Tired of reading anecdotal unreliable reports of people's local high street being destroyed by the evil Tescos I decided to pen one of my own, in favour of Tesco.

These accounts usually start with reports of the high street before and after Tescos (insert alternative evil supermarket corporation name here). Not wanting to break with tradition I shall do the same. My high street used to be packed with locally owned shops. It had three butchers, a delicatessen and a greengrocer among others and even the Spar was a franchise, owned by a local family. Then Tescos moved in! (cue dramatic shocked gasp). So what has changed? There are still 3 butchers and one deli but now there are TWO greengrocers! The shops still do a fair amount of trade and while people do still venture to Tesco for their occasional "big shop" most of the day to day shopping comes from the high street.

Admittedly the milkman does have a few less calls on his round but (if you will excuse me a minor digression here) this has nothing to do with Tesco. I wish people would stop going on about "their poor milkman driven out of business" while they polish their rosy tinted specs. Milkmen are not THAT great! Personally (to keep to the anecdotal theme) I stopped getting milk delivered because the milkman would routinely wake me up while delivering the wrong milk in the wrong quantities. The only time I managed to get a decent nights sleep was when I went on holiday (booked from a local travel agent). Not that that at all bothered the milkman who ignored the polite notes I left for him meaning upon my return there were several bottles of gone off milk sitting on my doorstep.

But let me fight one crusade at a time and return to supermarkets. To add some credibility to my own experience I shall apply it to the national issue. The reason my high street still exists (despite there being a Tesco, Tesco express, Lidl, Aldi, Asda, two Sainsburys, an M&S simply food and two M&S's within 7miles) is that people still shop there. So that is the answer I give to all those bemoaning the demise of local shops. Want to save your shopping centre? Shop there!

Learn more about this author, Ralph Buckle.
Click here to send author comments or questions.

---

Add your voice

Know something about Are supermarkets taking over the retail sector??
We want to hear your view. Write now!