“Saturday, Saturday, ever lovin’ Saturday”, to quote (The) Carpenters.
Saturday 13th September was probably slightly atypical, as far as recent Saturdays in Rhuthun go. It was the Heritage Weekend and you'd therefore expect more town visitors than normal. So it probably wasn’t the best day to assess whether, after lunch, people prefer Tesco to the town centre. But it was worth a try. After all what *is* an average Saturday in Rhuthun? Last weekend would've been skewed by the produce market.
As a proxy for somehow trying to establish the number of people in town or Tesco—something quite difficult to do—the number of parked cars was chosen. Not ideal, of course, as parking doesn’t necessarily equate to shopping. It includes shop workers, even vehicles parked by those living within the town itself, or their visitors. Also, it’s impossible to be everywhere to check parking in town at once!
Bearing in mind this less-than-scientific rough survey, here’s what we found.
Shoppers using Tesco car park were invariably leaving with trolleys large or small, though there were smaller purchases. This indicates the worth or amount of spend at Tesco. Those leaving the Co-op tended to have a smaller amount of goods, though trolleys were still evident. Those returning to cars in town had fewer or smaller bags, though at least one was from a high fashion emporium, probably with high value garments inside.
In terms of town centre car parking capacity, with the exception of the limited spaces on St Peter's Square, all town centre car parks had adequate room. Occupancy did not exceed 50 per cent of capacity. Compare this with Tesco, where occupancy was around 85 per cent (again, note the aforesaid turnover of cars).
Towards the end of the afternoon, the rate of decline in cars parked at town centre car parks dipped by almost half, though on-street parking fell by one-fifth; on the other hand, cars at Tesco fell by only 16 per cent.
Conclusion. Town or Tesco? Seems like the latter.
Saturday 13th September was probably slightly atypical, as far as recent Saturdays in Rhuthun go. It was the Heritage Weekend and you'd therefore expect more town visitors than normal. So it probably wasn’t the best day to assess whether, after lunch, people prefer Tesco to the town centre. But it was worth a try. After all what *is* an average Saturday in Rhuthun? Last weekend would've been skewed by the produce market.
As a proxy for somehow trying to establish the number of people in town or Tesco—something quite difficult to do—the number of parked cars was chosen. Not ideal, of course, as parking doesn’t necessarily equate to shopping. It includes shop workers, even vehicles parked by those living within the town itself, or their visitors. Also, it’s impossible to be everywhere to check parking in town at once!
Bearing in mind this less-than-scientific rough survey, here’s what we found.
- 56 per cent of cars were in the town (Brownfield sites = Slater's, Town Hall).
- Six per cent of cars were in the Canolfan Grefftau/Craft Centre and their owners probably weren’t in town shopping.
- 38 per cent of cars were in supermarkets (including B & M).
- There was broadly a 60:40 split between town centre and supermarket parked cars.
- Tesco itself accounted for about a third of all parked cars.
- ¾ of cars parked at supermarkets were at Tesco.
Shoppers using Tesco car park were invariably leaving with trolleys large or small, though there were smaller purchases. This indicates the worth or amount of spend at Tesco. Those leaving the Co-op tended to have a smaller amount of goods, though trolleys were still evident. Those returning to cars in town had fewer or smaller bags, though at least one was from a high fashion emporium, probably with high value garments inside.
In terms of town centre car parking capacity, with the exception of the limited spaces on St Peter's Square, all town centre car parks had adequate room. Occupancy did not exceed 50 per cent of capacity. Compare this with Tesco, where occupancy was around 85 per cent (again, note the aforesaid turnover of cars).
Towards the end of the afternoon, the rate of decline in cars parked at town centre car parks dipped by almost half, though on-street parking fell by one-fifth; on the other hand, cars at Tesco fell by only 16 per cent.Conclusion. Town or Tesco? Seems like the latter.
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Parking