the finger and blame others for their own shortfalls, stocking some sensible products at a half decent price and employing pleasant, knowledgeable staff would be a start!

 

The Lerwick Mafia managed to oust Chris Hodge I hope the same fate doesn't befall Tesco's, it's about time Shetland had some choice!

[MuckleJoannie]

^^^

According to Radio Shetland tonight Tesco have started advertising what will be available in their extention so someone from the Shetland Retailers Association must have spotted them when they were doing their shopping.

 

Tesco have started cordoning off part of the car park and work is supposed to start next week.

[bug]

It's fast approaching the time (and high time too) that the "street" shops go "up market" and start stocking high quality, relatively high priced, and "designer" label type goods instead of trying to compete with the discount stores with their veritable trash. The free market will sort everything out. Then we should have a choice like - 10 t-shirts for a tenner that last 1 wash each or 1 t-shirt for £50 that will outlast a fashion cycle.

The street retailers should forget the "have nots" and aim to draw their income from the "have loads". As a case in point look at the new Union Centre in Aberdeen. (The adjoining Jury Inn hotel has so many Shetlanders staying in at weekends that it's like going to the street anyway!!) Not the cheapest place to go around with a trolley but you do get quality and they are not interested in competing with the Primarks and Tescos of this world. They offer people with a few bob an alternative.

[paulb]

some of that cheap crap is better than you think. it can out last fancier goods. this has been tested to destruction by our boys. 30-40 quid trainers last just as short as cheap 8 quid ones from asda. still i admit they are not designed to be subjected to the damage the boys do. balls of mud and salt water paddling is not good for footwear. why don't we wait and see what cheap rubbish tescos sell. it will be nice if they open an order point for their catalogue.

[JohanofNess]

Bug you can get quality without paying £50 for a t-shirt. If you stop catering for the have nots which currently is a growing part of the population then the store owners will become have nots very quickly themselves.

 

Union Square works in Aberdeen because it's a city that has a lot of people on high wages, a place even a quarter the size in Lerwick I couldn't see it being a success.

[TeeAyBee]

Does anyone know if their extension will include the facility to collect Tesco Direct purchases?

[unlinkedstudent]

Taken from the newspaper report:

 

"Laurence Smith of the Town Centre Association said the plans went beyond an agreement that the existing 185 sq metres for non-food, or “comparison†goods, would not be increased when the extension was built.

 

...

The proposal, as shown, will without doubt have a major impact on the town centre – and on its vitality and viability.

 

... The strength of the town centre lies in its non-food comparison shopping.

 

... This is going to affect every business in the town centre. That’s a serious issue for Lerwick.

 

We’re in a small town of 7,500 people desperately trying to make positive moves to improve the street and this could absolutely shatter any positive steps we are trying to take.â€

 

Well, I'm gobsmacked. So the shops in Lerwick Town Centre are there only for customers in Lerwick? Was Mr Laurence Smith also "up in arms" when M & Co opened their store (from memory, I recall Tesco's clothes were similar prices to M & Co's)

 

Is the Tesco extension only going to affect businesses in Lerwick or throughout the islands? Okay, so Mr Smith is speaking on behalf of the Town Centre Association but unless the press have exercised choice regarding what they have quoted from him, perhaps he needs to be reminded that many people outwith of Lerwick shop in Lerwick (or don't, as the case may be, if the shops in Lerwick don't meet their shopping requirements).

 

I'm not a great fan of Tesco and never have been; however, I do sometimes shop there. I'd like to support local traders but by the same token, I haven't seen anything in Lerwick clothing establishments that are within my budget or that I fancy purchasing. On one occasion when something did catch my eye, the shop was shut for lunch, said it would re-open at a certain time and didn't!

[judgeknott]

I didn't elevate myself to my high position by blowing 50 quid on a teeshirt. That is for the wannabees to squander their cash on.

 

Quite happy with those bought at Asda or Tesco. When I need to go upmarket LHD does nicely

 

On Da Street its normally the price tag that goes up-market not the goods.

[JustMe]

To put it bluntly Lerwick's town centre shops do not deserve to be protected form competition from Tesco or elsewhere. They either provide something that shoppers want or they close down. In fact I think that should Tesco Lerwick start selling lots of non food products the town centre stores that would suffer the most would be Boots, M&Co and the hydro which all happen to be shops from south.

[TeeAyBee]

I wouldn't mourn the passing of the Hydro shop.

[wabbit]

Other than a digital slr camera from The Camera Centre (cheaper than several places online) I can't remember the last non-food item I bought in the toon.

 

Not so recently, I went to the computer shop (now pet shop) to buy a couple of bits of software. Not in stock.. but instead, the guy serving gave me a computer magazine and said to look in there as it would be far cheaper to buy online No wonder it's shut!

 

I attempted to buy an LCD telly last year. Bolts were around £100 dearer than the Hydro shop. The Hydro shop didn't have one left of the model I wanted but said they could get it for me... in a month or so.. Instead I tried Amazon - another £100 cheaper. Paid for it Tuesday morning and received it Friday morning. Shipping was a fiver.

 

 

I did get a bargain in Harry's however. A couple of limited edition F1 diecast cars were on sale at £35 - I bought em both and sold them on ebay for a £120 profit. So it ain't all bad on the street

[Briggsie]

We have heard that the shop keeper's in the town center have concerns about Tesco's expansion.... what do the local people of Lerwick think about expansion... Personally I believe a little competition is healthy

 

(**mod edit** - merged with already established thread)

[Ghostrider]

What I've seen and heard about the non-food stock lines Tesco have, the only outlet they'd be competing aginst would have been Hodgie if he was still trading.

 

It wouldn't have been particularly serious competiotion though, Hodgie at least let folk see it was cheap tat, and sold it mostly at a cheap tat price. Tesco however seem to try and give it a veneer the suggests it might just be more than it actually is, and charge as much as they think they can get away with.

[filskadacat]

Tesco however seem to try and give it a veneer the suggests it might just be more than it actually is, and charge as much as they think they can get away with.

Not entirely sure that’s true. If you need messy work clothes there is something to be said for buying Tesco £4 jeans, wearing them till they’re done and throwing them out. Saves a lot of detergent and wear on washing machine. At other end of scale younger son recently wanted a laptop, researched everywhere online and in all the big computer retailers and eventually decided the best value was - at Tesco.

 

Meanwhile this week I needed a new lens for my SLR, went in to Jessop’s to ask, went away home to think about it and inevitably found lens and two high-quality filters much cheaper online. And as other geeky son said when I wondered about paying an extra £80 (which is quite a lot) to the high street shop, ‘Well, he can’t fix your old lens except by sending it away for four weeks – buying it there won’t change that if something goes wrong with the new one.’

 

My point is that worries about consequences of shopping online or in Tesco rather than locally are not confined to Shetland.

[CrunchieSquirrel]

Today, when me and my father were going to Tesco, we saw Tesco being boarded up and I thought it was a crime scene as there were an ambulance and a police car, until I stupidly forgot that they are putting up an extension on Tesco.