As part of a longer comment, over the weekend, an anonymous commenter remarked,
The first thing to note that the one and only part of town bustling on a Saturday afternoon is Tesco. If that isn't an "ordinary" shop, I’m not sure what is. Added to this is the main Co-op and B&M. All three are just that little bit out-of-town. These are all co-called convenience shops, where you make every day type purchases.
Compare this to the town centre proper. Here, there are very few convenience shops. The majority by far are so-called comparison stores, where you can browse, choose and shop at your discretion. If you want washing up liquid, some fruit, a bottle of wine, or a tin of custard powder, you'd be hard pressed to find them in town itself.
It was not always thus. Even 20 years ago, there was a choice in town of newsagents, grocers, florists and other convenience stores. There was even a Co-op opening till 8 p.m. adjacent to the Square. Go back further in time and the choices were astounding. You could get practically anything you wanted in terms of food and provisions within the town.
That all changed with Lo Cost (the forerunner of the main Co-op), in the very early 1990s. It wasn't long after Lo Cost's arrival that we bean to see the closure of convenience stores. There simply wasn't enough money to go around. This accelerated greatly upon the arrival four years ago of Tesco. To use the cliché, people have voted with their feet. In terms of town centre convenience shopping, we’re down to one newsagent, two bakers, two butchers and not one greengrocer. How things used to be different.
The answer to the commenter's statement is that the town simply cannot sustain shops that offer the everyday.
But modern supermarket shopping habits don't tell the whole story. There are a number of other factors that militate against the town centre. Supermarkets may have put paid to convenience shopping but why are there so few national high street retail names in Rhuthun, bar Boot's the Chemist? Rhuthun's population at about 5,500 and this means it would struggle to support the likes of Curry's, Halford's, Bratano, T K Maxx, Wilkinson's and other town centre-type shops that cater for the mass market.
Another is that the shop unit cohort itself offers nothing of a large enough size and practical enough shape to attract larger, big name retailers. They need square, level space with ample stock rooms.
All that said, it's quite remarkable what you can find in Rhuthun, within the town and Lôn Parcwr even if you choose to ignore the supermarkets. Sometimes, prices are higher than in neighbouring retail parks, sometimes not. Factor in the cost of petrol and the "cost" of time and Rhuthun's still surprisingly competitive.
"When if ever will this town represent the majority of people who live or working in it?"The commenter stated that they are new to Rhuthun/Ruthin. I guess they look around and see tea shops and tourism-type outlets and very little bread-and-butter stuff. They conclude that there are few "ordinary" shops. The commenter further suggested that Rhuthun panders to up- market clientele. Why so?
The first thing to note that the one and only part of town bustling on a Saturday afternoon is Tesco. If that isn't an "ordinary" shop, I’m not sure what is. Added to this is the main Co-op and B&M. All three are just that little bit out-of-town. These are all co-called convenience shops, where you make every day type purchases.
Compare this to the town centre proper. Here, there are very few convenience shops. The majority by far are so-called comparison stores, where you can browse, choose and shop at your discretion. If you want washing up liquid, some fruit, a bottle of wine, or a tin of custard powder, you'd be hard pressed to find them in town itself.
It was not always thus. Even 20 years ago, there was a choice in town of newsagents, grocers, florists and other convenience stores. There was even a Co-op opening till 8 p.m. adjacent to the Square. Go back further in time and the choices were astounding. You could get practically anything you wanted in terms of food and provisions within the town.
That all changed with Lo Cost (the forerunner of the main Co-op), in the very early 1990s. It wasn't long after Lo Cost's arrival that we bean to see the closure of convenience stores. There simply wasn't enough money to go around. This accelerated greatly upon the arrival four years ago of Tesco. To use the cliché, people have voted with their feet. In terms of town centre convenience shopping, we’re down to one newsagent, two bakers, two butchers and not one greengrocer. How things used to be different.
The answer to the commenter's statement is that the town simply cannot sustain shops that offer the everyday.
But modern supermarket shopping habits don't tell the whole story. There are a number of other factors that militate against the town centre. Supermarkets may have put paid to convenience shopping but why are there so few national high street retail names in Rhuthun, bar Boot's the Chemist? Rhuthun's population at about 5,500 and this means it would struggle to support the likes of Curry's, Halford's, Bratano, T K Maxx, Wilkinson's and other town centre-type shops that cater for the mass market.
Another is that the shop unit cohort itself offers nothing of a large enough size and practical enough shape to attract larger, big name retailers. They need square, level space with ample stock rooms.
All that said, it's quite remarkable what you can find in Rhuthun, within the town and Lôn Parcwr even if you choose to ignore the supermarkets. Sometimes, prices are higher than in neighbouring retail parks, sometimes not. Factor in the cost of petrol and the "cost" of time and Rhuthun's still surprisingly competitive.
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Shops