The Rhuthun/Ruthin Blog can exclusively reveal that Aldi is seeking permission to come to Dinbych. Why is this relevant to Rhuthun? Because, unlike from 1982 to 2005 when Rhuthun had a discount supermarket called KwikSave, our town now has none. Discounters are growing fast. They're all the rage and the presence of two in Dinbych will have an effect on Rhuthun, for sure.
Aldi is to build on the Station Yard site at Townsend, Dinbych. It will be sandwiched between recently refurbished fellow German discounter Lidl another planned value store, Home Bargains (that is due to occupy the huge former Dinbych KwikSave premises for which planning was submitted as a separate development at the end of February). At Townsend in Dinbych there will coalesce an alternative not just to Dinbych's shadow of a town centre, which is so close yet by virtue of the long climb up Vale Street so far away… but to Rhuthun as well.
Alongside Aldi will come five separate units. There is no announcement as to what these are to be but expect them to be well known names. Their unit sizes are such that they can offer more floor space than currently available at town centre units in Dinbych or Rhuthun.
Readers will recall the Cathco development scheduled for Station Yard. This was to be a bigger plot, extending westwards over the former wool factory. It was due to have more fringe units. Crucially, it was to be anchored by none other than Tesco itself. And a larger Tesco to Rhuthun's. At the time, we were concerned about the effect the whole development, especially Tesco, would have on Rhuthun.
Yet, things change in 7½ years. Not only did the ambitious Cathco (developers of Rhuthun's Tesco) go bust, Tesco is no longer building to anything like the degree it once did. In fact, the nation and UK in general has fallen out of love a little with Tesco. We are turning our back on Tesco towards a new darling: the discounter. Their rise is exponential. And we have none of them in Rhuthun which, as we recently said, causes a problem as people here will have to commute out to take advantage of the new trend in supermarket shopping. In fact, given the switch to discounters, the Lidl-Aldi-Homebase axis on the Rhuthun side of Dinbych is now potentially as damaging to Rhuthun was the larger Cathco development.
And let's not minimise the risk posed by Home Bargains. It's basically an upmarket B & M Bargains but at about double the footprint of Rhuthun's B & M. We know that B & M attracts people to town but will it, too, suffer along with Rhuthun at the hands of a larger cheapster in Dinbych?
Alongside Aldi will come five separate units. There is no announcement as to what these are to be but expect them to be well known names. Their unit sizes are such that they can offer more floor space than currently available at town centre units in Dinbych or Rhuthun.
Readers will recall the Cathco development scheduled for Station Yard. This was to be a bigger plot, extending westwards over the former wool factory. It was due to have more fringe units. Crucially, it was to be anchored by none other than Tesco itself. And a larger Tesco to Rhuthun's. At the time, we were concerned about the effect the whole development, especially Tesco, would have on Rhuthun.
Yet, things change in 7½ years. Not only did the ambitious Cathco (developers of Rhuthun's Tesco) go bust, Tesco is no longer building to anything like the degree it once did. In fact, the nation and UK in general has fallen out of love a little with Tesco. We are turning our back on Tesco towards a new darling: the discounter. Their rise is exponential. And we have none of them in Rhuthun which, as we recently said, causes a problem as people here will have to commute out to take advantage of the new trend in supermarket shopping. In fact, given the switch to discounters, the Lidl-Aldi-Homebase axis on the Rhuthun side of Dinbych is now potentially as damaging to Rhuthun was the larger Cathco development.
And let's not minimise the risk posed by Home Bargains. It's basically an upmarket B & M Bargains but at about double the footprint of Rhuthun's B & M. We know that B & M attracts people to town but will it, too, suffer along with Rhuthun at the hands of a larger cheapster in Dinbych?