First of several posts one year after Tesco...
It’s exactly one year today since Tesco Rhuthun/Ruthin ushered in its first customers (and immediately ushered them out again, thanks to an errant fire alarm).
Since then, Tesco has become a way of life for many. There’s hardly an hour when its car park isn’t reasonably full. It's what people seem to want. It has planning permission to expand, if and when it wants. Meanwhile, a single store has forced the whole town to rethink a stratagem to compete against this 'interloper'. Is that plan working? What’s happened to Rhuthun since Tesco arrived?
The answers depend upon whom you ask, and the service they provide. In this the first post on Tesco+1, we look at convenience shopping in the town.
Tesco has the convenience market sewn up, so it’s not surprising that some town convenience outlets struggle. Yet, it’s fair to say that it was Lo-cost (now Co-op) not Tesco that sealed the fate of most convenience stores, over 15 years ago.
Post-Tesco, though, some remaining convenience traders appear to have found it hard. Both Newyddion Rhuthun News and the grocery side of Reebee’s have closed. Reebee’s squarely blamed Tesco, while the newsagent appears simply to have given up. The number of post-Tesco newsagents has halved to just one and she was up-for-sale at one point. Before Lo-cost, there were five newsagents. Post-Tesco, there’s no longer a day-to-day grocer in town. One butcher dabbles in vegetables and Rhuthun Organics opens a specialist store thrice a week.
Are there exceptions to this gloomy picture? John Jones and W & G Jones butchers survive on local meats and good service. Appealing across an age range, newcomer Sweetie Heaven uses the town centre shop to front a successful mail order business. Leonardo’s delicatessen has developed a niche, selling those foods you wouldn’t expect even in a larger Tesco, so much so that it’s almost now a comparison outlet. Well Street Pharmacy under new management is now a modern, open, bright store majoring on perfumes and such like, but one where competition with Tesco’s is currently limited, pending any possible Tesco expansion.
The watchwords seem to be 'niche' or 'specialisms'. There's a real sense of business achievement in these enterprises. Could Rhuthun be said to be in good heart?
The two town off-licenses appear in difficulties, though, one trying to sell its franchise, the other its lease. The latter, Oddbins, now opens from midday onwards and not at all on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Overall, the number of convenience town centre shops selling food/newspapers/wine/flowers has reduced by two, to 14. Whether takings are down post-Tesco at the others is a moot point. It’s understood they are at the Friday Country Market, and that's as specialist and different to Tesco as it gets.
It’s exactly one year today since Tesco Rhuthun/Ruthin ushered in its first customers (and immediately ushered them out again, thanks to an errant fire alarm).Since then, Tesco has become a way of life for many. There’s hardly an hour when its car park isn’t reasonably full. It's what people seem to want. It has planning permission to expand, if and when it wants. Meanwhile, a single store has forced the whole town to rethink a stratagem to compete against this 'interloper'. Is that plan working? What’s happened to Rhuthun since Tesco arrived?
The answers depend upon whom you ask, and the service they provide. In this the first post on Tesco+1, we look at convenience shopping in the town.
Tesco has the convenience market sewn up, so it’s not surprising that some town convenience outlets struggle. Yet, it’s fair to say that it was Lo-cost (now Co-op) not Tesco that sealed the fate of most convenience stores, over 15 years ago.
Post-Tesco, though, some remaining convenience traders appear to have found it hard. Both Newyddion Rhuthun News and the grocery side of Reebee’s have closed. Reebee’s squarely blamed Tesco, while the newsagent appears simply to have given up. The number of post-Tesco newsagents has halved to just one and she was up-for-sale at one point. Before Lo-cost, there were five newsagents. Post-Tesco, there’s no longer a day-to-day grocer in town. One butcher dabbles in vegetables and Rhuthun Organics opens a specialist store thrice a week.
Are there exceptions to this gloomy picture? John Jones and W & G Jones butchers survive on local meats and good service. Appealing across an age range, newcomer Sweetie Heaven uses the town centre shop to front a successful mail order business. Leonardo’s delicatessen has developed a niche, selling those foods you wouldn’t expect even in a larger Tesco, so much so that it’s almost now a comparison outlet. Well Street Pharmacy under new management is now a modern, open, bright store majoring on perfumes and such like, but one where competition with Tesco’s is currently limited, pending any possible Tesco expansion.
The watchwords seem to be 'niche' or 'specialisms'. There's a real sense of business achievement in these enterprises. Could Rhuthun be said to be in good heart?
The two town off-licenses appear in difficulties, though, one trying to sell its franchise, the other its lease. The latter, Oddbins, now opens from midday onwards and not at all on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Overall, the number of convenience town centre shops selling food/newspapers/wine/flowers has reduced by two, to 14. Whether takings are down post-Tesco at the others is a moot point. It’s understood they are at the Friday Country Market, and that's as specialist and different to Tesco as it gets.
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Tesco